Be a Doer
Can an artist win a Grammy Award for a song he hasn’t written? Have you heard of a Nobel Prize for Literature winner who is planning to write her first book? I am also sure you haven’t seen anyone who won the Oscars for a movie yet to be released. This is my point, the world only celebrates achievers. You might be crystal clear about what you want to do in life, fully aware of your potential and have well-articulated and compelling goals – fantastic! However, you might not achieve those goals if you don’t get up and put in the work required. Simply put, history only remembers people who Get Things Done.
Orville and Wilbur Wright, famously known as the Wright brothers were the first to fly a plane. These brothers, whose interest in aerodynamics started when their father bought them a flying toy powered by a rubber band, made history on December 17, 1903, when they performed the first powered, sustained and controlled human flight ever. Interestingly, they were not the only people who had thought of the possibility of a man-driven flying machine. I’m not sure if you have heard of Glenn Curtiss, who also had a vision of humans flying. Like the Wright brothers, he took it a step further and talked about how possible it is – taking into cognizance the Laws of Physics and Aerodynamics. In fact, he made great efforts to invent and fly his plane about the same period the Wright brothers were working on their project.
Friend, if you want history to remember you positively, you must be determined to be a doer. You have to develop the habit of getting things done. Let me share with you three things to always bear in mind.
- The Variables Will Never Be Perfect
The ancient King Solomon of Israel once said “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecclesiastes 11:4). From experience, I have learnt that all the variables may not be available to start, but sometimes, you just need to take a bold step to get things done. I remember some 17 years ago when I wanted to start my first business, we kept shifting the start date because the conditions were not perfect. One day, I said to my partners, “we will start regardless of what is not available.” The day came and we started even though many things were far from ready. Today, the company is still in business and waxing strong. If you want to do anything in life, don’t wait for all the resources to come in, start with what you have and grow. Like I always say; Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast.
- Embrace Failure
Robert F. Kennedy said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” I have also realized that success rides on the back of many failures. Do you know there are many ventures that never started not for lack of resources but for fear of failure? There are many beauty queens who have never contested in a pageant because they fear failure or rejection. We must always remember that the success of tomorrow is sometimes learnt in that place of failure, we must embrace failure and keep moving. Remember Thomas Edison, who moved on to invent the light bulb after 10,000 failed attempts! He said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
- Beware of Plan B
I know we are advised to have back up plans, that we need a plan B in case Plan A fails. While that’s safe (I have back up plans as well), I have observed that people give their best and stick to making their plan work if they have nothing else to fall back on. You might have a plan B, but remember your Plan A is better and I believe strongly you should commit all your resources, all your mind space, and all your energy to making your Plan A work. More often than not, Your Plan A is your best option, why settle for less?
My friend always remember You Have Only One Life to Live, MAKE IT COUNT!
There’s something about this paragraph that isn’t quite working for me so I attempted a rewrite using your words:
plane. They made History!
On second thought, I worry that the introduction of Curtis here might be slightly unfair and doesn’t play too well to the point. Sounds more like a time and chance thing rather than the inability to put in the work, except you have evidence that proves that.
I see your point, but that’s almost the way it happened. Curtis had put in the work too and was almost ready to launch but took a bit more time final analysis when the Wright Brothers did it. I have added a line to imply this
That line definitely helps .
