Dont benchmark a good past at the expense of a great future

You are on a trip to point C. You are told that after 5 km you will see a gas station and after 10 km another one after which you get to a roundabout with 4 options. Take the second exit drive for 10 minutes and you are at your destination. What you have been given are bearings to help you navigate. If 30 minutes after the roundabout you are not at your destination you do not just keep going on hoping that somehow all will be well. You need to trace your way back to the last time you were sure that you were on track and then navigate from there.

Many people are struggling today because they refuse to admit that they missed it. They made a wrong turn but they are too big to ask for directions. If you ask for directions you may look like a fool once but then you will be wise hereafter. If you don’t, you may appear to be wise but in reality you’ve consolidated foolishness and this will be worse for you and all those around you. The ability to make a U-turn, recreate yourself and imbibe a new way of thinking is extremely important.

This is easier said than done because many times people are held back by pride but most people who are neck deep in pride will tell you that they are not proud. However, If you are not producing the right kind of results and you insist on still doing things your own way then pride is lurking somewhere inside you. If you are too full of yourself to ask for help because you do not want it to appear that you do not know, then you are truly full of pride. You would rather keep going around in circles than ask for help? Those are traits of a very bad heart!

Last week I wrote about triggering humility by looking at people you thought you were better than who are doing greater things than you. Under normal conditions that should keep you humble and motivate you. However, pride blinds and instead, you close up yourself to such people because you’re uncomfortable with their presence. You may even resort to joining the group of people who do nothing great but this again is pride.

Often, the easiest people to fall into this pit of pride are brilliant people. They are very gifted analyzers who also have a record of past success. If not checked, this can produce a level of pride and comfort. Such people need to be careful that they don’t become so entrenched in the past that they have no relevance in the present. The greatness of their past can deprive them of the possibilities of their present. They view everything in the light of their past success.

I learnt something that really helped me from the CNN website. When there is breaking news, it flashes on the home page but as time goes on it gets relegated to the point where it no longer features. We should all learn from this and give our success a time limit. There are successes that you have had that you need to get unstuck from in order for you to move to the next level. Allocate a time span for stories of each success. This means that you discipline yourself to telling no unsolicited stories concerning those successes after a certain period of time. This will help you to keep things in perspective. It will help you to succeed and build on yesterday’s success with greater success today. People who are not able to move away from their success of yesterday will never enter into the possibilities of tomorrow.

If all you have to talk about is your achievement of 5 years ago, what have you been doing since then? Declare that where you are today is the lowest you will ever be no matter how great it is.

As long as you benchmark your good past you won’t enter into your great future.

Wale Akinyemi.