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Thursday 30 January 2014

The Game Changer's Code

Dreams are born in sleep and achieved through action. Anyone that’s ever done anything great in their life started urged by an idea, which became a passion, that turned into an urge leading on to a hunger to succeed. If you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth, don’t expect anyone to hand it to you, take life by the collar, each morning you wake up out of bed what are you doing to clench that vision? That dream…

The game changer is the guy that got out of his bed and decided to make something out of his life. Being comfortable does not mean accomplishment, it means fear. Fear to walk paths less often trod and fear to dare, to question life, systems, and how we have all conformed to them. The world has advanced from the stone age, to the industrial revolution and to the smart age that we so effortlessly thrive in now. Were cavemen not living seemingly comfortable lives? They had food, shelter, families and good health. But it took one person that dared to dream, dared to harness the elements of nature, dared to make the first efficient and long lasting light bulb, a man like Thomas Edison. The worlds greatest inventors and pioneers are people that took on everyday problem by finding a way to practically deal with them, the world seemed fine with modern mp3 players until Steve Jobs woke up and decided to make a difference. You see, greatness, desire, drive, they’re not taught. They are embedded IN YOU. All it takes is you tapping into that and truly realising your potential.
Maturity begins when you realise that you have to fend for yourself, and be aggressive to get what you want. How many more times is the go-getter more successful than the laid back ‘comfortable’ individual? An education won’t make you great, a degree won’t make you live any longer than you’re entitled to, but drive will. Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, Maverick Carter, Paul Allen and Michael Dell, all have things in common, neither of them have college degrees but what they did have is a dream, the difference between them and the rest of us is that they actually got up and did something about that. A degree is a label, it’s a piece of paper that supposedly make’s you a better person than one without but as Albert Einstein once famously said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree it will live it’s whole life believing that it is stupid.” Look at the major companies you know, Apple, Nike, IBM, even Microsoft, the chances are that the founder and/or CEO has less qualifications than his/her senior subordinates. Meaning, you pay top money to get the top education, given the highest academic honours possible to work for someone and help build their dream instead of your own? Sixteen plus years in education, countless books, teachers, lessons, and massive school rooms and hallways to end up in a 4x4m cubicle with irregular toilet breaks and lunch breaks given to you? Bear in mind, these are those that have it better off than most employees, these are the “seniors.” I know we need ‘systems’ they apparently make the world tick right? But why live, learn and be ‘trained’ to be a king/queen only to end up being ushered towards being his servant.
I’m not saying quit school, I’m not saying leave your jobs, what I’m getting at is that if that doesn’t fulfill you and make you content then why not dare to be different? A friend of mine once told me, “If your WHY is important to you then the HOW doesn’t matter.” Meaning if your drive and reason for believing is important then how you get there is down to you, are you willing to shed blood, sweat and tears for it? I could even take the contextual view of giving examples of good sportsmen and women you know, the Michael Jordan’s, Pele’s, Shelly-Ann Fraiser’s and Jessica Ennis’ of the world. Talent only got them so far, the rest was hard work, determination, and focus to go beyond what their talent ‘allowed’ them. Even the best work, wake up early and put in the hours, AND THAT’S WHY THEY REMAIN THE BEST, what’s your excuse? In the immortalised and ever-so referenced words of Kevin Durant, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”
Companies need workers, schools need students, but why can’t you be the company? Why can’t you be the GAME CHANGER…
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Friday 3 January 2014

'Resolutions'

It’s just about that time of year when people start the whole ‘New Year New Me’ vibe right? So much can be said about these (mainly) false statements but I’m not going to get into all of that, I can only grab your attention for so long after all.

Besides stating the obvious inevitability of the majority of these resolutions going bust after a week, instead I’ll pose a question. Fair and fine, lets say you legitimately want to ‘change’ and have new goals and the like, why wait until the New Year to initiate that change? If it’s something you really want to get started on why wait till an entirely brand new year to decide to change. Why not just wake up tomorrow and be a ‘new you’ there and then? Every single morning you wake up, you’re given a chance to be that person, to change not only yourself but the world as well. No need to hide behind a calendar event to make things happen. If you’re going to wait till the following year to make things happen, whats stopped you all this time that’s not going to stop you in 2014? Unless you’ve landed some multimillionaire contract on the 1st of January, or you’re being let out from prison or oppression on that day then everything that held you back in 2013 will still be present in 2014 right? All that’s changed is your perception of it. The fact that it’s a ‘new page’ makes you reckon everything has been left behind, but it hasn’t. Maybe it’s a matter of you not using the turn of a calendar year to make a difference but just waking up, and making it happen.

Instead of preaching to people all you’re going to change about yourself, why not do it quietly, if your change is that significant they will notice, and actually point it out to you. Don’t speak know your success or goals because there will always be people waiting for you to trip up, and they’ll let you know when you do. Personal goals are meant to be PERSONAL GOALS, that way failure can only be credited to you and not an ill-wisher. I’m not saying be sly about your motives, okay I’ll be a typical guy and use football as an example. Sir Alex Ferguson probably had tonnes of major players he failed to sign but we only know of a handful because he kept it behind closed doors, so we’ll never see him as a failure. Whereas David Moyes (new Manchester United Manager) let the media know of the big signings he planned to land, and when he failed, did he not just look like an underachiever unable of carrying out expressed intent? There you have it.

Sometime it’s beyond you fair and fine but when given the option, the only person you should feel need to confide personal/characteristic objectives is the person in the mirror. I mean, if you really want to make a legitimate change, start tomorrow (hypothetically speaking). After all, practically speaking, whats the difference…?

Besides, I’m sure you’ve all heard this before. I’m not coming up with new life principals/philosophies off the top of my head on a regular, I’m not yet on that level of intellectual genius. In most cases, I just express things that everyone thinks, but never stops to say…