STAGES OF ACHIEVEMENT 2

"Don’t drown in excitement when you achieve something good. See beyond the excitement of the moment and think" - Terry Mante

RECAP OF PART ONE
Many people wish to experience the joy, fulfilment and satisfaction that accompany remarkable achievements. The process of achievement is analogous to the process of having a baby. If you want to achieve something in your life, the first step to take is to conceive an idea or a dream. After conception, you must acquire the capacity to go through the gestation phase of your dream.

If you are interested in seeing the full piece, use this link: http://terrymante.blogspot.com/2012/03/stages-of-achievement-1-conception-and.html. Now I continue from where we left off in part one.

GESTATION
GESTATION is the period between conception of a dream and actual fulfilment of the dream. Gestation phase could be the most uncomfortable stage on your way to getting something realised. During the gestation period, you need to guard your dreams against two major obstacles.

1. Abortion: Abortion is any activity or intervention that culminates in the death of your dream. This is usually done to rid the dream carrier of stigma, discomfort or criticism. This usually happens if the carrier has neither the maturity nor context to pursue the dream.

If you have a dream and you believe your dream is appropriate, then you have to be careful not to abort it, irrespective of the pressure that mounts. Don’t abort your dream. Hold on to it with patience and persistence.

2. Miscarriage: When your dream terminates involuntarily at a stage prior to its manifestation, it is called miscarriage. It is when you lose focus on your dream and stop pursuing it. It happens not as a result of a deliberate intention to stop it but you just drift away to focus on seemingly easier-to-pursue objectives and in the end you lose your dream.

If you don’t take deliberate steps to protect the dreams of your life, you will lose them. You have to make a conscious effort to prevent any accidental death of your dreams.

DELIVERY
AFTER successfully going through the gestation period, you get to the point of delivery. This is where you begin to see the manifestation of your dreams. You begin to see your ideas bearing fruits. A pregnant woman who carries a baby in her womb for nine months gives birth not to a man or a woman. She gives birth to a baby, and then nurtures the baby to eventually become a fully grown man or woman.

Likewise, after working so hard on your idea or dream, results begin to show in bits. No matter how big your dream is, your results will come in trickles. What you have to do at that time is not to despise the little results. You must have the excitement of a woman who gets a newborn baby at the end of a challenging period of pregnancy. She forgets all the pain and discomfort of pregnancy and labour and receives the newborn with joy.

If you work so hard and you have little results, don’t lose steam. Every great person was once a baby with complete innocence. What you have to do is to be glad and move to the next stage of your achievement process.

PARENTHOOD
IT’S ONE thing giving birth to a baby and another raising that child to become a healthy and responsible person. Responsible mothers don’t abandon their babies. They make it a point to nurture them with values and principles that make their children grow to become responsible adults.

If you give birth to a dream, you have to be responsible enough to nurture it to a level where it becomes sustainable and significant. You need a great deal of managerial and leadership capabilities to grow your achievements into huge significant feats. Don’t drown in excitement when you achieve something good. See beyond the excitement of the moment and think about how you can make your achievements great and monumental.

RELEASE
IN FEBRUARY 2012, Ken Ofori-Atta handed over his executive functions at Databank to his long time friend and colleague Keli Gadzekpo. What Ken did is what every good parent does. They procreate, raise their children and release them to lead their own lives. Ken led a group of people to start the company in 1990 and after two decades of growing the entity to become a leading investment bank in Ghana and West Africa, he decided to step down and allow the company to have a life of its own.

When you achieve your dream, grow it. Institute systems that will facilitate the growth of your idea. Don’t die with your achievements. Don’t just work for success. Work for a successor so your works continue to touch humanity long after you depart this earthly realm.


© 2012 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana