DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD

OUR POSTURE at the point of success will determine the extent of sustainability. We must have an intentional response when the times are good. It’s one thing achieving something and it’s something else maintaining what we achieve. You don’t relax when you achieve your objective.

Politicians who fight hard to win elections would have a great deal of work to do to keep the confidence of their supporters by keeping to their campaign promises and meeting the obligations of the office they occupy. After months (if not years) of planning and preparation towards the wedding, the couple would have to do a lot more to ensure that the marriage succeeds. Starting a business is a great thing to do but sustaining it is a much greater task to accomplish. Finding a job is tough but securing the job you find is no mean task.

On September 16, 2006, Otabil and Associates – an executive growth and leadership consultancy – hosted a leadership seminar at Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. At this seminar, highly-respected motivational speaker and CEO of The HuD Group Dr Yaw Perbi poured out the following:

• The president of the largest independent steel company Charles Schwab lived on borrowed money the last five years of his life and died broke.
• The president of New York Stock Exchange Richard Whitney served a jail term in Sing Sing Prison.
• Albert Fall, a member of United States President Harding’s cabinet was just pardoned from prison so that he would die at home.

The grace-to-grass experiences of these once-great men may be seen as unfortunate. I don’t know what caused their ‘downfall’ but I’d say that when you are at your best, you must not lose your head. When a person achieves a feat, there is a tendency for them to allow complacency, pride and wilderness into their lives. It is quite intriguing that many people begin to walk down the road at the point of their greatest achievements. When you take your blessings for granted, you end up losing them. You must endeavour to be a good steward of all the favour and goodwill that come to your fold. It is not uncommon to find people who get promoted in politics begin to siphon public funds into private coffers. Definitely, such characters would not end up in a good place.

It takes a good attitude to handle the good seasons of your life. Good moments will not last if you don’t condition yourself to perpetuate them. The difference between those who give up or mess up and those who consistently progress is neither in the intricacies of challenges that confront a person. To me, the real difference is in the way we respond to situations. I pray that your accomplishments in life will stand the test of time; that you will not end up broke, in jail or in hell.

To have enduring success, there are three ideas I want you to keep in mind:
• How you begin life is not as important as how you navigate your way through it. Your final destination in life is a manifestation of how you sail through life. It is your responsibility to ensure that you experience the kind of life you desire.
• Your mental predisposition determines how you interpret your experiences.
• Fortunes will wither away if we don’t guard them diligently.

Don’t let success get into your head. Always remember that there is more ahead. You can do more. Don’t throw away what you have worked so hard to achieve. Use what you have achieved as a stepping stone to the next level of your life. Be like the prolific Christian apostle Paul who told the Philippian church, “… I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead.” Hold on. Go ahead.



© 2012 Terry Mante
Personal Development Network (PEDNET)
Accra, Ghana