STEP BY STEP

“We don’t march forward by taking one huge hop. We do so by taking one step at a time. Big is the aggregation of many smalls.” - Terry Mante

BIG DREAMS AND SMALL TASKS
HAVE you got aspirations that seem bigger than you are? Do you have any destination in mind that appears to be very far? Do you feel that without a huge stash of cash, your ambitions will be impeded? Maybe so…

But if you look at things from a realistic perspective, your perception might change. We don’t march forward by taking one huge hop. We do so by taking one step at a time. Big is the aggregation of many smalls. A million dollars is additions of a million one dollar bills. An hour is the accumulation of sixty minutes. A colossal book like the encyclopaedia is written one word at a time.

You can accomplish your big ambitions if you decide to break them down into simple and small actionable tasks. Don’t wait for big things to happen before you proceed. Move on with the small things that are possible now with focus on the big things that must happen in the future. Small actions connect to produce big results.

PLANS AND PROCEDURES
BREAKING of big ambitions into small tasks must not be done haphazardly. It must be done according to plan and procedure. A plan helps you to figure out a detailed method for pursuing your goals even before you begin to move. If you have a plan, you are able to navigate your life steadily. A procedure helps you to know how to implement your plan. A procedure is the sequence you follow to execute your plan.

If your dream is really important to you, then don’t go ahead without a plan and a procedure. Having a plan and a procedure will enable you to have an eagle’s view of where you want to get to. They help you to move on the basis of knowledge instead of despair.

PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE
WHEN you break big dreams into a series of small tasks, you are able to embark on a more purposeful pursuit. It makes you patient and persistent. You gain the fortitude to swim against the tide and endure waiting or delay without becoming upset. You learn to endure calmly even when difficulty stares you in the face.

The fact that there is a plan will help you to stay calm when you hit a brick wall. You will not surrender your great dreams to temporary obstacles. Persistence helps you to press through the tough portions of your plan.

POSITIVE ORIENTATION AND PERSPIRATION
YOUR dream may try to overwhelm you but don’t give up simply because you feel overwhelmed. You may not be lucky to have everything work in your favour but that is still not enough reason to cast off your great ideas. If you feel your dream is too big to materialise and you are tempted to give up, you can draw some inspiration from the heart of Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931). Edison is credited with over a thousand inventions, some of which are the photocopier, microphone, motion picture and incandescent light bulb.

In response to a congratulatory message from one of his employees after pulling through the iron-nickel battery, Edison said:

“I do not believe in luck at all. And if there is such a thing as luck, then I must be the most unlucky fellow in the world. I’ve never once made a lucky strike all my life. When I get after something that I need, I start finding everything in the world that I don’t need – one… thing after another. I find ninety-nine things that I don’t need, and then comes number one hundred, and that – at the very last – turns out to be just what I had been looking for.”

If you are frustrated, don’t give up. Believe that at the very last, you will find just what you are looking for. Again Edison is noted for his intoxication with the idea that “Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” And if you asked him about how he became that successful with his inventions, he would tell you, “Yes, sir (or madam), it’s mostly hard work.”

© 2012 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

ADJUSTMENT

“It is possible to intervene to make your life move in a direction that suits your desires and expectations.” - Terry Mante

WISHES are not horses. Many times, we find that our prevailing realities do not line up with our desired outcomes. If your life is not going the way you desire or expect, will you just put your hands on your head and wallow in a pity party? If your spouse is not happy because of a particular shoe, will you complain or change the shoe? If you desire to lose some weight but you find that you keep gaining more pounds, are you just going to be embarrassed or will you alter your regular lifestyle practices so you could achieve your desire?

You see, there is nothing in life that happens which is not made to happen. Things don’t just happen. If you don’t like how your life is moving, you can intervene to make it move in a direction that suits your desires and expectations. You can alter the circumstances of your life. For you to make those alterations, you must understand the concept of adjustment.

According to the Encarta World English Dictionary, adjustment refers to the act of making “a slight change intended to make something fit or function better.” Sometimes, the steps you need to take to make your life better may not be so big but they could be little actions that produce big results. Nevertheless, you have to learn to take those steps.

Adjustment is an imperative. It is extremely important and cannot be ignored. It is perhaps the only sensible and logical way to change undesirable outcomes in your life. If you don’t learn to adjust, you cannot change your life.

As important as adjustment is, it must be deliberately engineered. Adjustment is an alternative course of action that is pursued to make a desire become real. If you throw a pity party after a bad business deal, it will not necessarily lead you out of indebtedness. Merely wishing that the next semester will produce better grades will not change the grades for you. There has to be a carefully crafted strategy that will help you to achieve the outcome you desire.

In making adjustment, you have to be careful not to allow the status quo to get in your way. Don’t permit the usual to bar you. The purpose of adjustment is to produce new results. New results come when you do things you have never done before. Thus if you are adjusting, you are displacing some current practices with new practices. It implies you are creating new experiences; you are doing things you have never done before. Adjustment requires shifting your paradigm.

Adjustment is a tough call. It is not done lightly. It may be contrary to your senses. It may be unreasonable. But you must see the need to amend your ways. The price may be high but the value could be priceless. You have to be able to defy your senses to make the adjustment necessary for you to reach where you want to be. You have to be willing and ready to resign from your comfort zone. Delivering the keynote address, Anthony Cudjoe remarked at DECISION that “Comfort is the enemy of significance.” You can’t have a significant life if you are not ready to swim against the tide.

If you want to see a change in your life, you must be prepared to make changes. You must live as if you are an engineer. You must design, plan and construct your life. At any point in time, if you don’t like something about the condition of your life, make a move. Initiate a new process and effect a change.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

INDECISION IS DECISION

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” - Maimonides (1135-1204)

DECISIONS form a strong basis in every person’s life. Our lives follow the paths charted by the decisions we make. Our decisions determine our actions and our actions carve the outcome of our lives. Every moment of life is a moment of decision. There are decisions we make consciously and those we make unconsciously. And for every single decision we make, there are consequences.

It is thus critical that we take charge of the decisions of our lives. We must be deliberate about our decisions. We must take responsibility for our decisions. We must be alive to the consequences of the decisions we make.

DECISION
DECISION is a choice made out of possible or alternative courses of action. This implies that there are always options in life. In life you never run out of options. Usually, when people say “there is no option,” they actually mean the other option is a tough one and they are unable or unwilling to bear the risks and consequences that reside in pursuing that path.

Every decision has risks. Risk is the probability that the decision you make may not lead to the desired or expected outcome. It is the price you are likely to pay for your decision. Many people shy away from making decisions when they realise that the risk is high.

Another thing to note about decisions is that they have consequences. So consider your life as the outcome of past decisions. Decisions you made by yourself and those made by other people on your behalf. Your future will be constructed by the decisions you are making today. Your legacy after you are dead will be a reflection of the decisions you are making today. Hear Tony Robbins, “It is in the moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

INDECISION
IF YOU hesitate to make any kind of decision, you suffer from the cancer of indecision. People use indecision as a tool to recuse themselves of the responsibility to make decisions. I hope you are not one of those people. I hereby bring to your notice that indecision is one option in decision-making. That means there are consequences for indecision. There is a price for indecision. And I have noticed that the price is mostly higher than the price you pay for your decisions. Hence the thought of Spanish philosopher Maimonides (1135-1204) that “The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” Trust me, indecision is a notorious terrorist.

If you refuse to take charge of your decisions, you lose control of your life. You relinquish your destiny to forces outside your realm. It’s easier to be indecisive than make decisions. But it is easier to live with the consequences of your decisions than your indecisions. You know why? George Canning says “Indecision and delays are the parents of failure.” Thus if you want to avoid misery in your life, you have to learn how to make decisions that give you success, significance and substance.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana