As part of honouring women for the International Women’s Day held on March 8, under the theme #PressforProgress we decided to dedicate this week on encouraging you to press for progress by going the extra mile.
A famous quote says “Where there’s a will, there’s always a way” and let me add by saying that that the road to that “way” is not necessarily swift. The Journey (way) may be filled with bumps, humps, detours etc. but when the will is present surely you will arrive at your destination.
However, in order to arrive you need to have endured, at some point you would have been made so uncomfortable by circumstances that you needed to persevere and you would’ve certainly required determination and most importantly you may have required to put in effort and even more effort and all of these would mean you going the extra mile to reach your destination otherwise your desired goal.
Often times you see a culture of complacency and that state of comfort breeds a society of mediocre. For instance, as a student you may be content with just an average result even when your desired goal is above average but because you know that you will need to put in extra time in studying and research you choose to settle for an average result and that is the thief of extraordinary results. When you’re not prepared to do extraordinary things then you have no business wanting to be extraordinary. Your input will be your output, therefore if you’re not investing do not expect returns. Being extraordinary is not an idea, a fantasy neither is it magic. It is an existing concept, it is feasible and it has been proven but it takes work.
Being extraordinary begins with your mind, you cannot successfully execute greatness with wrong thinking, you need to start thinking right. Work on your mindset, that sets the tone for a successful execution particularly in business. Then there are myths such as “Billionaires are a whole other class of people, hey must be smarter than the rest of us. Stronger. Luckier. Better?” What if I put it to you that billionaires are just like you and that at one point, each of the fabulously wealthy people in this world struggled through challenges and issues much the same as those you’re facing? I would suggest you get to understand how they broke through, beat the odds and grew their fortunes into billions?
One such person is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, he is a tech leader many love to hate. In one of his speeches he advises every business person to grow a thick skin because you’re going to need it. His company has faced criticism and controversy since the launch of Amazon, with Bezos’ personal business ethics and management style often thrown into the mix. Still, Amazon has revolutionized the way we shop online. Bezos understands that changing the game invites criticism. And he’s okay with that. If you have a business idea and want to shake up an industry, you’d better get okay with it, too.
Another thing to note is that going the extra mile also means being proactive in resolving issues and also the ability to take risks. In the history of projects, has there ever been one that has been issue-free? All projects have risks and issues – all projects experience bumps in the road that need to be addressed. If a business man tells you that they aren’t managing issues because there are none, they are likely either in denial or have no control over their own business. Let me briefly share some steps you can use to manage risk and resolve issues:
Collect and document detailed information about the issue.
Bring the team together to discuss and evaluate the issue.
Determine – as a team – the proper action to take.
Assess the outcome.
Let me conclude with a quote from author Robertson Davies, he says “What we call luck, is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us”. And so I add, bring out what is inside of you, each and every single one of you here are carrying something, let it out and then go out there and make things happen. #PressforProgress
By Lerato Charlotte Letsoso/GhOne TV | Email: leratokayise@gmail.com
