Maybe, someone somewhere is wondering how I get my inspiration in writing on this blog every week. To be honest with you, when I started, I wondered where I would get the information to be sharing with people. I came to realize very quickly that there is always something in play that I will from now hence forth call 'the Divine Factor'. As we write, that is a topic of a post that I have purposed to do in the near future. Basically (it is said that most Kenyans like saying that word at the beginning of every sentence), when we get started with something, we will never know the full extent of its permutation. That is where the divine factor lies.
I set out today to talk about something totally different. Swahilis have a proverb that goes 'Kikulacho Ki nguoni mwako!'. A simple translation is in this quote, "What keeps us from conquering the mountain is not the steepness of the mountain, but the pebble in our shoe". The meaning of this is obvious, that our greatest enemy is always within. So, today, I am going to share with you one of my greatest Nemesis. This by the way, is not what I really want to share with you. The crux of this post is about a three lettered sentence, coming up shortly.
So, yesterday, the 5th October 2011, I was privileged to be part of the Audience at the Author's Forum in Kampala. The keynote speaker was none other than the Internationally acclaimed speaker and motivator Peter Kimbowa...popularly known as PK. Among other things, PK talked about how he 'stays way ahead of competition' in regards to his wife. He goes an extra mile and carries her into the house from the car, since she is 'Portable'. That was a moment of reflection for me (I hope Wifey is not reading this). However, when he was tackling the aspect of 'Why Smart People Fail', he said some words that instantly exorcised my Nemesis from where he/she/it was hiding.
Why do I say that? It is because on 22nd of August 2011, I had intended to write specifically about those three words. I went a step better and saved the topic of that blog post...and then my Nemesis kicked in. This nemesis is none other than the spirit of perfectionism. I have realized that that spirit is an off-shoot of the three words that I will drop shortly. I have also noticed that the spirit of perfectionism easily creates strife. It makes me look down on other people...and by the way makes me such a rude human being. In my spirit of perfectionism, I did nothing about that blog post...why? I was looking for more juice to spice up the topic. I wanted it to come out flowery and more inspiring. And so...the proverbial self help found itself on my 'shelf help', gathering dust...right until PK spoke those words verbatim.
The words: "I DON'T KNOW"! I dont Know!! Such humbling three words. I will tell you this: that whoever loves those words and does not feel humiliated to let them out of his mouth is the greatest candidate of success. I have found that it is perfectly OK to be a fool in a minute and be enlightened for a lifetime than to be a fool forever to save face in a minute. So I am a Life and Success Coach. Do I know everything about success? About Life? Of course not. And that is the moment that many clients and fans can easily log out (of course this is always in my imagination in my mind, not a real event). We feel that our pedigree will suffer when we admit ignorance. Wrong move. I have come to understand that most people love humble people. Show offs don't just cut it.
The greatest roots of 'I know it all' attitude lie in fear. Fear of failure and fear of rejection. We fear what others will think about us. And that same spirit can be easily identified by people being afraid to ASK QUESTIONS. (By the way, I was a little shocked at the Author's Form Yesterday. Here stands a creative, learned, widely traveled motivating speaker, a role model, loving husband and trainer. After his key note, there was no one buy yours truly bold enough to ASK a question from any angle. I mean...how often do you meet and talk to PK face to face?) Honestly! Anyway...I read somewhere that at 20, most people are worried about what others will think about them. At 40, they do not give a hoot what others think about them...only to realize at 60 that everyone was so focused on themselves and they had no time to think about others anyway!
When I easily admit that I do not know, guess what? The stage has been set for me to learn and to be enlightened. When I falsely proclaim knowledge to 'save face' I eternally remain a fool. So, an eternal fool is one who will not let out those three words "I don't know". A momentary fool is the next authority in the area of professed ignorance. Do you want to be an Authority in any field? Start by proclaiming those words, "I DON'T KNOW".
No comments:
Post a Comment