MASKS AND THE D-WORD!

As we choose our high road of success, it is prudent to look for encouragement in the momentum we have built rather the immediate results of our actions~ Life Signatures

Oh the things our dear ladies go through to look hot! There are as many products out there to spruce up a babe and the most interesting products are the natural ones. It always is a hilarious moment when wifey comes out of her chambers with a yellow face. I tell you, the only thing you see on her ka-small rounded face are three shiny objects-two eyes and teeth!! (Ka is Swahili for small tiny beeny and little. Isn’t it awesome a language? Two letters for an entire phrase...but I digress!)

She calls that stuff a mask…which reminds me of an occasion one day in high school when a cheeky guy sneaked in on a group of us wearing a mask…a real monkey looking scary mask. Now you must know that it was a season where there was some kind of hysteria in school to the effect that dead old boys were appearing to students in their sleep. So when Mr. Mask showed up…the drama was worth filming. I have never laughed to such pleasurable pain in my ribs!!

You see, there are always great lessons in these stories. A great philosopher said that simple things are yet difficult things to do. They are not so many ingredients to Life Signatures-success, significance, wealth and greatness. I have read a magazine where writers have done an A-Z outline of principles of success. The truth is, not all of them are applicable in one lifetime. Not even all of them are relevant to everybody. Now, the magazine guy is OK to present all those to a larger audience, however, success will always have ONE CANDIDATE…who is me…and of course you!

To be honest, succeeding is all about RELEVANCE…it is all about what I want to accomplish using the most relevant tools to me. Now, as much as your relevance and mine will inevitably vary (that is why all that maneno [Swahili for hulaballoo] off two guys seeking to be compatible before they get married is hogwash), there is always a binding gel that cuts across the divide. That is what we are talking about in this great post today. Yes, they could tell you that success is all about goals. Others will tell you its about modeling. Still others will tell you it’s about focus, money, networks and connections, leverage, loverage (Read that somewhere), and so on. For all I know ladies and Gentlemen, Success is never INSTANT. Potentially it is, realistically it’s not. So what’s the common denominator? What’s that gel we are talking about?

It is called paying-the-price! There you have it; you can now log out and forego my tying in masks and paying prices. I have come to learn that at any one moment in time if I am not paying any price for where I am going, then I am either stagnant or has backslid altogether! Check it out in your life. If you find yourself unhappy with how things are chances are that you are not paying the price for where you wanna go. I used the phrase “paying the price” for that little D word that gives us discomfort whenever we are not congruent with our pursuits. That D-Word is called Discipline!

I will never forget the day my wife tried to apply her home sprucing up techniques on me. It’s called steaming. Apparently, I was to cover myself with some large towel and immerse my rugged face into a bucket of steam. Well, that looked weird…I mean come on. This is Lawrence we are talking about. What are people gonna say when they see me in that position. It doesn’t just sound woowoo, it looks woowoo! But wait, I was not just to do that for a split second to fulfill all righteousness according to my wife’s standards…I was meant to stay there for a whooping f.i.f.t.e.e.n minutes!

Needless to say, I could not make it. I gave up much to the dismay of my wife…who also vowed not to try helping me anymore since I could not be helped!

Let me say this. For each and everyone of us to live a meaningful life, we are going to have to embrace the D-Word. Know this beforehand…it is not fun, neither it is on vogue. There is no swag in it. I have learnt that in the initial stages of applying the D-WORD, I find myself doing stuff that are even a mockery to myself. That is the real test of Discipline-when the very action of your discipline appears a mockery to yourself, let alone the casual observers.

Discipline is personal. It is internal. I have come to learn that I either take it up now, or I will be forced to take it up later by circumstances that will come as a result of its neglect. One of the biggest problems we have in accomplishing things is putting on of masks. We want to appear as if we have it all together. We do not want to be seen as struggling. In fact whenever we do achieve, we cut this aura around us that says, “There was nothing to it…it was easy…it came naturally”. See, that is the problem of wearing the mask. I have found out that I cannot put on a mask and be disciplined at the same time. What I mean is that I cannot go about in delusion of success as a measure of pleasing people around me and at the same time be a discipline applying pursuant of success

I have seen people laugh at women loved on a grander scale (read large women) who are jogging and excersicing to keep fit. The self same mockers do not even have a nutrition/health routine or discipline. The worst that the said women could do is settle…just because some non-entity somewhere will laugh. Let’s face it, there will always be those non-entities. They were there when I thought I had a good voice for radio some years back. They laughed and well, I chickened out. That I am on radio every single weekday is a testament of a fulfilled desire, albeit having given up sometime back. They were there when I thought I was a good actor…and then I did not listen to them. They were there when I started writing…and some are still reading. They are frogs whose croaking won’t stop the cow from drinking water.

The worst of these non-entities are our own internal voices. The good news is that there is always that still small voice that nudges and urges us to take the high road of the D-WORD. It is an internal battle. Friend, the die has been cast. Both sides have already voted. At this moment in time, it is only your vote-one vote that will decide this Life Signature. And Oh! The power of one! One minute! One Word! One Email! One move! One event! One incident! One vote! And most importantly, ONE DECISION! Is it not one vote that made the tyrant Hitler become the leader of his party? The power of one…is and has always been within us.

It is time to get off the mask…and cast your vote for the high road of the D-WORD. And as you do, decide what things are those that you HAVE to do daily on that high road of the D-WORD. The true measure of those things is when the self screams against them (remember my face-steaming experience?) In 2012, these are the very things that will take us to the top-not the better job, better spouse, better car etc. What do you think?