REBELLIOUS SUCCESS

"The greatest contributors in life are those who though afraid at the knock at the door, still answer it"~Dr. Stephen Covey

If you googled the word 'Success', you will come up with millions of references. If you googled up the word Rebellion, you will come up with less millions of references. Yet, to be honest with you, those two words are not by any means oxymorons. An oxymoron is basically two sets of words that should not go together. Examples include Child Soldier,  a Fine Mess, a Little Pregnant, Accurate rumours, Act Naturally, Almost Pregnant. Here is the one I have been caught using most of the time I speak: Living Dead.

I have already talked about a previous assignment that I was part of somewhere on this blog. What I did not share were the intricacies of my rebellion then. To sample just a few, my predecessor used to leave office at 12: 00 p.m on occassions, go back on Sunday to finish on some reports. Yours truly would be out of the door shortly after the official 5:00 p.m. Not that I hated the job, just that there is life outside the job...like you know theatre, recreation and even relaxation and rest for the next day. Now, if you like pleasing your bosses, my move was suicidal. It did not take long before I would be labelled 'lazy', 'non committed' and a guy who 'just likes sleeping and playing guitar' (I used to on occassions go to work with my guitar since I had use of it AFTER work).

Guess what was the wisest thing to do? Get rid of me. Yeah. And guess what was the simplest method of showing me the door? Give me responsibilities that will make sure that I leave office at 12:00 P.M, and be back on Sundays. If you are smart enough, you would know that the reward for my predecessor was, well, my responsibilities. Not even a raise, or a bonus. Just a shift in JDs! Cruel, isnt it?

"The 'why' of doing something can be a very great motivational force". I read that somewhere. Ever asked 'why are we doing this?' and you get that answer, "Because I said so?" Not so good for motivation. I have come to learn over the years that there is no one method of success. Just because that great preacher called Smith Wiggolsworth used to dance around his bed and jump on it before sleeping it does not mean that if i do the same RITUAL...I would get the same results! Success is going totally against the grain. Not wantonly however. It is going against in order to align with what resonates within. The recipe for failure said Bill Cosby, is trying to please everybody.

The recipe for success is defining your own terms of success, drawing your own line in the sand, raising your own stakes, and ultimately competing against yourself FIRST. This way, you are doing things not because somebody somewhere said so, but more importantly because YOU KNOW WHY. We fail miserably because we fall in the trap of RITUALS and STEREOTYPES. We are not courageous enough to succeed at our own terms. Now this is not an excuse for us to set mediocre goals and coast around life leisurely. This is rather a call to reach out with our bare hands and get a firm grip on our God-given YouNique potential and run our own race, fighting our own fight to the very top. 

Think about it this way. You are breathing in and out. You are alive. You are healthy (I hope you are), and you are here. For what purpose??? My existence is not for the purpose of breathing in and out and putting away some meals in a 12 hour period, only to repeat that cycle until I expire!!! There has gotta be a bigger reason to life than survival...I feel it deep within my gut! A friend a mine who just graduated from the University told me that her next plan is to find ANY job...and that if she can JUST pay rent and get fare to work...and SURVIVE...that will be OK. Now, you have to note that this is not only tragic, but it is also a stereotype. Many people wish for affluence, but many of them plan for survival. It is time to go against the grain, and stand up like a pink elephant and make a difference! If not...why dont we all just stop breathing in and out?

Yes, some success principles are universal. However, not all achievements that can be termed success are universal. The only way to be successful is to be rebellious! This will ensure that as you reconnect with what is RELEVANT to you as far as success is concerned.

I must tell you that the ploy to kick me out by making me leave work at 12:00 p.m did not work. It is kind of like the proverbial story of using the bricks they throw at you to build a wall. Like I had mentioned, I was 'rebellious'. It took me two days to understand the reason as to why this guy was perceived more hardworking, worthy of a present of a changed Job Description-he was inefficient. The next thing I did was to totally go against the grain. I wrote to the client (SUICIDAL), and told them that I would change the way reporting and collection of data was done. They said they would wait for the changes and decide. It is years down the line, they have not 'decided' yet, but I can tell you this, I was still leaving work at 5:00 p.m, and my predecessor was still faithful, no pun intended!

Why sit there and accept 'the normal' even if it is not working for you. Why should I be 'OK' just because 'at least I am surviving?' Look, I know most of my words here are theoretical, but it is my hope that he UNCTION and the SPIRIT of this post is conveyed to us clearly: STOP ACCEPTING THE PROGRAMMED, REACH WITHIN AND UNLEASH...yourself.