Wait no more
We keep on waiting for the right moment and most conducive environment to do business.
We keep on waiting for the right moment to invest in something, the right moment to go back to school, the right moment that those in power can listen to us, the right moment this and the right moment that.
Little do we realise that the right moment will never come. Any moment you are in is the right moment to advance your ideas, to lead to fruition the innovations that have been lying idle in your brain and to stand for any public office you crave. Yet we have always been waiting for the right moment
Speaking at the conference of Constructive Workers on January 24 1946, Mahatma Gandhi said: “I will not wait till I have converted the whole society to my view but will straight away make a beginning with myself.”
We tend not to realise the impact that we, individually, no matter how small we are or are perceived to be, can make towards changing societies we live in. A single person can bring change; there is no doubt about that. Even the greatest change the world has ever seen started with a single person in moments that were never right enough.
A single person called Confucius has impacted heavily on the Chinese society. One single person, Thomas Edison, revolutionised electricity. One single person, John D Rockfeller, made kerosene light lamps. One single person, Andrew Carnegie, revolutionised steel that saw skyscrapers being built and changing the course of housing in the world. One single person, William Kamkwamba, brought electricity to his village through a windmill and we famously call him the boy who harnessed the wind.
Let it be on record that all things we treasure at the moment were brought upon by possibly a single person in a very challenging environment. Alan Axelrod is right: “Even the greatest change begins with a single person, and that change begins the moment that person begins it.”
His goes on to proclaim: “If you mean to make a difference in the world, or in your company, you cannot wait for others to begin the change, and you cannot even wait for your own changes to become widespread, let alone universal. Begin the project, no matter how ambitious, with yourself. Begin now.”
It is imperative to take note, however, that people will not agree with you. It is all because life wants you to be average. It is all because life has confinements that were set by others which you are attempting to break. By deciding to do the unthinkable, you will be considered mad, you will be called many names and many people will disassociate themselves from you. Do not care about that; it is all because you are operating at the highest frequency such that their ears cannot grasp your knowledge. At best, opt out of arguing with them. Any argument, even if you win it, consumes time and energy. The wise have it that refusing to argue takes from your opponent the power of argument. Practise the art of depriving your opponent of a target.
Unfortunately, in life, we see an argument as a means of imposing our will and authority on matters. That is where we miss the point. Ask yourself, as Axelrod asks: “What profit is there in winning an argument, asserting your power over someone else, if you fail to produce the desired result in the process?”
The lesson is very simple: Keep your eyes on the ends, lest you allow means to interfere with, and obscure, them. Focus on the results and there will be less and less time for dispute. Leave arguing to your rivals. Invest your time in creating excellence.
Come to think of. When the radio had been invented, Sir William Preece, chief engineer of British Post Office, ridiculed it and said: “The Americans have need of the telephone but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.”
Lee DeForest, an inventor, lambasted the television and said: “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.”
Ken Ols on, who was president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, discredited the future of computers and said: “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
But can the world do without the radio, television and computer?
Those that never waited for the right moment went on with their ideas and they defied what was considered to be conventional thinking. Do not wait; your time is now. All those dreams that you have are possible. Put them into practice and you are the next person to make the greatest difference on earth. Wait no more. Time has been waiting for you.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
