Why dreaming big alone is not enough in quest for greatness

Have you ever wondered where your well-developed ability to be lazy comes from? I say we will never really be able to pinpoint it but it does come from somewhere. I know it does. Because if you’re like most people, you see it pop its ugly head up at least once a day.

A lot of us think that the way to deal with it is to work on ourselves. That, however, seems to almost always lead to the familiar vicious cycle of improving for a while and then reverting back to our old selves and starting all over again.

We are human beings, not robots so “working on ourselves” just doesn’t seem to lead to a permanent solution on this.

Our real selves keep returning to drag us back. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to weave your success web like a spider and get caught in it like a fly. I mean — really caught in it like a fly gets caught in a spider’s web.

It’s the best thing that will ever happen to you. And here, there is no spider coming to get you. Only your best possible career, business, relationship, and life.

Nearly every upwardly mobile person vested in their advancement faces challenges in attracting more, doing more, having more and becoming greater.

We know that those who invest in the time, effort and resources specifically designed to attract more responsibility, recognition, elevation, work opportunities seem to get more than those who just sit there waiting for someone to hand them more responsibility, to give them a pat on the back, award them with a bigger, more lucrative position.

It never ceases to amaze me how many of us somehow cannot or will not and do not find the time to do the very things that could most likely transform their lives to move us to the enjoyment of the success they spend most of their time dreaming of.

The whole “effort thing” gets put last — at the bottom of their priority list and each time it comes up, they put it off. There are two ways to tackle this:

Option 1: Get off your rear end, summon up your willpower and just do the work. Ha! I can almost see your e-mails filling my inbox with a barrage of questions and the challenges you’ve faced trying to do this and why it hasn’t worked. For most of us, this option sounds about as simple as walking on hot coals.

Option 2: Weave your own success web. Disclaimer — the web you are to weave is not for catching other people, it is for you to get caught in.

Take this weekly column I write, for example. That’s part of my success web. I write my articles during the week to hand it in by the end of the week for it to be published on your Monday paper.

No guessing who looks incompetent, unreliable and unattractive to work with if it is not handed in on time? Have I not committed to thousands of eager readers to supply weekly and monthly insight into their personal and leadership growth?

Lazy goes out the window or my credibility suffers. My credibility and reputation are valuable, so my motivation to protect them is always in great supply guaranteed by my commitment to this newspaper that I’m privileged to work with and the readership who have come to expect to hear from me every week. I am talking about commitment.

Reverend Michael Foss puts it very succinctly: “Have you ever noticed how the idea of commitment is easy, but the living into it is hard?

I think that’s because commitment is one of those realities that really doesn’t take hold until it is difficult. Commitment is deciding that the price is worth paying for the goal that will be achieved”

Are you starting to see how this work? The success web is something you build to TRAP yourself into doing the work. No willpower required. And the longer you spin your web, the stronger your it gets.

Do you know what starts to happen when you do things like this on a consistent basis? Great stuff happens, I guarantee it!

It may take a while but it eventually starts. Slowly at first. So painfully slowly in fact, you might not even notice and possibly want to give up the spinning. But as your web gets bigger and stronger, the motion begins. People start talking about you.

They start responding. They start commenting on what you’re doing. Before long, you’re one of those people who has important and hugely rewarding projects to do, places to go and people to see.

Pretty soon, “lazy” becomes a fixture on your wall and just sits by watching you get things done.

Start spinning your web today.

Ms Ruligirwa-Kamara is an expert on attitude and human potential. Email: [email protected]