There is a difference between pushing yourself to the limit, and being comfortable with little. If God has blessed you with a gift of making money, then make lots of it and donate it to worthy causes. Do not just be comfortable with little and just sit.
I have seen people who upon buying a home with a good address; have a brand-new German car and a family, they think they have arrived. And all they do is to play golf, watch TV, drink and go home to sleep. They just disengage all the gears and get comfortable with the average.
Do not let this happen in 2019.
Self-satisfaction is good. However, do not let it put a cap on your potential.
I once met a very smart lawyer who was ahead of his peers. He knew the law and had a high-level street smarts that I always loved his company. I worked with him on three cases. I was a fraud examiner – bringing my finance and investigation skills on the table. He was the lawyer on the team – advising us on the quality of the evidence, its admissibility as well as presenting a water tight case supported with clear evidence and report. All the cases we worked on, he predicted with a laser accuracy of the outcome. On one occasion, he examined the case facts, looked at our evidence and advised our client –the plaintiff (the complainant i.e. our client who was bringing the case against a supplier in the courts of law), to settle out of court. They did not listen. We turned down the job. However, the client got another firm and they proceeded to court. We later got a call from some insiders how the firm had lost badly with a huge judgement debt. Clearly, the advice we had given not to proceed to court had been the best. True, anyone can be brilliant after the fact, but the leaders who make the difference predict the fact and change the decision.
Back to the lawyer, he once told me his secret was reading a lot. As part of his law school training, the lecturer would give them over 100 book titles with a target to read them within 30 days; and provide clear answers to specific questions which could only be answered after having read the book cover to cover. And this discipline of book reading expanded his thinking.
With time, my lawyer friend became complacent. He thought he would always be the smartest folk in the house. He stopped his discipline of research and reading. He also started putting in less effort in case profiling, research and analysis of the issues.
With time he started losing cases. That is what happens when one takes success for granted and they stop putting in their best effort.
I have seen staff who are brilliant. They even win employee of the month/year awards. However, they then lose it all. They become complacent that they cannot even achieve 50% of what they used to achieve. This is become, few people are motivated by what they already have.
If you stop dreaming and setting new goal posts, chances of stagnating are high.
If your ambition is to marry, chances of neglecting your wife once you get one are high. You need to set a new ambition of a ‘happy marriage’ to make your marriage interesting. Otherwise, you will soon become complacent and your marriage could fall apart. Such is life.
When many people get their dream job, they do the best and achieve a better salary, they tend to chill – and take the job for granted. They start coming late to work. Not respecting their supervisors. Getting a false sense of indispensability. And start moving with springs in their legs as if they are the only ones who make the money. Those are telltale signs of complacence.
To thrive, keep extending your new horizons. Shift the bar higher so that you keep aiming higher. That way, you will wake up with fresh energy and motivation to go further. Succeed.
Copyright 2018. Mustapha B Mugisa
