If you don’t work hard on your talent today, you could die with it just like a anybody. You will never know your potential. At 20 years, it is probably too late to identify and nurture your talent. All you have is to focus on your chosen career and give it 100%. That means you must work hard at such a critical turn in your life.
Start 2019 on a high by watching The Immortals, a new TV show on Dstv. The series profile top performers in all sports from footballers, to athletics and world champions in all fields examining their achievements and how it was possible.
From Mohammed Ali to Tiger Woods, Christiano Ronaldo to Hussein Bolt and Serena Williams to Michel Phelps, and all great sports men and women in between; the number one reason for their extra ordinary success was hard work. There rest are details.
A talented person who is lazy, is just an average person just like the rest of us. The talent element remains idle. It can only be fuelled by hard work.
There are so many outstanding academicians with very sharp brains – but are just “Professors.” They have not invested a lot of work in research and innovation in their field of expertise to set the agenda for the rest of us all. They are comfortable with the Title Professor.
On 20th December 2018, I contacted several Universities for names of their brilliant students. I got several names, of the top 10 students in the class of Business Computing. These are students with 4.30 CGPA score and above. I asked all of them to write a 600 words essay about the state of cyber security in Uganda, to help me assess their skills and passion. and only two replied. Five days after the deadline, I contacted the other eight to assess whether they had already got better work opportunities or were still searching. I was surprised to learn that they are still looking for jobs. You see, they are looking for easy way out. Talent is useless without hard work. Hussein Bolt, like all Sportsmen and women out there, put in more in training and practice sessions than anyone else. The keyword is hard work. Micheal Phelps revealed that at the peak of his career, he would train 18 hours a day, 365 days a year! That is not easy.
Laziness of the mind is the worst form of prison. You are always operating at less than 50% of your potential because you think your body will pain when you put in extra effort. To thrive, you must be willing to go an extra mile. Tell your mind no, when it signals you to stop. You must do over and above what everyone expects you to do. Redefine what good looks like so that you have something people will always remember you for.
In 2019, stop laziness. Stop expecting people to wish you success. Stop lamenting and start doing something now.
I have learnt a lot from the two students who replied. Each wrote a great essay. They went ahead to attach a long email to justify their interest in the job. They called on the New Year to wish me a successful new year and how they look to working with me. They further searched about our company, Summit Consulting Ltd, and sent a report of what they would do in the first three months if they got the opportunity to work.
You cannot beat such serious.
You don’t have to tell me that you are passionate about the job. You demonstrate your passion with the amount of effort you put in. These students are not only talented, they are serious about their careers.
When you pour petrol on dry grass and light it with a match box, you get serious fire. That is what happens when a talented person works hard. Even if you are not talented, working hard so that you use more than 80% of your capabilities, you will beat the talented person who just used 40% of their potential. They will always remain mediocre. Another reason to set a new agenda for 2019: work hard. Put in your best effort in whatever you are expected to so that you shine. And if in doubt, keep in touch with your supervisor so that you put in a lot of work hard on the right initiatives.
You don’t need to be motivated. You need to start action and move on.
Copyright 2018. Mustapha B Mugisa.
