The weekend is here. I am always looking forward to or should I say counting the days to the weekend but this week the story is different. This particular weekend surprised me. I still can't believe it's Saturday.
I had the most fun-filled and tiresome week. yes, I had to include the last part because this week seems like a haul-down of all my stress for this year and a perfect excuse to stay in bed all through.
But this week also taught me how productive one can be if one discipline themselves.
This means, I just added a new word to how my week was... Productive.
My week was fun, tiresome and productive.
I gave myself a mental note to wake up at the same time every day and write my daily post. And I might have missed the timing one day, but the rest of the days, I did just great. The results I got are still overwhelming.
Do you think I'll do it again next week? By God's grace, I will.
How reading Great by Choice helped
This week I started reading the book great by choice by Jim Collins and I must confess, the reason my weekend seems to have been productive is because of the things I learned in that book.
I took it as a challenge when the author explained how we can thrive in uncertainty if we plan for it. He started by reminding me that the future cannot be predicted but that we can create our future.
Source
He highlighted companies that had to thrive even in the uncertain and harsh realities that the economy faced at the time they were in business and how they performed 10X better than their colleagues.
These companies thrive and succeeded in Chaos because they choose to create their future and fate instead of reacting to the economy.
Jim Collins did defend his speeches with quotes from Roald Amundsen, who stated that,
Victory awaits him who has everything in order - luck people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.
He went further to illustrate how two different teams of adventurers prepared to be the first people in history to reach the South Pole. History had it that Roald Amundsen got there first and still returned with his teammates intact while Robert Falcon Scott led his team to defeat and death.
What Separated the two team leaders wasn't luck, it was the level of their preparation. While one journeyed through the lands seeking to understand the terrain he was leading his team to, the other relaxed and remained nonchalant.
While one prepared an enormous buffer for unforeseen circumstances, the other prepared supplies to the exact number without any extras.
While one placed himself through delicate situations to understand how their bodies react to the certain environmental situation, the other seemed relaxed.
What Amundsen did was prepare for every turn out of events and made sure no matter what happens, he has his team members covered. He didn't wait until the circumstances presented themselves before he acted. He was proactive. He created the solution to every hardship they might encounter on their journey.
It was as a result of reading this book and this story, that I told myself, "no more excuses". This week my body has gone through various training to determine how she would react if the worst comes to worst or the good days lasted. I did the same to my blog by consistently trying to create and publish around the same windows or hours of the day.
I didn't allow sleep to be an excuse or tiredness or stress or hunger. Whenever I remember Amundsen, I am encouraged to push my limit and see how far I can go. I had no idea what would happen but I played my roles and I made sure I didn't leave anything to chance as Scott did and perished with his teammates. These efforts can also apply to our finances.
A financial plan prevails against uncertainty
Nothing beats having a plan and following through to the maximum. I have noticed even before I read Jim Collins that on a certain month when I have my financial plans early on, I tend to scale through successfully. Especially when it has to do with making plans to work the numbers to be just enough to pay the minimum payment on my debt.
This means, having a plan and consistently sticking to it doesn't apply to one area of one's life but to all. And since money is an important tool to reaching our dream realities, it's definitely worth putting up plans for how to earn, how to keep, how to spend, and finally how to invest.
The phrase, Great by Choice bugs me as a hurtful wound does. I keep repeating to myself that one has to choose to be who one wants to be and choose to do what they have to do, to get the desired results. And one can only be great if one chooses to be. No one will set the pace for them if they don't do it for themselves. No one will wake them up from their slumbers if they pull themselves together by themselves.
Every single journey needs to be planned and the individual has to choose to do all that it takes to fulfill destiny.