Two Words - Check Milestones

I remember the first time I drove to Shagamu from Lagos, I did not know where to turn off the express so I stopped to ask for directions. Imagine my shock when the man I asked said I was about to get to the Ibadan toll gate. Many of us have heard of the saying, if you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there. But in this case even though I knew where I was going and I ended up at a surprise destination. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been surprised that you did something you didn’t mean to do? Has there been a time when you said, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would… Well, if you want to be better at predicting the future, here is my advice: Take Note of the milestones along the way.

When you are travelling, milestones are those green and white posts you see on the road between two states, that tell you how close to a destination you are. Take the story of Chichi. She was an intelligent young lady who gave herself a target of 6A’s in her 300 Level, 2^nd Semester exams. It was three weeks into the semester and she just got 3/10 in an assignment but she was not fazed. She was telling her best friend Shade why she was not concerned. “Continuous assessment is just 30% that’s not my priority, I will spend the last two weeks before exams sleeping in the Library to ensure I get a minimum of 65/70 in all exams, so even if I get 10 over 30 in my C.A, I will still get an A.” She was expecting Shade to encourage but instead, she looked at her with a disappointed look on her face and said “Chichi! You are not getting 6A’s this semester.”

“What do you mean by that? Back to sender!”

Shade explained, “Chichi Just because you have a strategy for getting an A, does not mean it is the right strategy. Your continuous assessment scores are your milestones, they show you your understanding of a course. If you are not passing them, that is a sign that you are not on the journey to an A and you need to change direction as soon as possible. Figure out why you got 3/10 and start working towards getting 10/10, then you will be on your way to an A.” Don’t ignore your milestones, they are the validation of your strategy.”

The End

Shade is a good friend isn’t she? So like Shade let me say:

-          You want to know if you are on your way to getting that promotion at the end of the year?  Check your milestones

-          Are you going to meet your target next quarter? Your weekly reports can predict that.

-          Is your business going to be bigger next year? The feedback from your clients are your milestones?

-          If your relationship keeps having the same issues don’t wish them away, take note of them and do something to solve it.

The things you are doing everyday are a better prediction of where you are going than the things you would like to do someday. We can all predict where we are headed if we take note of the milestones along the way.

If you hire a driver and he has bashes the car and lies about it in the first week, money is missing the second week, he missed 2 days of work the third week and he tells you in the fourth week that he filled your tank for N20,000 (when you usually fill it with N5,000); do you have a right to act surprised if by the 6^th week he runs away with the car completely?

So:

Don’t ignore the sign posts on your way…Observe Them

If your milestones indicate you are going in a direction you don’t want…Turn Round

Your short term results are a good indication of your long term outcomes…Take Note

Every dream and every goal has milestones along the way but they won’t all come screaming out saying ‘here I am’. Don’t wait till your reach your destination before you find out you made a mistake with your strategy, you will know when you are veering off course if only you decide to always…

Check Milestones

So where are you going and how do you break your goals down into milestones? You can post your comments on the Poise’ Graduate Finishing Academy blog (poisegfs.blogspot.com) or send me an email to uki@poisenigeria.org, I always enjoy reading from you.

I am happy to introduce Eric’s Employability Expedition. There is a lot to learn from his story and every week we will join him on his journey to success, it promises to be an interesting ride powered by Poise’ Graduate Finishing Academy

Thank you

Work It

Have you found your talent as I suggested in ‘Find It’. What then do you do with it? What happens when your talent and your career are in two different fields? How do you turn your talent into your career? I have two words for you…’Work It’.

Think of your favorite pair of shoes and your oldest pair (the ones still in active service). Which of them do you spend more time polishing when you need to go out? The truth is that your newer shoes need less care in order to look smashing but your oldest pair might need one or two rounds of polishing before they can look half as nice as the new ones. It is the same with your talent and gifts.

A lot of times we focus on polishing and working the areas of our weaknesses and we neglect our strengths, in the belief that we are amazing enough in those areas. Let’s use Charles as a case in point example:

Weakness discovered VS Response

Charles discovered he had the tendency to procrastinate so he took a training on Time Management.

He noticed a gap in his ICT skills and dedicated time to lots of practice to improve himself.

Strength discovered VS Response

Charles noticed that he had a way with words and he enjoyed creative writing. People always praised the things he wrote since he was a child. He decided one day to write a book and it never occurred to him that if he got training in the area of his talent he would be more likely to write a best seller than someone who didn’t have his natural talent.

Sometimes, we are like Charles, we get training in interpersonal skills or emotional intelligence if we feel we are too shy or we read books on financial intelligence when we notice that we are not managing our finances right. As the person who wrote ‘Upgrade You’ a few weeks ago, I am here to tell you that this is very good but even more importantly, you need to ‘work’ your strengths.

Polish them and showcase them. The things you do well without anyone teaching or pushing you, are the things you can become a master of, with just a little more practice or learning.

There is always something more to learn. Read to groom and improve in the area of your talent. Do not put your career on hold for this, because the skills, contacts and not to mention money that you are making today will come in handy. When the time comes to pull out and pursue that passion squarely, when the time is right, you will know.

I have seen too many people leave a glowing career to setup a business in the area of their ‘passion’. This is good but the only problem is that they are still amateurs. They are starting a business based on their natural talent to which they have not added any equipping skills or knowledge development. Go beyond being a natural talent, work your skill until you become an experienced expert. 

Everyone has a gift, but what do we do with it?

 Some people are so blessed because their careers are already in line with their gifts but it does not mean that everyone’s gift must be in line with their careers, after all many people have multiple gifts. 

When you discover your weakness…Upgrade You

When you find your passion…Learn More

Don’t be an amateur in the area of your talent…Improve You

If you have discovered your gift but have not yet had the opportunity to use it, roll up your sleeves and…Work It

Prove It

Hello Everyone,

This goes out to everyone who knows there is something great they want to achieve in the future. Maybe you see yourself as a great entrepreneur but for now you are an intern. If you are a future Human Resource Director currently working as a customer service agent, this is for you:

Have you ever said any of these?

· When I own my business I will work so hard.

· If only they would increase my salary, they will see how dedicated I can be.

· By the time I graduate from school, I will start planning my day.

· When I have more money I will start saving.

· When I am in public, I will observe table manners.

· When I start writing official letters, I will use good grammar.

· When I get married, I will be faithful.

· When it’s a business meeting, I will get there early.

· When I get a job, I will start dressing like a worker.

 

If you have said anything similar to these, I have two words for you…Prove It.

It was Abdul’s first day of work and he was reflecting on all the things that were about to change in his life. Even though he was always late to class and he paid someone to type and proof read his project, he was ready to get serious. He smiled as he looked at himself fully dressed in corporate attire. He was committed to getting to work early every day, writing and speaking like a professional and working hard on all tasks.  He announced this in a tweet to all his friends “First day at work, so real #LevelsHaveChanged.” At the end of the day Abdul tweeted “Horrible first day, these people are too stuck-up.” Later that day, Abdul called Chike to vent. “Yes, I know I got to work 20 minutes late, is that so bad? You need to see how one madam reacted just because I answered the office intercom by saying, ‘Who is it?’ My boss was over sensitive to the fact that I said ya instead of yes when he asked me a question and for crying out loud what is so bad about removing your tie at 2pm when the thing does not allow you to breathe.”

Abdul had gotten to a stage he had been looking forward to and he felt that the preparation he needed was head knowledge of what he wanted to do but the key thing that he did not realize is this: The proof that you will do something tomorrow is that you are doing it today. A person who will not save from his pocket money has no guarantee that he will save money from his Corpers’ salary or even his N1Million Naira per month Salary because everything you are doing today is re-enforcement and practice for the things you will do tomorrow.

Abdul wanted to change levels but he had no practice in being a professional. He had been a late comer for so long that he didn’t know what it took to be early. If you have not started saving, living on a budget, being faithful to the person you are dating or being honest even when it is hard, then you have no practice, you have not developed the ability, and then there is no guarantee that you will be able to do it when it matters. A wise man once said, “Never promote a Person to a role they are not already successful in.”

The proof that you will do anything tomorrow is that you are doing it successfully today…

Don’t treat her badly today and promise to respect her tomorrow… Start Now

Deciding to do something does not mean you will automatically know how to do it… Build Experience

You will make mistakes as a human being but if you cannot excel while working for free there is no guarantee that you can excel when you get paid $1,000,000.

Don’t wait for your crown before you act like a King. Are you a king in the making?...

PROVE IT

Happy Easter to everyone. Please explore blog for more words. You can follow me on Twitter @Poise_gfs or write to uki@poisenigeria.org for advice. Also I would like to invite anyone who is job hunting right now to come over to our office: Poise’ Graduate Finishing Academy,  4, Obokun Street, Off Coker Road, Ilupeju. We are hosting a free seminar on how to Kick Start your Career this Thursday at 10:00AM… Two Words…Be There

 

Take Over

“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

Had a very shiny nose

And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows

All of the other reindeers used to laugh and shout with glee

They never let poor Rudolph play in any Reindeer games”

Have you ever felt like you were being prevented from being happy or successful because of the actions or inaction of others? Today we are going to discuss how to take the focus to “BEFORE THE BECAUSE”. If you know the Christmas carol above then you know that Rudolph is one of Santa’s reindeer. He had a big red shiny nose so his friends made fun of him, which made him unhappy, POOR RUDOLPH. If someone had asked him what was wrong he would say “I am unhappy, because the others are being mean to me.”

Many times, in describing or solving a problem we focus on what comes after because and not before it e.g

 We sometimes say, I am not doing well because my boss is not motivating me

I am not doing well, because my boss doesn't appreciate me

I am so hurt, because people always leave me out of things

The most important part of those statements is what comes before because, that is where you are affected and that is also where you have power to cause change:

What you are saying is: I am not happy, I am not doing well, I am so hurt. So if all these are true, here is my question to you…What are you going to do about it. The things that come after the ‘because’ are not your only source. You can take responsibility for changing your situation by giving yourself permission to be who you want to be in spite of your limitations.

Rudolph had many options to solve his problem of feeling unhappy and unwanted. If he did not realize it, he would have sat blaming God for giving him a big red nose, insulting his friends for being so insensitive and so on after all that he would still remain ‘unhappy’. Luckily for Rudolph, Santa helped him out by asking him to use his nose as a guiding light for his sleigh. This made those same Reindeer looking down on him to wish they could be more like him. Here is the rest of the carol:

“Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say,

Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?

Then all the other reindeer loved him

And they shouted out with glee

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

You’ll go down in history “

My advice to you is this:

Where you cannot necessarily change the behavior of others… Change Yourself.

If the obvious solution to your problem isn’t working out...Find another

No one invited you to join their team…Start yours

Your boss does not motivate you?…Motivate yourself

Your environment is sucking the life out of you…Change It

Your teachers didn’t teach you…teach yourself

You are the architect of your own destiny, the number one beneficiary of your success and the number one victim if you fail. If your circumstances and those around you are not helping you to be your best self…

TAKE OVER

Run First

Have you ever decided to go on a diet, then you went all out on a two week eating spree to prepare yourself for it? Do you know someone who has gone on one ‘last’ shopping spree to celebrate the fact that they will start saving money next month? How about the, “Yes I know he is not good for me but I will miss him so much, let me see him one last time before breaking up with him?” OR the “let me sleep all day so that I can wake up and work all night.” What happens when we go further down a bend in a bid to prepare for a U-Turn? Are we procrastinating progress or motivating ourselves? Let’s talk about that after this story.

Ene is a very brilliant young lady and she loved to learn a lot. There was only one problem, she always seemed to be worse off a short while after learning new lessons. After she learned about the benefits of exercise and eating healthy she was motivated to change her eating habits. She even decided to completely give up her favorite treat for 12 months (Ice-cream and chocolate cake). She set a date for two weeks later to make the switch and she was 72KG when this happened. In the two weeks before her D-day, Ene had Ice cream and everything (cake, cookies, waffles, you name it!) she did not mind the weight she was adding, after all she was going to start going to the gym and eating right in a short while. Well the D-day came and a 76KG Ene gave up all her goodies, she was mentally ready.

Two weeks down the line, she started faltering little by little, she had developed an addiction to waffles during her two week binge and she had started having it between meals. Her job did not give her the luxury of going to the gym as often as she should so by week 4, a 74 kg Ene gave up on her newly found healthy lifestyle and gave in to the lure of her new addiction. She had to hide her scale. Something similar happened when she read about financial planning, she ended up even more broke than she was before she decided to start living on a budget. So upset with the people who wrote those articles she called up her mum to ask for money and explain her situation. Her mum laughed and said “Ene, if you started your diet at 72kg instead of 76 you would be 70kg by now instead of 75. Do you remember the story of Ikenga who told the king to give him the winner’s prize before the race?” “Yes mum” Ene rolled her eyes as she remembered “Everyone in the village knew he was the fastest because he had won so many races so he decided he wanted the prize in advance.” “Good” said mum, and what did the King tell Ikenga? Ene’s eyes popped as the lesson unfolded in her mind, how could she have forgotten this simple truth

“Who kills a bird he hasn’t caught first.

Before you say amen, you must pray first.

Imagine a horse pulling a cart that is placed first.

Can you bury a man who wasn’t born, first?

How can you eat, if you don’t cook first?

To deserve rest, you must work first.

To win a race, you must

Run First.”

What Ene could have done:

Start her new exercise routine immediately and for every 3 weeks she was faithful to it, she could reward herself with a nice bowl of ice creame. Putting the reward after the work is done makes all the difference. Don’t procrastinate progress. Let’s come up with other suggestions on how to manage and sustain progress? Please drop your comment here or you can send me an email with questions and comments uki@poisenigeria.org