eBusiness Weekly
Arthur Marara
The first and best victory is to conquer self.” (Plato). Many people think in terms of conquering other people but few think about conquering themselves. A number of times you do not need to work on other people, you need to work on yourself. There is an advert was a regular feature on many televisions across the African content on HIV/AIDS which had an interesting motto, “Imagine a world without HIV/AIDS…IT BEGINS WITH YOU.”
The key word is YOU. We cannot influence the world until we have mastered the art of influencing ourselves. You are the epicentre of the change that you want to see in life. Mohandas Mahatma Ghandi put it succinct way, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” This week, we shall share some thoughts on personal leadership.
Overcome yourself first
“He who conquers others is strong but he who conquers himself is mighty.” (Lao Tzu). The challenge that the world is facing today is that of people who have failed to lead their own lives but they want to lead other people’s lives.
A lot of people want to dominate other people but few think of dominating themselves. One of the enemies you can ever face in life is not your neighbour, but the person you see daily in the mirror daily. The desires, thoughts, passions of the person you see in the mirror can be your greatest asset or your worse liability. How much control do you have over yourself?
When your life is in disorder, there is no way that you can put order in the lives of other people. It is so fundamental to take time to think and work on our own lives before we decide to work on the lives of other people.
Consider this, there are people who involve themselves in other people’s marriages when theirs are at the brink of collapse, some are very good at mentoring other people’s children but they fail in mentoring their own children.
For those who share my faith, Jesus spoke about the issue of personal leadership as well. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:3-5 attests to this, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (NKJV)
Change yourself first
Leo Tolstoy once noted that, “many people think of changing the world but few think of changing themselves.” You can never be able to make meaningful contribution in the lives of other people until your life becomes a living testimony of what you preach.
Many people do not buy into the savoury words that we can share but the actions that correspond to the same. This is why St. Francis of Assisi once noted that, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” You will never be able to live your life effectively when you cannot control yourself. What you do not control will control you.
Win from the inside out
A lot of people appear to be victors on the outside but are victims on the inside. This explains the reason why some marriages are very good to outsiders, but a menace to the parties to it.
Greatness is from the inside out not from the outside in. What is the state of your mind, what values do you meditate upon, how noble are they. Win at a personal level, before winning at an interpersonal level. Win in your family, win in your own marriage, and win the respect from your own children. Earn the respect of the people that you work with. You want to see the true character of a person — Pastor, Bishop, father, wife, CEO, whatever the case maybe — ask the people who stay with those people. They know better. Be a hero at home, and a hero outside. Do not be an angel to outsiders, and a devil at home.
Take stock of your life
There is no one who is perfect in life, but we need to work on our personal lives daily. There are several areas of life that have to be overcome. Overcome your thoughts, enhance your mindset, deal with bodily temptations whatever form they might be and any selfishness to mention but a few. There is no way that you can be able to care about other people when you have not overcome your selfish ambitions. There is no way that you can be able to give other people when you have not managed to overcome the “economics” that controls you.
There is more to life than just living life for yourself. This can only be realised when you have succeeded in overcoming yourself. When you take stock of your life, you are able to see the areas that you need to address. Come up with a personal leadership plan which will guide you. Set your personal leadership goals, the time frames that you need to run with and the strategies that you are going to use. This week I will leave you with an interesting thought, “If we don’t discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.” (William Feather).
Join me on Star FM on Wednesdays (09:30am-10:00am) for some moments of inspiration on the Breeze with Tariro “Mai Judah”.
Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote and peak performance speaker, business strategy facilitator commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, sales, business leadership and strategy. Arthur is the author of the “Personal Development Toolkit”, “Keys to Effective Time Management” among other inspirational books. Follow him on social media, or WhatsApp him on +263780055512 or email [email protected].
