BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
Over the past three or four weeks I have spent a great portion of my time rethinking so many things in my life. I spent my time reassessing my life and where it was headed as well as how I was going to arrive at my destination.
The biggest aspect of the reassessment was how I was going to deliver more value to those around me. I believe my blog has done well in creating value for those that read it but I wanted to figure out how I can deliver more value. I wanted to create more Game-changers and I have been looking for ways to do that much better than I did in 2014. I considered many things some of which I will definitely implement in my work. These include books, seminars, podcasts and all will have the sole objective of creating more Game-changers. I realized during this period that my passion is not just about figuring out what makes the best the best or as I like to put it what is it that makes a Game-changer a Game-changer? This is only half the equation that gives my life purpose. The other part is the reason I tweet some of the things I tweet. This other part is the reason I write what I write and even plan to write books and do seminars. I do not just want to figure out what makes them the best, I want to know whether what they have done and the way they have done it can be recreated in a more controlled setting. I do not just want to know what it is that makes Apple so innovative but also whether it is possible to recreate an Apple-like company somewhere in Africa? Can we take the Nike philosophy and recreate it into an investment company?
Genetics teaches us that our DNA differs but a few percentages of that of other animals. I believe our genetic makeup is about 95% the same as monkeys’. Only 5% of our DNA allows humans to literally do what they do. We have taken over the world and even come close to destroying it and yet genetically the reason we can do this and monkeys cannot is a mere 5%! I mean academically 5% is not even a big deal. If you get 65% on a test and I get 60% we still receive the same symbol on our report card. Yet according to genetics 5% makes you human as opposed to being a monkey. School has dismissed what nature has been telling us. 5% matters! Could it be the reason that Apple and Nike are different to other companies is simply that they are 5% different to other companies? I mean if your DNA was 5% different you would be a monkey! Is it really that far-fetched to believe that it is simply a small difference in the most successful individuals as opposed to those that just get by?
Using this thinking pattern I spent the past few weeks thinking about those 5% of things that could radically change the results I was getting. I asked myself what were those 5% changes that if I made in terms of delivering value would dramatically alter the results I was getting? What 5% changes could you do that could alter your life dramatically? Your 5% change could be simply working an hour longer on your craft than you already do or reading for an hour a day. If your dream is to write a book your 5% change could be simply writing one page every day for 10 months. At the end of 10 months you would have a 300 page book written and yet all you have ever done is write one page each day.
After the 3 week hiatus from posting anything I knew exactly where what I wanted to do with my writing and what I wanted to achieve with it. Strange that your 5% change could simply be coming to a complete halt in all that you are busy with and rethinking how you can do what you do better. It feels good to be back behind the screen of my laptop doing what I love which is changing the world. Things do not have to be going south before you come back to the drawing board. Personally I think rather come back to the drawing board when things are going well. The worst time to come back to the drawing board is when you have to. Most people handle their lives like they do their taxes they only do things they really have to do.
Do not handle your life like you would your taxes where you either only do things when you really have to or hire someone else to handle it for you. Getting back to the drawing board will help you see where you went wrong or even what you are doing right. The best thing I could have done for the rest of my 2015 and further is actually going back to the drawing board.