Slightly over a year ago, I made a statement on Social Media that was taken way out of context and got me in some trouble.
Briefly, I said something like “In any type of setting, it matters who knows you”.
This statement was made with reference to how I got my first internship. I understood precisely why people chose to spin it in the way that they did, even when I did not mean it that way.
At the time, I was also heavily in the spotlight with more of people wishing me ill than good. It was a time when I was determined to win and I was going to give it everything I had. I had also failed in a certain field of endeavor, which meant for me that I had some things to prove, to myself – and the world, but mostly myself.
After University, I moved out of my parents’ home, to a different city with the goal to make something out of myself. I got a small job with an old friend which I kept for a very short while. I was working as the Marketing and Public Relations Officer for his start up company – but at the time I had ambitions of chasing my own dreams in the field of Gender and Women’s Empowerment. I ended up leaving the other job and risking it all with hope that something fruitful would come out.
A friend of mine, knowing I had left my job, invited me to a certain corporate function at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe City, Malawi. It was a launch of a certain report, as I recall. There was a panel discussion and a few topics were tackled. I paid attention to all that was said, but I was quite unhappy when one of the older professionals said that we, the younger people, do not want to deliver when we are given job opportunities.
I took to the mic and made a bold statement, that the fact that it is not that we do not want to deliver but rather that we are a generation much driven by purpose and passions, but this industry does not accommodate us working within our passions. Picture a person that is very passionate about videography, and instead of being given the chance to produce documentaries, we are thrown into a banking job as teller.
Now I have absolutely nothing against starting at the bottom. You would be amazed at my job description currently. We all have got to start out somewhere. In the long run, some people even rediscover their passions and find out that that thing that they never thought they would want to do, was their life’s purpose. Think of someone like me that studied and was so passionate about Gender and Women’s Empowerment – only to find that my passion is really in Media, Marketing and Public Relations. Then again, this is not conclusive for me. Who knows what I will be into in a few years. That is life.
My point is, for as long I am not passionate about what I am doing, I will not be able to deliver to my highest potential. That is the difference between this generation and that of our parents. Our parents operated a lot and almost solely on the principle of discipline. This generation of instant gratification needs a little more than discipline. We need passion. If the corporate world is to benefit from us in the best way, we must be thrown directly to our passions and our bosses will be amazed what we can do. I have appreciated this principle being recognised in my new job.
On the day of the report launch I expressed how I had studied Gender and Women’s Empowerment but failed to get any sort of job in that field and thus indeed could not deliver to my deepest potential at the said time in any other field. The UN Women Country director was in the room that day and she felt my passion. She met me after the launch and gave me her business card to get in touch with her the following Monday.
I emailed her, and I was requested to send in my CV and was called in to come start work as an M&E intern.
I love sharing my journey on Social Media so I posted about this – that it matters who knows you, on Social Media – which after being taken out of context led to a little bit of this and that. And yet, a year later, you would expect me to regret having done as I did – but I still feel the same way. Why?
I meant that statement precisely as I said it – it matters who knows you. I did not say it matters who you know, get me right. I did not say it matters who you are pestering and begging to offer a you a job. I did not say it matters who knows your parents or who your parents know. I said it matters who knows you. Someone who knows you without having to use any sort of illegal means to get ahead, but knows you simply because you are good at what it is that you do.
In this life, you get what you work for. I deeply believe in the principle of being good at what you do, without ever needing to prove that to some. I got my internship because I stood up for what I believed in and impressed a boss that was in the room. I did not get it out of favoritism. She did not know anything about me, besides my passion for Gender and Women’s empowerment, to have to favor me.
“If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, even if he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
So get out there and make yourself known. I treasure the principle of positioning yourself to be used.
You do not need to force anybody to recognise you. I believe that if you can keep working on and perfecting your craft, sooner or later the world will recognise you and honor you for it. That promotion will come your way!
To achieve this sort of recognition, even while being in your passion – you must be able to position yourself to be used. I am saying used, not misused. Speak out on what you can do. Let people who may be in need of your expertise know that you are available if they must need your help. Show every single thing that you can do. At the same, look at the Economy you are in and find which of your talents are most marketable. Do that thing very well. Position yourself right, and sell!
This is a very competitive era, and we must work possibly ten times a hard as our parents to get half of what they got. But if you do get the chance to be recognised, go out of your way to prove your worth and be usable. Then, you may be able to get 10 times what your parents got with very little, but also very disciplined effort.
Now we are speaking of discipline. Discipline is one of my trusted principles to get much done, anywhere. When you are in your passions and have positioned yourself to be used, you must be heavily disciplined. When given a job, settle down and do more than you have been requested to do. Do the best you possibly can, every single time.
“With little discipline you do little things.
With a lot of discipline, there is nothing that you cannot do.”
– Carlos Ghosn
At the end of the day, we all want to be successful, and very at that. My book “By The End of Your Teens” discusses how success is achievable through much discipline.
Discipline, defined, is the practice of training people (or the self) to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience.
If you ask any successful person about their secret to their success, on their list of things will most likely be “Discipline”. This means that they have trained themselves to say – for every action, there is a consequence, be it positive or negative.
This is no coincidence. To excel at anything, first – one must be very clear of what it is that they set out to do (purpose). Secondly, one must have a good sense of self-discipline and control over what exactly it is that they do. Working in your field of passion could be pointless if you choose to be undisciplined and do as you please. Discipline is essential to live a very well-balanced life.
Success is not linear. It is not just achieving one thing. Being successful means you do well in everything that you do and you do well every single time. So being successful demands a lot of discipline.
“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”
– Jim Rohn
Being successful is not complicated.
You can start today on a journey that will take you to a future where everything you have ever dreamt of is possible and achievable.
So let me end this post with a quote I deeply love:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper
He should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted,
or Beethoven composed music,
or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well
That all the hosts of heaven and earth
Will pause to say
Here lived a great street sweeper
Who did his job well.”
– Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
All my love,
Ntha x
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