THAT 10-YEAR CHALLENGE

This week’s 10-yearschallenge took social media by storm, seemingly for all the right reasons. It gave us a chance to reflect on the past decade.
For anyone or any entity to grow and be a success introspections are essential.

The 10-year challenge is trending globally. Participants simply post two images - usually side by side - which were taken at least 10 years apart. The overall message is mostly self love and showing the world how you have levelled up appearance wise over the years.

The challenge provided us with some good chuckles as we noted some of the most famous local and international felebs (Facebook celebrities) and personalities take us on a visual journey of their life.

Performance

This is good for some people who never knew some of these personalities say 10 years ago. I for one had never followed rapper Cassper Nyovest’s career until a few years ago. It was interesting to see him post himself in a tiny nightclub performing for a handful of people juxtaposing that with 10 years later when performing at Soccer City stadium for 68 000 people.

That was one of the posts that captured my eye as well as another of a small house and 10 years later the owner showed us how he later built a much bigger one.
Reflections are great because they offer one an opportunity to have a yardstick on how far you have developed personally or professionally. Ten years ago you may have been jobless and now you are a top manager. That’s the beauty of time. Nothing is permanent.

While most of the posts seemed to be about how people look more handsome or more beautiful than they did 10 years ago, it’s the ones about meaningful development that to me were the biggest winners of this thoughtful challenge.
This made me recall one of the most profound personal development habits ever shared in these many self-help books. In the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey speaks of Seven Habits all successful people have. It is Habit number two that captures me for today that I would like to share with you. 

Envision

Habit two is simply: Begin with the end in mind. Here is how he explains it: “Habit 2 is based on imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation.

The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint.
If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualise who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.

It’s about connecting again with your own uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfil yourself.”
There is a similar view by one Matthias Alexander. He says, “People do not decide their future.

They decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” So if you live a reckless lifestyle in your youth chances are slim that your 10-year challenge pictures will portray a fresh looking face later. Similarly in business, the little things that occur daily in a business have a huge bearing in the future.

If a restaurant today is famous for having poor services, chances are that in 10-year when one does the 10 years challenge there will either be a new tenant or a ‘closed sign’ hanging on its entrance.

Determination

With schools opening on Tuesday the choices to be made by many of the students in Form One and Form Four in terms of subjects will determine what they will be in their adult life in terms of career path or self-employment.

As the quirky but true old saying goes, ‘books before boys because boys bring babies,’ the choices you make today to either delay sexual debut or not may determine the speed of realising your life long dreams.

The happiest in the 10-year challenges are those who also embraced the principle that failure is not final. It is not everyone who posted a picture who has had a smooth 10 years that has been filled with YEBO all the way.
But it is those who even when they got a NO knew that no is the beginning of a negotiation. It is those that understood that failing does not mean you are a failure and went on to keep trying.

As long as you are alive, your next 10 year challenge could also look as great as any of those amazing personalities.
Keep going and have a great week ahead.

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