Times Of Swaziland: A LOCKDOWN TO REDEEM YOUR BRAND…

A LOCKDOWN TO REDEEM YOUR BRAND…
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Bandiswa Vilane on 26/03/2020 08:14:00


As we are quarter to a lockdown, there’s a lot to look at – or rather
‘lockdown’ and one of those things being our attitude.
Remember the goals you set at the beginning of the year? Motivated by the hearty
slogan ‘twenty plenty’ as we throttled into 2020, ready and waiting to
accomplish a list of things we probably had in another list as we entered 2019?
Now, how many years have you strutted in with the same list, and out with
nothing on that list having been accomplished?  Maybe it’s time to visit your
‘plenty list’ and introspect on the reasons why you haven’t done anything.
We are all trying to accomplish something, be it we are aware of that, each day
is a step into working on being the best we can be, because it is inevitable
that in our innate selves we want to flourish.
Better
We are in one way or another working or at least trying to be better  than the
next person or ourselves, so we compile a list of things to do each year to get
there and try again the next because we can never settle for mediocrity. The
true eminenceof ‘it is better to die trying, than to not try at all’ and
while this is in every ounce a snippet from a motivational speaker’s pocket,
we are not in this world to spend every day trying. We are here to live, and if
every day is procrastination hour then we have dismissed our purpose for being
here. Just maybe the reason we never get around to doing anything in our lists
is because we are big procrastinators. We postpone the execution of every dream
to tomorrow and so on and so forth until we are another 365 days later, and we
are ready to pick up our list and dust it and then take it with us into another
year. An anonymous author once said that the thief of action is procrastination
and time and time again, this has proven true.
Procrastinating
However, some of us are probably not even procrastinating so why are we walking
with the same bucket lists and goals into every year? Right next to
procrastination is being comfortable with the bare minimum. Good is the enemy of
great, and as it is, we do the minimum and allow us to be satisfied with that,
even when we can do better. We settle for the little that we have done and keep
it moving, but then what happens to the rest of the plan? We chuck it out the
window because we’re confusing the act of beginning with being there and that
is lesson 101 of how to find yourself sitting comfortably in mediocrity.
Despite the obvious fact that many things stand between us and becoming
everything we want to be, the biggest one is our attitude. We can have all the
resources and a book full of all the things we wish to attain but without the
right attitude, we disqualify from our own dream. Our dreams are a brand on
their own and our attitude decides if we are in alignment with our brand. Is
your attitude on par with your dreams? Or you are planning to pop champagne
bottles on a beer budget? If your budget isn’t worked on day in and day out,
then I am here to promise you that you won’t be drinking that champagne
anytime soon.
Attain
We’re speaking of alignment because we want to attain things that need a
leader’s attitude with a follower’sattitude, and I am yet to see anyone who
has successfully made the two work together and succeed. So far, everyone who
has tried, has been simply ‘trying again’ every year and is ready to toss
their bones and ask their ancestors if they are ‘off brand’ with the family
standards. As we are about to begin our 20 days of a lockdown, I’m here to
tell you that your ancestors definitely haven’t forgotten about you, they are
bringing you a brand because the universe has given us 20 days of redemption for
our ‘twenty plenty’.
These are days to self-introspect and look at why things haven’t been working
out and how we can make it right. In other words, this is a moment to redeem
ourselves and work on the parts of us that stand against what we wish to attain.
Twenty days to nurse our wounds and beginning to rise, we have nine months to
come for everything we’ve always wanted to achieve and some days to be
prepared to spend the rest of the year ticking our boxes and waiting to go into
2021 with a new list, and align with our brands from the onset.