Winners code

GEORGE CHINGARANDE | Monday January 28, 2013 00:00

I once watched a documentary on the life of the late American musician Michael Jackson.To celebrate his life the documentary showcased thousands of people whose lives were touched by Jackson. Many of these had actually become some kind of semi professional Jackson copycats. Some could dress like him; some walked like him; some could reproduce his dance routine and some could mimic his lyrics. Many of these Jackson copycats do a great job of imitating him; and in fact they are very good at what they do. However, none of them is Michael, and never will be. Where is the problem?

You are powered by you and the only person you can be is you.The greatest problem that people who imitate Micheal Jackson face is that they may be able to reproduce his dance routines, his lyrics and imitate his voice but they will never be able to reproduce his effect. The effect that Jackson produced was simply unique. That is true for each one of us. We can learn from other people; but we can never be them. There is an engine in each one of us that powers us forward. With cars it is not uncommon to find a car written powered by SAAB or powered by Mercedes Benz.

Normally these are cars from one brand driven by an engine from another. This is possible for cars but not possible for humans. You are powered by you; and I am powered by me. You achievements will have to come from you; and my achievements will come from me. People can assist, yes, but my dream can only be powered by me and your dreams are to be powered by you. Life is a do it yourself project. One person you really have to pay attention to is that person called you. Your talents and abilities will power you ahead. Trying to re-create yourself after someone's image will lead to frustration.

Expand your lifeWhy do many people imitate other people? The reason is simple. Deep down in their heart of hearts, they feel that they are not adequate. Something in them yearns for something that they are not; and that they will not be.That yearning cannot be cured by imitation but by self expansion. Plants are designed with an inherent need of light; flowers cannot even bloom without it. In man the need for self expansion is as genuine as the need of light in plants. Without it life is reduced to a banal existence. Life has three dimensions. These are length, depth and width. Of these three, only length is measured by a common metric that we call time. The other two-width and depth-are what give gravitas and meaning to your life. You can do very little about the length of your time but every day you can do much about the depth and width of your life.

Expansion begins on the insideMany people grapple with the wrong question for far too long. Day after day, they battle with the question -Can I? Can I achieve greatness? Can I succeed? Can I do it? Can I solve these problems? That question and others not too dissimilar renditions actually paralyse them. Expansion begins when we make the transition from asking ourselves the question Can I and begin to ask How can I? Can I questions your ability whilst How can I exercises your mind in search of solutions. It is very critical that you begin to ask yourself the question How can I?

Spread your tentaclesWhatever your vocation or career may be, you can spread your tentacles. The question you need to ask yourself is- how can I spread my tentacles. The width of your life increases in proportion to the degree that you spread your tentacles. Your influence need not remain localised. No one ever achieved greatness with localised influence.You need to stop just living for yourself; no one ever impacted the world by being self centered.

Practice the pareto principleThere is a principle, named after economist Vilfredo Pareto, that specifies the unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. The principle states that, for many phenomena, 20% of invested input is responsible for 80% of the results obtained. Put another way, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. It is also referred to as the 'Pareto rule' or the '80/20 rule'.

This principle has great relevance for people's self expansion efforts. Expansion is a never a quest of more works but should be driven a quest for what works. Many people are trapped in a mentality of looking for more work instead of looking for what works. We have become experts at being busy and novices at identifying and doing what works. There is need for each one of us to pause and ask ourselves the question-Is what I am doing working? If you expand your effort on what does not work, your efforts will not yield much fruit. Identify what works and go to work working on it.

Stretch outside your comfort zoneYou can never deepen your life nor broaden it if you stay in your comfort zone. If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness.Expansion is a lifelong process. The problem with most people is that they have become accustomed to lives that are bereft of progress. Steve Covey once famously said, 'People who exercise their freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally 'being lived.' [That is, until] they are acting out scripts written by parents, associates and society.' Whose script are you daily acting out? The way to self expansion is to begin to do what you can do day by day and little by little. Figure out what works; and start doing it day by day and little by little. Be yourself.