OF CULTURE SHOCKS AND LEVERAGE

So I am in the process of Authoring a book. It is an exciting venture. It proves several concepts that I have talked about in this blog. For example, I talked of what you focus on grows bigger and bigger. As I continue in the flow of this book, I can already see several others coming out of this original concept. Kind of reminds me of a certain millionaire who said that once he made his first million, that was it, the rest were easy to follow….
But I digress. One of the topics that I highlight in my upcoming book is the topic of Reverse Order….how one person can take what has traditionally been done and cultured, and take a different look at it…and harness the potential therein. The main concept of today’s post is LEVERAGE. Believe me, this is one of those big concepts that a Visionary needs to have. Before we can discuss it, let me digress again and take you into how my world has been the past three or so days. I have traveled between two zip codes, and now I am in Nairobi since Sunday evening. Obviously, when you travel from one place to another, you will almost always encounter Culture Shock.

For example, it seems to me that all the drivers on Nairobi Roads are competing for space…even the safe distance you keep with the vehicle in front of you is ruthlessly robbed from you by drivers from both sides of the single road. So, I find myself in that condition, it is a gridlock, and the driver on my left forces himself through the safe distance i was keeping, in the process, his van brushes on my vehicle,

and dismantles his tail lights..”Good for him”, I tell myself. Well, shock to my sanctified soul, the driver and the conductor of this van jump out of the van and demand that I pay them for the small wreckage. Culture shock at its worst!
That was not all. What I quickly realized is that Nairobians spent HOURS on end on their roads to and from work! I was thoroughly uncomfortable with that set up. It happened the following day also…and the following day…virtually on any road I was taking. I started highlighting my comments to my bro in the car. One of the comments I made is, “If any Nairobian would take Instructional CD’s with them and listen to them as they travel to work, they would earn a Degree within one year of commuting”. He laughed, but I was right.

That is what leverage is. Taking the gridlock of situations and using it for something constructive. Feeding your mind with inspiration and motivation is extremely crucial to fulfilling your life signature. I would really encourage Nairobians to think about this. Another culture shock in this vein is that there are pretty few instructional materials that one can purchase in Nairobi. That is sad, but it is also a blessing, since the market is open to be filled. Lemon to lemonade kind of stuff.

Most commuters in Nairobi are subjected to FM stations that discuss matters ‘below the waist’…all the way from home to work. Shameless! What would happen to a Nairobian who would replace this status and leverage it with Motivation, Inspiration and Instruction? Do that for one full year, I am sure that person will not be commuting any more, they will have their own vehicle and ultimately turn it into a University.

Anyway, my encouragement today is for all of us to take another look and ask ourselves, “Why do we do the things we do?”. Analyze your ‘culture’ and find out if it is adding any value to your life at the moment. If that is not happening, then switch on to the power of Leverage. A visionary is very keen to leverage on anything and everything that happens to them. It was written in the good book “God works all things together for good…” For this to happen, one must be keen, and very ‘PRESENT’ in every moment of their lives. In order to leverage on situations and circumstances, put on the mind of turning lemon to lemonade. In short, watch your language…where you COMPLAIN most is ultimately where you can exercise the power of Leverage.
Have a great weekend as you take a second peek of your life.