How to Be Irreplaceable [Part 9]

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo 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.”

–Martin Luther King Jr.

As we come to a near close of this series, I have had a personal journey through it that shakes me to the core. That to live and be replaceable thereafter is to me, a waste of a life. The call of leading an irreplaceable life can never be more louder. This call for being irreplaceable causes me to take a look at my life and be thoroughly dissatisfied by what I see.

What It’s Not

Yet this call of being Irreplaceable does not in any way suggest that it’s a call for an ‘event’. Being irreplaceable is not something that comes by happenstance. It is not an accolade, neither is it the result of an achievement. Being irreplaceable is a lifestyle!

Friend, that is the very definition of a “Life Signature”. As much as a signature is signed at the bottom of a document, being irreplaceable is the sum total of the beginning, the execution, the process, the ups and downs of a life that is lived with high intentionality.

How to Be Irreplaceable (Recap)

Over the past few months, we have seen that the following are some of the ingredients of being Irreplaceable, in just about any area of your life: Homelife, professional life, business life, career advancement and so on:

1. Know the Meaning of ‘Irreplaceable’

2. Study Your Difference

3. Conquer Yourself

4. Know Who Your Audience is

5. Know What You are Poor at

6. Understand the Law of Process

7. Understand and Implement the ‘Wow Factor’

8. Execute the Small with as much Finesse as you would the Grand

DNA (short form) is a scientific word that refers to a molecule that carries most of the genetic instructions that are used for the development, functioning and reproduction in all living organisms. That is the gist of being irreplaceable. In that from the moment of realization all through life, one echoes irreplaceablity in everything they are and do.

From one phase of life to another, from one dispensation to the next, one transition to another, a visionary espouses the tenets of being irreplaceable. Their journeys are littered by the DNA of exceptional and unique being and performance.

Looking back in my life, I can see several occasions where my absence was seriously felt. Whether I was a leader of just part of the team, most of the time that I left an organization or a cause, it has seldom been ‘good riddance’.

Its not the Circumstance, but the DNA

Once you have been bitten by the DNA of irreplaceability, no circumstance affects you. It’s kind of like Jesus Christ who never attended a funeral, and when he did, he raised the dead!

Why is that?

It is because of the mantra of living now at the moment. Life happens now. Not when I get married. Now when I get kids. Now when I get a Degree. Now when I get a contract. Not when I get a windfall. Not after the kids are out of the house. No. Life happens now. And actually, life does not really happen, but I make things happen now.

It makes no difference what the circumstances are. Circumstances do not dictate your irreplaceability. Your energy and resolve does, regardless of circumstances and situations. Once you have been bitten by the DNA of irreplaceability, no circumstance affects you. It’s kind of like Jesus Christ who never attended a funeral, and when he did, he raised the dead!

How do we do it?

1. Realize it is a Process:

And when you do, you are instantly transformed from being a waiter to being one who is living. You realize that what you have in your hand at the moment is what you need to use. You need to realize that the fact that you have not ‘arrived’ does not mean that the journey is useless. Understand the process and litter your journey with memories of happiness and fulfillment. Learn during the hard times. But do not stay stuck. It is a process.

2. Realize it is a ladder:

Ladders have rungs. You do not get to the top of a ladder by flying there. You climb the ladder systematically from one rung to another. The thing is that you just need to grow strong enough to master the ‘circumstances’ of the current rung. Realize that your next level is dependent on the current level.

3. Remain faithful:

Don’t be like the engineer who had a construction project assigned to him by his boss. He did a shoddy job not knowing that the boss actually was constructing that house for him (the engineer!). Stay faithful. Most to the time we normally ask “What’s in It for me?”. If you are engaged in something and your core reason for involvement is your own benefit, it becomes really complicated for you to be irreplaceable.

You think am kidding? See what happened to MTN Nigeria here.

4. Always use a System:

Whether you are doing a big project or a small one, you should always have a system that you use to perform. This is key. A system will always guarantee the same level of output. Without a system, you cannot guarantee results.

Remember, what you are engaged in now, in thought and in deed, you need to execute the DNA of being irreplaceable. Over to you.