The Accountant March-April 2016

SOCIETY
SOCIETY
For quite some time now, I have
been thinking and asking myself
this question “Why are some
people more successful than
others?” This is a mind intriguing
question that we all have pondered at a
certain time in our life. I think/am of the
opinion that it all lies in our attitude. In
the words of Denis Waitley, an American
inspirational speaker and writer, “Your
attitude is either the lock on or key to the
door to your success!”
Success starts in the mind, when we
envisage what we anticipate to happen,
then we strategize how we would like to
accomplish it, then we get down to action
and make it happen. That moment when
we build in our minds what we desire,
it still remains as a dream. People have
different magnitudes of dreams depending
on how they view their ability to achieve
them. It calls for self-confidence, positive
attitude and a bigger vision.
Positive attitude is the engine that
drives the urge to dream and look at a
wish or anticipation as a reality. Napoleon
Hill once said that, “whatever your mind
can conceive and believe, the mind can
achieve regardless of how many times
you may have failed in the past.” Every
advance in our lives begins with some idea
of some kind, and since we have unlimited
idea generation ability, we are our only
limits. Successful people are very creative.
By Bernard Ouya, bernuya@gmail.com
YOUR
ATTITUDE
DETERMINES
YOUR
ALTITUDE
They constantly seek opportunities and
brainstorm on better, faster, cheaper
and easier ways of providing a service or
producing a product.Their desires are
driven by some strong passion which is
unstoppable. Successful people can only
always see possibilities in any avenues of
endeavor, where other people only see
bottlenecks and impossibilities, they see
opportunities where other people see
threats. It’s all about training the mind
to be positive.When the Wright Brothers
(Wilbor and Orville) dreamt of flying,
they could only see possibilities, they
tried it, and today we have the aeroplane,
courtesy of the two brothers who dared
their dream!
When we dream, we can only visualize
how and what we wish for can look like.
To bring forth this into reality requires
well-thought and formulated plan and
strategy. Successful people draw up clear
road-maps to their destination, they plan
well how they would like to achieve those
goals. They have the attitude of goal setting
and execution. Successful people normally
know exactly what they want, they have
targets to achieve, they pellucidly plan
their way there and courageously pursue
it. They adhere to their tracks, not veering
off. This is an attitude they have developed
overtime. All successful people “think on
paper”. Putting down thoughts in writing,
gives it a chance to germinate, you also get
to gather more ideas. After doing the whole
architecture of what you want to achieve
then you get down to execute it according
to the plan. Execution is the most critical
stage in the achievement of a desired goal.
Successful people know this and they take
a keener interest here. Discipline, accuracy,
to details, good time management and
constant flow of communication are
prerequisite characteristics at this stage.
The instincts and knowledge of riskreturn
trade off is key to any investor or
successful person. It’s a choice that helps
to distinguish successful people from the
others. Many a times we are called upon
to decide on an investment opportunity
which is either very risky or less risky. Less
risky investments are more conservative
in nature, and tend to bear low returns.
The reverse is true for risky investments.
But the questions is, which one is viable?
We wouldn’t wish to invest in low return
investments, would we? Whilst we
wouldn’t wish to put our resources and time
either in high risky investments, right?
A balance strike of both risk and return
is called for, it begs for some instincts,
knowledge or unique attitude. Attitude of
wit and being able to make hard decisions,
of wits like Richard Branson.The success
story of Richard Branson, the founder and
architect of The Virgin Atlantic Airways is
too familiar to all and sundry. A man who
from scratch sculptured the Virgin Brand
through his risk-taking instincts and
flamboyant personality of negotiations.
Out of all odds and against sound advice
took a bold step in investing in the very
risky Virgin Atlantic Airways, a business
venture which to date is admired by many
and depicts a typical success story.
It cannot go without saying that
successful people have inculcated in
them the attitude of persistence and
perseverence. The “two Ps”are critical for
any successful person. “The strength of a
man is measured not by where he stands in
the times of comfort but where he stands
in times of hardship and adversities”, in
the words of Martin Luther King Junior.
Success normally comes with myriads of
challenges, which does not need a faint
heart. Even the sages once said that a faint
heart never won a fair lady.You need to
wear the helmet of the “two Ps” trudge on
despite the challenges faced a long the way.
It takes positive thinking, strong heart,
passion and discipline in whatever you do
to succeed.
The one thing that I am most certain
about successful people, the great local
and global business leaders, is that they
never stop to learn! They learn from
others as well besides their own past
experiences. They know too well the
importance of making contacts and
networking. They establish a network
circle around them, with their peers in
the industry, including their competitors,
in the political arena, their clients and
the government.They know none is so
great enough to have all the knowledge
and the experience, even a specialist in
a particular field needs to consult. The
attitude of learning from others, sharing
ideas and exchanging advice is key to any
prospective successful person, regardless
of path of endeavour. Unfortunately some
people have misconstrued consultation to
mean “a lack of knowledge”. That thinking
Sir Richard Charles
Nicholas Branson is an
English businessman
and investor.
The strength of a
man is measured
not by where he
stands in the times
of comfort but
where he stands in
times of hardship
and adversities -
Martin Luther King
is misleading! No one is all knowing,
except God, that’s why we consult. The
habit of benchmarking with best practices
and standard settings is a common
phenomenon with successful people. It
helps them to gauge by how much they
have veered off the main track and what
corrective measures needs to be done
early enough. It also helps them to rank
themselves with the best, and determine
their position.Successful people have the
habit of doing all the right little things
repeatedly.
Attitude determines to a great extent
how far we go with our advances in
life because from it we develop an idea,
conceptualize them, make choices and
action on our plans. And this is a whole
process not an event that needs other cooperant
factors, the ones mentioned not all
inclusive. As Donald Trump puts it in his
book, “How to Get Rich”, the buck does
not just stop but starts with us.
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