Position, Possession and Procession

We learn best from our mistakes and failures. That is only if we take time to acknowledge, assess and move forward from them.

Over the last 12 months, my light waned on many things. I struggled to write. I hated my life. I felt under immense pressure every way I turned. Business wasn’t doing great. The resulting stress was affecting the relationship with my wife, children and friends.

Every day felt like I was a living fraud. And this was killing me! Where did I go wrong? When did I lose the plot? It took a lot of courage to reflect on where my train got off the tracks. The answer was looking me at the face all this time. It had been chipping away at the back of my mind.

What if this business works, then what? Will I be able to handle the success and keep my boat on an even keel? Who [team] can I trust with my vision and the knowledge that they will not let me down?

The more I reflected on these, three words summed up my escape route. These were position, possession and procession.

When most people look back over their lives, they may consider some things as failures. I have learned that everything that I consider a failure in my past was a course correction to help my future.” – Tyler Perry

I share these three words more as a mile-marker along my growth journey. I hope these thoughts will inspire you along your own journey.

1. Position

This is one heck of a moving target. Just when I think everything is lined up, some crazy wind knocks the wind out of my sail. My approach to business development was to network like crazy and acquire as many business cards as possible.

At the same time, I spent about three months thinking of and developing an online course. My belief was that if I build it, they will come. That was as successful as a bat flying by sight in the daytime! I barely made back my investment! It was, and still is, very disheartened. To be honest, I had also fallen prey to some online marketers’ hyperbole.

What I realized is that I wasn’t well positioned to make it work. I didn’t take time to listen to what the market needed. Tech issues stalled my progress and someone with too much time on their hands injected malware on my blog. It was offline for five months. I felt helpless and disillusioned! Slowly, I slipped into a depression that sapped me of my energy and will to be strategic, innovative and courage.

My lesson was to listen twice as much as I was talking. This mindset shift helped me to concentrate more on the need before offering a solution. In a sense, I began to co-create solutions together with my clients.

2. Possession

Old habits die hard. Armed with this new mindset, I was ready to conquer the world. The first order of business was to understand that alone I could go faster, but with others I would go further. This was also after a stark reality painted by an influential VIP, my wife.

“The problem with you is that you are self-sufficient,” she said to me. That reality felt like a freight train just ran me over. There I was like road-kill watching everybody else pass by on their road to success. The truth is that my threshold for help, coupled with patience, is very low. That sucked big time!

I desperately needed to fully possess my new-found desire to co-create with other people. It was tough! I sought a coach to help me think through my obstacles, real and perceived fears, develop the action required to get me where I wanted to be and identify the support I needed to make this a reality.

These coaching sessions were a life-saver. I slowly, but surely, began to take ownership of my fear of failure. I took possession of my envisioned success with more courage and conviction.

3. Procession

Prison break! This was my exact feeling after I took full possession of my vision to success. It was euphoric! It was like the sun was suddenly shining brighter and the stars began to twinkle again. But I had to constantly fight the nagging need to go back to where I was comfortable with survival.

“Do you really know what you have in your hands?” A friend I was meeting with had a glint of amazement in his eyes as he uttered these words. I had just shared one of my service offerings to him. It hit me that my self-belief had been on an all-time low for a long time. Here I was in financial survival mode, yet there was a need I was not listening to.

The following day, I threw caution to the wind and requested for an appointment with an industry leader. And he said, “Yes, let’s meet!” I know for some this is a walk in the park. For me, it was like I had hit a jackpot! My fear of failure is slowly melting away as I take a bold procession into my future success.

Why ships won’t use roads, is why cars won’t travel on oceans. When the position is wrong, the leader won’t be right.” ― Israelmore Ayivor

Often, life’s curve-balls may blind us to our personal and professional potential. You may feel rejected, dejected and ejected. My encouragement is to always fall back to the right position, take possession of that potential and then proceed with courage and conviction.

Q: How much do these thoughts reflect your personal or professional journey? You can leave a comment by clicking here.