Those of you who have known me for up to 5 or 6 years know that I have added and lost weight in a yo-yo like fashion. Something would happen to me, I would let go and bloat and then would lose myself; when my ideal person confronts and overcomes the bloated me, I find myself again and continue on my wellness journey. It is not always easy to get my grove back on but when I do….I go all out and get it done.
You see, I was introduced to sports at the age of 17 or 18 when an instructor approached my high school in a deal that was supposed to be a part of his practical Coaching course at the NIS (Nigerian Institute of Sports, Lagos, Nigeria). Prince (as he was called) arranged with the school for us to be at the national stadium very early in the morning, go through the exercises, learn the skills, play some games as we built our muscles, resilience and skills in playing handball. It was sometimes fun and sometimes tough. We would be shouted down (or up! as the case may be) and did laps round the court or hop like a frog if we missed a throw and needed to learn the pain that came from not getting it right. Well, we did learn. We also grew. I would later go on to be a part of the Campus team in my University and be a part of the Gold medalists during the Nigerian University Games of 1998.
Well this writing is not about my romance with sports and my long love for being fit. No it’s not. It is actually more about what I have become from being able to keep stretching myself over and over again to become whatever I needed to be each time, so I could achieve what I desired. I have gone through the various cycles of enrolling myself in something and then strengthening my muscles, increasing my knowledge base and performing at par with any player in the field.
Whether it is a new field like when I crossed from Administration to Learning Consulting, or it is from moving across industries/economic sectors like the time I moved from the corporate financial to the Non-profit, it did not matter. I just made sure I ran the laps, did the drill, build my muscles and play the game to the best of my ability every time. All the time.
My Motivation
I am externally stimulated and always find strength and drive to chase, pursue and strive for something when I can see what I will obtain at the end of my endeavour. That probably comes from a place of joining a sport where the winner is determined by the goals in the net. So, I always look towards goals. To get myself going, I need to establish the goal that I am gunning for. This fuels me and as long as I can see the net, I always find the strength. So the prize matters for me! Performance targets makes sense to me. Rewards and sanctions makes sense to me. They don’t faze me at all.
The Process of Reinventing
Whenever I want to do something new, I find myself going through the drills of learning the handball game all over again. Until recently, I could not explain how I was able to enter and conquer a new field without being educated or groomed for it. I did not give it a second thought at all and even believed it was only natural and that I was following the norms. Well I started to understand when people started referencing my Career Switch and asking HOW I DID IT at the age of 40! Whoa…! I thought ‘isn’t that what people do?” I mean…you DO WHAT IT TAKES, right? Well, I began to see that it was not that easy and as normal as i thought it was.
After having shared tips and guidelines on what to do to Penetrate, Dominate and Influence in a new field, I have been able to see the process has helped. I have used this process to Coach People through their own walk and it gives me great satisfaction to know that i can help a lot more by sharing it here with you all.
Step 1: Get Informed
One of the things my Handball coach did first was to tell us about the game, the general rules, the principles, the fowls and tricks, etc. This was how we got insight into what we were getting into. So whenever I changed jobs, took on a new role, moved into another sector or when I made the big switch into HR/Learning, the first thing I would do is to get as much information as I could.
Step 2: Get In Shape
Before we began playing games, we went through weeks of shaping-up and being fit. We exercised daily, we strengthened our muscles. In my career, I learnt to shape my mind into what I needed it to be for me to perform as needed. To play the game, you need the flame.On the field of play, you need to fire yourself up so you don’t lose the game from body weakness or lose grips.
At work, I learnt to speak the language, I got fired up with knowledge, asked questions, tested my understanding and always sought feedback. Better to fail in training than to lose a game.
Step 3: Get Going
In sports, preparation and training is critical but having ‘meets’ and ‘friendlies’ is one of the ways that a team can get better. So one of the things I do is to seek opportunities to play some ‘friendly’ games. Get my sleeves rolled up and my knees in the soil -not just hands in the dirt- if I have to. I have discovered that the highest level of learning retention and acquisition of knowledge is from doing and teaching others. So I quickly get going in the ‘doing, learning and improving from lessons learned’.
I have no airs about learning from anyone, so whether decades older or younger than me. . . if you have what I need, I am coming to learn at your feet.
If you apply these basic steps to your life in business or your career, I am sure that you will be able to make that change and conquer that area of business or work that you just moved into. And if you have been held back for so long because you did not know what to do, try these steps and let me know how it goes. I am excited to hear what you do and how it worked for you. I am also happy to learn other tips from you so I can add to my learning jar.
Thanks for reading.
Yours limitlessly,
ESA