Packaging for the future.

“What does following in the footsteps of everyone else get you? It gets you to exactly the same conclusion as everyone else”- Ryan Holiday. Holiday explains that if you read what everyone else is reading, you will think like everyone else thinks and if you think like everyone else thinks, you won’t be able to come up with anything unique.

In the article, 21 behaviors that will make you brilliant at creativity and relationships by Benjamin P. Hardy, Benjamin P. Hardy emphasizes the need for us to follow our curiosity, chase down obscure leads, and find stuff that no one else has found to make us valuable to others.

In case you asleep, or wallowing in the footsteps of everyone else and still expecting a change in your life by some form of religious miracle then prepare to be wiped off by an unexpected miracle in your proximity. This is because the world is evolving faster than expected and creating enormous competition in all aspects of lives. One moment you are “this and here”, and the next you are “that and there”. At the top today, and bottom the next day. The choice of packaging yourself well to thriving well through the competition as the world evolves into space of time is yours to decide.

The quote – “the world is not a race” I believe is becoming obsolete. This is because if the world is not a race in other words a competition, why then do we struggle to add value to ourselves and to what we already possess, why do we have to keep upgrading our professional profile and requisite skills, why do we desire to have a better nation, why is sumsung struggling to produce similar product as iPhone, why is Microsoft improving its packages and developing new operating systems, why do we even have to update our apps and operating systems on our personal computers, … now! That is the growth and competition am referring to. Although we harmoniously co-relate with each other and try to share available resources, we somehow compete for them both consciously and unconsciously hence the world is a race. 

You can choose to refer to the word “competition” or “race” in any way that makes you feel comfortable but never be so comfortable at your current position, thinking what you are enjoying now will be everlasting because someone out there is working hard to displace you from your comfort zone and leave you shattered to square one since nothing good and worthy is everlasting to those who refuse to awake to meet up with the worlds demands.

In the book, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, Tim Grover explains that the world’s elite don’t compete with other people. Rather, they make others compete with them. They set the tone and make others react to their environment.

I believe competing with others without an awareness of your values, proper packaging of self and blindly imitating what your competitors are doing is a waste of time and available resources. To be a survival in this global competition requires a perpetual reminder of the need to focus on one’s own goals and the need to eliminate the desire to follow what others are doing.

People who are engulfed with the fear to move a step from their comfort zone, the weak and vulnerable, and people who are complacent with what they have and where they have arrived at resort to quotes of this kind- (“the world is not a race”) because they believe they have nothing to loss and nothing to gain and thus their survival depends solely on what they currently opposes. But the question is – how lasting is what you possess, can your current skills and knowledge thrive through this highly informative and technology advancing world?

If fear is your impediment to unleashing your full potential then Richard Branson has a message for you. Richard Branson, founder at virgin group, recently blogged that - “those who achieve great things are the ones willing to be scared but not scared off” therefore it is perfectly okay to be scared hence every individual, cooperate body and nation should be willing to be scared but not scared off what they desire to accomplish. He added that everything we have ever wanted as an individual, cooperate body and nation is on the other side of fear and thus fear is a feeling that everyone experiences at some particular point in life especially when commencing something new or desiring to add value to oneself. 

Therefore, I believe to over come our fears and reach out to what we desire on the other side of fear, what we need is the ability to identify our fear, quantify it, harness it and transform it into something to our benefit as we work towards achieving our full potential and quantifying our achievement to meet the demands of the evolving world.

Have you ever asked yourself why the world mega-moguls like Bill Gate and Oprah Winfrey, great nations like Russia, USA, Britain, and China…have the unquenchable desire to quantify their achievements and ensure proper packaging of themselves for the future? This is because the future is the unknown and fear of the unknown is an impediment to greater achievements.

In an article, 7 brain hacks that will dramatically improve your intelligence and success, by Ellen Kaplan, CEO and Founder of @LexionCapital A Premier investment Management Firm,- Ellen explains that “ to stay ahead in life, to stay competitive in business and ahead of the game, it is increasingly important to continually learn new skills and information”. Quantifying your achievement and proper packaging of oneself through constant learning of new skills and being updated with information put you in the position that your competitors develop shivering nerves that press on their skins. This effect either makes your competitors decline in the race with you, join you to learn from you and become either like you or better, or go solo to prep and package themselves to fire back.

In our pursuit to becoming the force that will still thrive in the presence of a highly informative and technology enriched evolving world, it is imperative that we as individuals, cooperate bodies and nations quantify our achievements and ensure proper packaging of ourselves to  allow us to survive and thrive well in the fast growing world else we will be left behind. Do not allow fear and complacency to cage your potentials. Rather, develop the desire to achieve the unthinkable by being a constant learner. Make that bold decision to properly package yourself and quantify your achievement to secure, maintain and advance your desire to survive and thrive well in this competitive world.

All the best!

By: Samuel Edem Cofie