Drop The GrassHopper Mentality

Drop that Grass Hopper Mentality
Success is a perception affair, people see us as we see ourselves, and when we open our mouths to speak they get to see into our minds. Spend some time with some one you consider Successful, you will notice 3 incredible things about them:
• They think healthily well of themselves.
• They don’t speak in the negative.
• They exude confidence
One of my favorite books by John Maxwell is called “Attitude, The Difference Maker” the main ideas he articulates is that success can be gotten by doing so many things, but the thing that holds it all together is “attitude”. You can call it an aura, you can call it airs, but success rubs off, and does so through attitudes that are communicated by the way people perceive themselves and communicate what they perceive.
A story is told of a group of people that was migrating from a land in which they had been slaves for over 400 years. The land they were moving to occupy was a given, it was already delivered into their hands. In a bid to get an understanding of what they were up against they sent a dozen spies to check out the land.
The land was the most fertile piece of real estate you ever did see, I mean the temperatures were right; it had scenic views and cascading waterfalls. The birds in the land sung angelic tunes. The earth was so fertile in this place that the vine produced fruit too heavy for a single warrior to carry.
The apparent downside of the land was that the inhabitants were giants or champions if you like, the men that went to spy were considerably physically smaller in comparison to the men of the land.

This physical mismatch so intimidated 10 of the 12 men that in their report they said, “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and no match for the giants”. This report spread panic in the whole migrants camp that they begun to scurry around like frightened grasshoppers around the light, in every way paralyzed by fear.
The story ends when over 600,000 failed to enter their promised land save for 2 young men who believed that they had in them what it took to take the land, but they also had confidence in the finished work of God and that he was on their side, hence “mental over match.”
Like the 600,000, I know very many people who sabotage themselves and the potential for success simply because they have no faith in themselves, they think of themselves as inferior, not good enough, damaged goods, not connected enough, not educated enough, not fluent enough, not popular enough, not strong enough, not experienced enough not brilliant enough, too young, too broke.
These perceptions place a stumbling block between us and our dreams and our success, these negative self perceptions arise out of a fear of venturing out to be all you can be lest you fall along the way.
Like the migrants, every success story has a giant in its plot, a goliath in its cast. One of my mentors once told me, “there would be no David without goliath, the two go hand in hand, just like Success and resistance.” The story of King David is a great one in discussing success, but the part that is often forgotten is the attitude of the young man as he approached his enemy, he said, “this day will the Lord deliver you into my hand, and I will kill you and sever your head from your shoulders, and give the corpses of your army to the fowls of the air” 1 Samuel 17:46

The young man went ahead to do exactly as he imagined in his (perception) head and had said (communication). The lesson to take from here in our quest for success is that we must always think ourselves to be, competent enough to do that Job, to have a great marriage, get promoted, land the business deal, affirm and confirm it by what we say, My simple success formula would be: Success {f(perception+affirmation*confirmation)attitude.}

Why you need to be a problem solver

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Look around you today, there are 2 things you will find literally everywhere, namely; Change and problems. There were days when writers used typewriters, now I do all my writing exclusively on my handheld blackberry. That is change. Our city of Kampala is having to deal with problem after problem, from fire to child sacrifice, butayimbwa and so on the madness never stops.
In such a world the most significant persons are them. That solve our problems or show us how to handle the transformations that life subjects us to. Ultimately problem solving is more an attitude than it is a skill to prove this.

When companies advertise for Jobs one common thing they are looking for are people with problem solving ability. Unfortunately, this breed of people is rare because our education basically teaches to look for problems but never to solve them.

Just look back at our exam questions, examine the challenges faced by the missionaries. What are the problems faced by fishermen in kasenyi? No one asks for the solutions that one would adopt, if they do, students must replicate what they were dictated to in class.( If this is describes you, there is hope, I will be discussing how to become a problem solver over my next 2 articles.
Employers and the economy of uganda and world over are looking for problem solvers. The thing that is common in people and businesses that weather the storms of change and problems is a creative, flexible and adaptable mind set. The world history is a collection of trends, and trends are simply series of interconnected changes and incidences over time.
In other word we see through trends, change happening and problems morphing to unfamiliar phenomena altogether. For example who knew that your phone could be a bank and a teller or that MTN is a financial institution, mobile money is an example of new problems new solutions.
As a business man you need to understand that customer satisfaction only happens when your clients’ problems are solved, they come to your restaurant to buy juice but want to take it home, solution, pack it in a desirable container don’t tell them you don’t do juice take away.
Businesses that are successful are those that endure the test of time whilst solving community problems, in to this Andrew Carnegie one of the world’s richest men and philanthropists said, ‘ if any man desire to be rich he must provide a service that solves the needs of people in commensurate proportion to their wealth.’
However the challenge your business may have set out to solve may not be necessary anymore, for example companies started to increase production of typewriters are now obsolete, those that didn’t transition are no more, Xerox on the hand understanding that their solutions were no longer relevant have gone ahead to re engineer themselves again as market leaders.
Locally speaking, barclays used to be a bank for the privileged few high end clientele only, but today Barclays problem has evolved down to individual, student and small business accounts, this is a sign of anticipating changes in needs and solving them.
1. Develop a Solution oriented attitude, quit looking at the problems and you will see the solutions. Remember it doesn’t take psychic powers to point out problems, but we worship people who help us solve these problems.
Appreciate the challenge,
It is important for you to look at your challenge in proper perspective, presumption is detrimental to any problem solving attempt because you could end up with more problems than you are trying to solve, so appreciate the gravity of your challenges.
Suggest a solution.
This is a sign of initiative,everyone is looking for it, both in private and public practice. Don’t worry what people will think of your suggested solution seeing as some of our most ingenious ideas were very stupid.