Toss the cow over the cliff 

I received a very interesting story on Whatsapp.  In summary, it was about a very poor family in an unknown country.  The only way they survived was through their cow.  The cow would provide them with the milk they needed and they would also make cheese, the excess of which they would go trade in the market for any other basics they needed.  One day someone (and on purpose) pushed the cow of the cliff and it died.  This seems like a cruel act; after all, that cow was their only means of survival.  However several years later the family had thrived.  Their house was no longer a shack, but a beautiful place and they were healthy and happy.  It turns out that once they stopped being reliant on the cow, they found other skills and gifts that were lying dormant.  When the cow died it forced them out of their comfort zones and made them actually use their potential.  Now this is the second day of 2016.  Most of us go back to work and ‘normal’ life next week.  It is time to understand and look at what we want to achieve this year.  For many of us setting goals and New Year resolutions has become the norm.  We set them and set them again the year after and the year after.  This is a very frustrating way to live life.  At a moment like today we declare that this is finally going to be the year of change but we go back to the same routine, same conversations, same excuses and of course nothing changes.  Maybe it is also time that our cow is thrown off the cliff.  In fact I am challenging you to finally find some cows to throw.

Start with the end in mind and then work through the how.  Many times we let the how determine the end.  We will not progress that way.  This is what I mean.  Say you are earning Kshs 100, 000.  Your expenses take up Kshs 80, 000.  You can then save Kshs 20, 000.  When setting goals for investment you are most likely to work with the Kshs 20, 000 that you can comfortably save.  That Kshs 20, 000 is a cow that needs to be thrown of a cliff.  What do you want to achieve is the question not what do you know at this point you can achieve.  You know you can do a total of Kshs 240, 000 next year.  Doesn’t stop you from achieving investments of one million.  You don’t know the how right now but that’s what you need to decide to work towards.  Maybe the first step is that those expenses will be slashed to Kshs 50, 000 per month.  There’s a couple who attended our Centonomy classes who really changed they way they set goals.  They had bought a beautiful apartment, furnished it very well and moved in. This was a dream come true for them.  After connecting to what they truly wanted to achieve financially, they rented out this fully furnished apartment and moved to a cheaper place.  Even after the cost of renting where they live they now earn on average an extra on one hundred thousand shillings a month.  Their dream home became the cow on the cliff.  They are now investing aggressively using this extra income.  These are the kind of ideas that start to come to you when you decide what your end is going to look like first.  You will see you have skills, gifts, resources, and ways of thinking that you never used.

Toss last years results down the cliff.  Don’t set targets based on where you were last year, set targets based on where you want to go.  The fact that you don’t know how is a good thing because it will actually make you stretch.  It means you need to do something differently or learn something new.  Something that you already know how to do comfortably is not a goal; it is an activity that should already have been done.  When the math adds up from the beginning, you have not challenged yourself enough.  In business I have learnt never to set our goals based on last years performance.  We set it based on the kind of impact we want to have.  Do not make last years performance the benchmark for the future.  Many of us limit ourselves because of what we did last year.  That limitation only exists in your mind.  It is of course good to assess and understand where you are coming from but it doesn’t dictate where you can go.  Learn from any mistakes but literally move on.  Don’t get stuck in last year.  It just means you have to use and do different things to get to this new place.  Normal also has to thrown off the cliff this year.  There’s nothing worthy about being like everybody else when you were born with a different fingerprint.  We like hiding behind the “it’s happening to everybody excuse”.  Note down the cows or the comfort zones in your life that need to be tossed.  These are the things that keep you in the same place.  The first cow is usually you.  How you think.  Toss that and determine to see things differently.  Next could be how you use money.  It could also be you have limited the amount of money you think you can earn.  It could mean you need to toss that job and start a business.  It may mean you need to toss how you behave and relate to people at work.  You may need to toss that savings account and actually invest.  You need to toss that Chama and enter one that is more serious.  You may need to toss your habits e.g. how you spend time.  Toss those cows.  Remember you do not kneed to know how to achieve it, you just need to totally commit to using everything at your disposal to get there, and taking the step that is directly in front of you.  Happy New Year.