Motivation Empowerment
"The Lost Puppet"
Motivation Empowerment - introduction
Who is pulling your strings? Who is in control of your life and your destiny? Do you have a clear picture of where you are and where you are going or are you blinded and walking around in a daze?
If you are curious enough and look around you, it won’t take much to come to the conclusion that most people are living like lost puppets. They have lost all control of their lives and live according to what circumstance dictates.
Even sadder is the fact that most have resigned themselves to the situation and see no way out of the drudgery, meaninglessness and emptiness of their lives. There are perhaps the fortunate ones, who realize that something is wrong. The more unfortunate do not even realize the futility of their existence.
Motivation Empowerment - the lost puppet
“Lost puppets” is a sad, but true way to describe such people. They are “lost” because they are either reading the wrong road map of life or they are using the correct map but going in the wrong direction. They are “puppets” because they are not in the driver’s seat! Someone else is pulling the strings.
If you want to get around in Lusaka you will use a map of Lusaka and not one of New York. So to get around in life you need to have the correct road map of life. This road map represents your beliefs and attitudes. Your beliefs and attitudes have to be consistent with the truth.
Motivation Empowerment - get the right knowledge
It is your responsibility to get the correct knowledge so you can have the correct road map of life. Ignorance is no defense. Ignorance will kill you.
The old saying that “what you don’t know won’t hurt you” is not true. What you don’t know can and will hurt you. If you don’t know that you can be wealthy, you will live below your capabilities. If you don’t know that life can and should be enjoyed, you will spend your days in misery.
If you don’t know that you too can be great, you will die in mediocrity and all we will know about you is what school you went to and who you worked for. That is what is said at most funerals and I often ask myself: “is there nothing more that could be said about this person’s life? Did their being in this world make no difference to anyone else’s life?”
W.W. Ziege sums up the issue of our road map well when he says: “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help with man with the wrong mental attitude.”
Motivation Empowerment - get in the driver's seat
Moving on to the second point, you need to be in the driver’s seat of your life. You are? Are you sure? A lot of us have given our lives over to others without even realizing it. We let our careers or jobs dictate what we do and when we do it.
Most times it is our parents, spouses, friends or neighbours that determine what we do with our lives. We have given them power over our lives because we do not know what we personally want. The trouble is, neither do they. They are likely to be lost puppets as well.
The truth is that while you are not totally responsible for what does and doesn’t happen to you, you are responsible for how you respond to what happens to you. The truth also involves acknowledging that there are some things that are within your control and others that you cannot do anything about. If you focus your time and energy on the things you can change and stop worrying about the things you cannot change, your life will improve immeasurably.
Motivation Empowerment - what do you want, really?
Have you ever sat down and written clearly what you want your life to be? Have you designed your ideal life? You are not in control until you firmly and clearly write down what you want your life to be. If not, you are a passenger in your own life and a wisher.
There is a big difference between wishing and being a dreamer. Dreamers design their ideal life and work to achieve it everyday. They don’t believe in chance or luck. Wishers wait on a genii to grant their three wishes all their lives. The problem is, if the genii were to ever show up they still wouldn’t know what to wish for!
Motivation Empowerment - it's not up to the government
Contrary to popular Zambian belief, the government is not responsible for all the problems in your life. Most of all, it is not responsible for how your life turns out. I hear so many people requesting government to do something about everything from the flooding in their own back yards to telling them how they should dress!
I cannot blame such people for seeing things that way. It is so typical of human nature to look outside of ourselves when faced with challenges and shortcomings. But, not only is the problem within us, the miracle is that the solution also lies within us.
If you are going to remember anything about this article it should be this: you are in total control of your life. The only person you can truly blame for your failures is you. Cut off those puppet strings and take charge. If you do not exercise that control then you have given it over to someone or something else whether by choice or by default.
Allow me to borrow a military term which states: “there is no blank file.” If a soldier leaves the formation either on parade or in battle someone else comes and takes over that position, it cannot be left blank. So it is with your life. The decisions you do not make are made for you.
It may seem hard to take full responsibility for your life, but ultimately you will find it is the single most empowering decision you will ever make. If you decide not to blame others for your failures and not to look to others for your successes, you will start to achieve great things. You will take back your power over your own life.
Motivation Empowerment - conclusion
Mark Victor Hansen concludes: “You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands: your own.”
You are all you can be. Go on and be it!
Return from motivation empowerment to Newspaper Articles on Motivation
HOME
Other Books By Dr. Moses:
Power Principles For Purposeful Living
"Powerful And Life-Changing Lessons On How To Maximise Your Potential And Live Your Dreams"
Power Principles for Fearless & Abundant Living
"How To Let Go of Fear and Embrace Prosperity"
In the POWER PRINCIPLES series of books, Dr. Moses Simuyemba, "Africa's Success Coach", shares his knowledge, experience and insight to help you in overcoming your personal challenges and limitations and inspire you towards the life you desire and deserve: a life of greater purpose, free of fear and full of abundance.