Motivation - What are you waiting for?

MOTIVATION – What are you waiting for?


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – June 2014

Jonathan Winters says “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it!”

Oh wow!  This one really made me smile.  You see I often find myself in limbo . . .  waiting!  Waiting for people to arrive for meetings (I like to be a bit early to make sure I am on time), waiting for people to make a decision or to make up their minds or catch up with me or even just to make an appearance in their own lives.

I am sure you all resonate with the aspect of waiting for someone to do what they need to do so that you can get on with what you need to get on with.  That for me is a really painful process, especially if the other person does not have the same work ethic as I do.  Equally frustrating if not more so is if my contribution to the process is entirely dependent on the outcome of the other persons – now that’s enough to drive me absolutely crazy! Little wonder then that I prefer to work alone.

Here’s the thing though -  we all have a choice and mine is to make things happen!

I remember one of my service providers, let’s call her Jane, was having a lunch at her home one Sunday for all of her clients.  There were many more people attending than there were chairs around the dining-room table and as I got up to help her carry chairs into the dining room, she said to everyone (although no-one in particular) “Get out of the way – Nikki is making things happen again!”

I was quite amused and chatting to her afterwards about the comment she stated that it was best for people to get out of the way when I was doing stuff as I always made things happen and if someone got in the way  it was likely that they would be toppled over or pushed out of the way.

You see, she was someone that stayed on the sidelines and waited for things to happen.  Waited for others to do things for her . . . . waited and waited and waited.  I can think of nothing more soul destroying.

Now it wasn’t that she was lazy or didn’t have any skills.  Quite the opposite in fact, but she didn’t market herself or her business or source any client’s on her own merits – she waited for referrals of other people to make contact with her, and if no new work came in, well that seemed to be just fine. That for me would be absolutely excruciating!

That seriously would not work for me at all.  In fact I would have closed my business before it even got off the ground!

Do I like getting referrals?  Of course I do, who wouldn’t?  the fact of the matter though is that I see referrals as a ‘bonus’.  They’re great and they are wonderful and they bring in loads of money and that is always a good thing, but I could never rely on them and wait for them to come in. 

So in essence, what I am saying is, get up off your butt, get a plan of action in place and move your own sweet self into success.  The sense of achievement that you will feel as you cross each goal off the list and celebrate each little victory as you move closer and closer to your end goal, is something that is priceless and beyond words.

So stop waiting . . .  do something and get the ball rolling!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za