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However, I would like you to do the following exercise in the hope that at the end you will have a changed perspective about yourself.
Picture in your mind the most incredible thing designed by mankind that you have ever seen.
Perhaps the Great Zimbabwe Monument, Lake Kariba, the great Egyptian Pyramids, Empire State Building, the Shuttle built by the technicians at NASA, the Golden Gate Bridge or even the intricate detailing in a painting you’ve seen.
What name comes to mind when I talk of “creative genius?”— Albert Einstein. Who do you think of when I mention God-like compassion, caring and loving? — Mother Teresa
What author’s name do you think of when I mention “poetry”, “drama”, “mystery”, “fiction” and “comedy”?— Tsitsi Dangarembga.
What do you see when I say “strength” and “stamina”?— the mighty Zeus. Finally, “winner”, “successful” or “role model”? — Nelson Mandela.
I’ll bet you a two-piecer at Chicken Inn, you never saw yourself in any of those images. And yet look at your hands.
Are they not the same just like hands of the skilful artist, architect, mason, or technician?
If you were to X-ray your skull, would you not find the same brain matter that takes up the space between the ears of Einstein, Plato, Strive Masiyiwa and Walt Disney?
Hold your hand to your chest. Can you feel the beat of a heart capable of feeling for the homeless and starving?
Have you not the same heart that beat in the chest of Mahatma Gandhi, Mohamed or the thousands of missionaries around the world?
Look at your fingers. Are they not like the fingers of Robert Frost, Winston Churchill, Wallace Stevens, Thornton Wilder, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Henry King that held tightly the pens that wrote the words that shaped the world?
Look at your feet. Show me the difference between yours and gold medallists of the Olympics or the rescuers who carried the people out of the rubble in tragic earthquakes.
Finally, close your eyes as you stand in front of a mirror and picture in your mind that man or woman who you think of as a success, a winner and role model.
Open your eyes and explain to me the difference between you and that person. There is no difference . . . except in how you perceive yourself.
You have the mind, the hands, the feet, the fingers, the heart to be exactly what you want to be. The only thing that is stopping you is the person you see in the mirror.
You have all that it takes. The rest is up to you.
l Nyaradzo Mavindidze, a motivational speaker, is the Managing Consultant at Avodah Consultants, which specialises in soft skills training and coaching. For feedback email [email protected]
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