Developing Your Personality For Success

Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves – Rollo May

I just had a chat with a young consultant who is very ambitious, focused and working on his self development. He approached me to get my insights on how he can use emotional intelligence principles to develop into a great person. I don’t mean great as in being a likeable person, but great as in being a person of influence, stature, impact and presence. As we discussed something really struck me in the conversation. He did not want to become a “great consultant” but a ‘great person’. This is deep. It resonates with my philosophy of success being ‘investment in your person and personality’. You need to build a personality architecture that generates success.

Many people become so career, ministry or business driven, they forget to develop as a person. Yet how well you do as in these areas is a function of how much investment you have made in your personality. Your life is like a seed; the extent to which it can be fruitful and multiply depends on the level of investment you put into it.  You must cultivate your gifts and abilities, grow your character and personality, and broaden your experiences in order to make an impact. If you are good you can be better, and with time you can become a master in your career, calling or business just by investing in your personality.

Build Your Capabilities

In a number of organisations which I consult for, I use the capability maturity model (CMM) to assess the ability of an organisation to be successful. Using this model I hypothesize that an organisation’s success is a result of the maturity of its capabilities (best practices, processes, systems, characteristics and attributes). It is based on the premise that an organisation cannot perform beyond the maturity of its processes and systems. We could apply the same hypothesis to your life: you cannot succeed beyond your capabilities (skills, talent, methods, processes and personality). This is why I would like to implore you to make an investment in your capabilities.

In my discussion with the young consultant, I began to share with him that he need not just look at his emotional intelligence (EQ), but also natural intelligence/talent (IQ) and spiritual intelligence (SQ). These three intelligences help in building the maturity of your personal capability. As these capabilities mature, so does your person and personality and your value, impact and influence too. Enroll on a course, research, read or browse, apply your skills, seek a coach or mentor and improve the way you do things.

Build Your Processes

A mango tree will not produce fruit beyond its maturity. If a mango tree tries to produce fruit too early, the fruit will be sub standard. A mango tree which has not fully matured cannot produce in terms of quality and quantity. It takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen. I remember when we were growing up we would take green mangos and put them in plastic to ripen them. We were not following the natural process order. When you ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavour and it cannot compare with fruit that matures on the tree.

What does this mean for you? It is not about how fast you grow but how strong you grow. Our obsession with speed is counterproductive if it comes at the expense of strength and stability. Progress must be balanced with due process. We should not judge the success of someone by how much they have achieved, but the quality of the process they have followed. Achievements can be short-lived, but process lasts. If there is something that can set you apart from everyone else it’s the ability to follow your own due process. This gives you uniqueness and reinforces your own personal brand.

Invest In Your Personal Brand

As you invest in your SHAPE (Spiritual Gifts (talent), Heart (your passion), Abilities, Personality and Experiences), it accentuates your personal brand and builds your personal brand equity. The things you will produce are path dependant (they are trail blazing) and have causal ambiguity (hence cannot be imitated). No mango tree can produce the same fruit taste as another unless it has been genetically cloned. You are a unique individual and as you invest in your person and personality you compound your value and influence and earn the right to deliver your special assignment in this world.

Lessons From Springtime

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted – King Solomon

This week I have been reflecting on the seasons of life. I was drawn to the wisdom of King Solomon and began to think of how time touches our homes, hearts and our hope. Each moment we experience the different seasons of life, we are driven deeper into the soil of destiny and closer to our purpose. The key is in identifying the outlines of the season we go through in life and picking up the lessons. Like a tree which goes through summer, autumn, winter and spring, your life indeed goes through the same seasons. The world has just been through a long winter of recession and financial crisis. It has been tough on a lot of people. People have lost jobs, homes, cars, health and so many others things. But the seasons have changed again.

Spring time has come. Let me make my point here and now – amid the disappearing clouds of winter, spring time has brought the fresh air of opportunity.  From the blossoming jacarandas lining up the streets of Harare, the bougainvilleas blooming in humid Lagos, the flame lilies of Honde Valley, to  the  proteas of the Drakensburg Mountains it rings  with the faithfulness of the Creator – nature fulfils its promises. How about you? Even after winter you can still blossom too.

Season of Opportunity

Springtime is a season of great opportunity and promise. It’s not a time to ponder about the failures of last season or the great tribulations of the past winter. It is a time to look forward to the rains which will soon fall on your seed. Therefore what do you have in your hand?  You need to lay your seed in the ground now and wait for the summer rains to water your opportunity. The wise amongst us are no longer talking about recession and economic difficult, they are busy looking for opportunity, creating opportunities, seeking alliances and positioning for an upturn.

Spring is sharp and short…very soon it will be over and the opportunity will be gone. Don’t let the aroma and dazzling beauty of springtime blossom lure you into slumber. Only those who are sowing seeds of promise now will smile when the summer clouds start to gather. If you don’t know what you are supposed to be doing in your life, let alone in this season please seek help. With the seed of purpose in your hand, the vision of a harvest in your heart, the faith and hope of fruitfulness in your spirit, it’s time to get into action.

Season of Faith

The essence of springtime is faith disguised as human effort. Much of the effort and opportunity of springtime rests in the depth and degree of our faith. It takes great faith for a farmer to prepare the ground and sow seed in springtime. Faith further provides to us an irrevocable law decreed in heaven which assures that for every disciplined human effort we will receive a multiple reward… for each cup planted, a bushel reaped. It is the promise of spring that as we sow, so shall we also reap. Sow greed, reap poverty; sow inactivity, reap an empty storehouse. A kernel of maize produces after its own kind. A seed of doubt, or fear, or distrust placed in the mind also produces after its own kind. As certainly as the soil gives back like unto that which we place into it, so also does the mind of man give back in human circumstance that which we place into it by our choice of human thought. You need faith to change the circumstances of your life. Like a farmer we need to learn the art of finding the miraculous hidden in the common – you just plant a bag, and you reap silos of harvest. But it takes faith… The fertilizer of faith will overcome every weed of doubt and every bug of discouragement.

The spring is a time for the creation of things of value, and those things require the season of summer for growing. For now you need to be creating by planting your seed. Do I have a seed? Yes you do….such as you have! Your seed is that talent, skills, personality, prayer, idea, concept, dream or thought. You can do something. The pain of discipline weighs ounces, and the pain of regret weighs tons.