One Christmas, amidst the opening of presents, the singing of carols and the enjoyment of Christmas lights, I found myself engrossed in a book written about the life of one of the greatest men who lived last century, Winston Churchill.
As my children played with their new found presents I was traversing through the battlefields of the Boer War and the 1st and 2nd World Wars with the man who guided the FREE world to victory in the 1940’s with the power of his pen and the majesty of his inspiring words. He was a motivator par excellence.
He too lived in a time of incredible change and so spoke with great authority when he said himself that: ‘The only way a man can remain consistent amid changing circumstances is to change with them while preserving the same dominating purpose.’
Winston knew that he had been born for such an hour and when approached to lead his nation, at the time of crisis, as Hitler and his hordes marched across Europe, he was able to write….’I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.’
He knew that he’d been born to lead and went on to state that…’Power, for the sake of lording it over fellow-creatures or adding to personal pomp, is rightly judged base. But power in a national crisis, when a man believes he knows what orders should be given, is a blessing. In any sphere of action there can be no comparison between the positions of number one and numbers two, three, or four.’
And it is for that reason that in his address to the House of Commons he spoke confidently, ‘You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory – victory at all costs, victory in spite of terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival….At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, ‘Come, then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”
Here was a man with a Dominating Purpose in life.
‘The only way a man can remain consistent amid changing circumstances is to change with them while preserving the same dominating purpose.’
Wise words from a wise man who backed up his words with dynamic action.
And now that we find ourselves in the 3rd Millenium B.C. we are bombarded with an ever increasing rate of change that will swallow the masses, who refuse to move with it, and yet will transport those who flow with it into a world of incredible opportunity.
But first let’s take a look at the word CONSISTENCY. This word does not mean that one has to remain firmly entrenched in the past. It speaks to me of the need to be alert and of the importance of evaluating each and every event or every circumstance that happens to pass our way.
Throughout Winston’s political career, which spanned a period of 60 years, he was known for changing political parties and for even contradicting his views throughout that career.
The reason? Because he held true to his convictions and was willing to change his views when changing circumstances called upon such change.
At times, I view things so much more differently with the passing of years. Things that were of significant importance, and for which I rallied hard and long for in my twenties, are now but a distant fog that lack relevance and even the importance to even consider.
WALK WITH A WISE MAN AND BECOME WISE
Unfortunately, much wisdom often only comes through the years of experience and the road far travelled.
However, immersed in the wisdom of the ages, through reading and through the association with much wiser men and women will certainly speed up the process.
1. CHANGE WITH THE CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES
There is only one way to change and that is to change.
Jump in the deep end and start swimming.
And how do you do that?
First you have to fix the interior and then, and only then, can you sort out the exterior.
Someone once told me that when people were set free from slavery, ‘that you can take the person out of slavery, but you can’t take the slavery out of the people overnight.’
The interior’s architecture must be changed first and foremost before the exterior’s beauty can begin to shine.
That’s why, if I dump a million dollars on your doorstep and you have never handled a million dollars in your life before, statistics tell us that the million dollars will slip through your fingers in no time fast.
So what do you do?
Become, as Robert Kiyosaki so eloquently shares, ‘financially literate.’
To be successful you must first think successful thoughts.
To win you must first think winning thoughts.
The battleground is found within your mind and it is there that the battle must be waged.
Positive thoughts injected into your life on a consistent basis, backed by positive action, will lead to positive results.
That is one reason why I soak myself in the biographies of great men and women who have lived and are still living.
That is why I am always reading half a dozen books all at once and a few extra on the side.
WALK WITH A CHANGED MAN AND BECOME CHANGED
That is why I read with pencil in hand and notebook at the ready waiting to capture that thought that will leap from the page and be imbedded in my mind. This is so that not only I am benefited but that those who read my writings receive the ‘best of the best’.
Read as a student, always at the ready to pluck a nugget of gold from within the dusty pages of a volume you have uncovered. Riches untold will not stay away from your door.
2. PRESERVE THE SAME DOMINATING PURPOSE
What births passion?
What produces drive?
What steers creative workmanship?
What forces courage to rise from within?
Winston Churchill was a man driven by destiny. He had an insatiable appetite for hard work and for learning. Whether it was politics, painting, writing, journalism, bricklaying or any other pursuit, he was gleaning from others, reading and studying, and with that ‘fill of information’ he would forge his way ahead into the unknown with the confidence that nothing was impossible to him.
Did he always get it right? Was he infallible? No. His life was filled with flaws and he committed reprehensible errors that not only impacted his life but even destroyed the lives of many others along the way.
And yet, he would rise up and above ‘the black dog’ that often overwhelmed him, left the errors committed behind him and pushed on ahead unrelentlessly.
And that is what it takes if you are going to preserve the same dominating purpose throughout your lifetime.
Winston never forgot this, even when he was in the political wilderness that lasted ten years before being called upon to lead his nation against Hitler.
With this example as our guide, each of us need to ask ourselves:
What is my dominating purpose?
That’s right.
If I was to ask you to give me in one sentence what is your dominating purpose is, could you answer me?
It is an important question, that any human being, who wants to not only exist on planet earth, but rather to contribute something of significance during their lifetime, needs to ask themself until they find a satisfactory answer?
Some other ways of asking yourself the same question are:
What is your passion?
What is your dream?
What is your burning desire?
What gets you more excited than anything else in this world?
Find the answer to these questions and you will be at the starting gates for the fulfilment of your dominating purpose.
Don’t waste another minute on planet earth without having this question settled in your mind once and for all.
You have been born for a purpose; a dominating purpose.
Motivational Quote: A dominating purpose is the pulsating heart of a successful life.
