The whole picture
Partners for successful living are a significant component of the support system.
A support system is a combination of disciplines, persons and processes that you cultivate, fuel and sustain as a basis/ framework for your defined success.
To best explain this component of the support system, let’s reflect on the game of chess.
Short Story
In the 11 years of friendship and courtship that we had, my husband introduced me to the game of chess. I learned that during the medieval times, kings would fight for territories and the chess game was structured around these events. The essence of the game is to get the king to surrender and give up his kingdom.
Now for you to get to the King you would need to:
- Outmaneuver the king’s men who in this case are the pawns
- Capture the King’s Castle – the king’s fortress
- Get through to the queen – the king’s closest confidante
- Isolate the bishop – the king’s centerpiece of spiritual guidance and finally
- kill the knight
Your Partners
A simple fact of life is that everyone in your life, that you pay or whose needs you meet, is there for personal reasons i.e to have their needs met. Some people hang around you because your social status boosts theirs, others are there because there is no better option (meaning they can leave) and others are there because they don’t want to rock their comfort.
So who is left?
Those who willingly choose to be present in your life through thick and thin. People who will let you know when you are going in the wrong direction and they will do everything they can to get you back in the right.
A confidante will call you out when it is easier to hide. They will stay on the boat with you no matter how rocky it gets. They will always be holding the other end of your safety harness.
A Center-piece of spiritual guidance Your spiritual center matters a whole lot and from experience, it must be inbuilt into your system of work and psyche. It gives you some alone time to reconnect with a deep sense of who you truly are. It is to have someone who can give you truthful and solid spiritual guidance that is sometimes not so obvious to you.
A Mentor or Coach. They are endowed with experience, networks, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and skill that is undeniably directed to you and your ventures as long as you need it. You don’t interact with them once in a blue moon. You deliberately make your interactions part of your disciplines.
A fortress/ safe house. Someone very wisely said that the battles of life are lost or won first in the mind and heart. Your mind and heart are your castles – your place of refuge and the place where you conceive and draw up your plans. Guard your fortress by having a strategy/ plan to do business; seek advice and solidify your actions and plans with your spiritual guidance and actioning your decisions.
Finally
The game of life is never won in solitude. It always takes more than you to have great wins in life. Be deliberate about your partners.
More details about the support system are in my book Strategic Business Turnaround: Basic, Strategic & Practical Steps to Getting Your Business Profitable Again available on Amazon
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