Saturday, October 10, 2009

Venture into the Unknown Road


How long have you lived in your city? If you have lived there long enough you must know many roads that lead to the same place. Many roads lead to the same bank, to the same church, to the same grocery store and you name it. I'm familiar with my city and I know many roads that lead to the same place. In fact, many roads lead to my house. However, I tend to always travel the road I'm familiar and comfortable with. This does not mean the other roads won't get me to my destination. I usually just ignore the need to make a change and travel an unfamiliar road. Consequently, I have no idea what that side of town looks like and what it has to offer. What's my point?

Well, in life we all aim for success and we engage in different activities with the hope of becoming successful. What we do in common is follow the road we're familiar with. The road many of us choose is usually the road with the most traffic (you know what happens when there's high traffic). We travel the common road which is the same road many people choose. Consequently, the road suffers from traffic congestion. Despite the fact that progress is slow on the road, we feel safe and comfortable because it's the "popular" road and many people cannot be travelling the wrong road, right? WRONG!!

Sadly, the popular road to success is the mediocre road. Many of us are programmed to take the easiest and common road - go to school, get a degree and get a job. As we travel down the common road, we completely ignore other options and become complacent and comfortable with the fact that the common road is congested and therefore "safe". Remember, mediocrity means settling in with the common things. Very few people venture into unknown roads and these few people attain the highest level of success in society. Names like Michael Dell (founder of Dell computers), Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Industries), Ted Turner (founder of CNN), Steve Jobs (founder of Apple computers), Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) are all household names today. These people have something in common: they left school without receiving a college degree and they followed a road less traveled.

The above mentioned school "dropouts" are today the mega rich and successful of society because of the choices they made. It's interesting to mention that they all have friends and family with whom they set on the road to success. The question everybody is asking is, why are all of them who set out on the journey not mega rich and successful today? The answer is simple - they all followed different paths. The likes of Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates ventured into unknown roads and ended up where there're today while everybody else followed the common road and got "caught up in the traffic."

I like to challenge myself and others to venture into unknown roads (that's why I do what I do). Don't get it twisted, going against the odds is never easy and will never be. But when you get it right, you end up better. However, make sure you read the map before you venture into an unknown road.

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