Aim for Private Victories before going public!

Everyone wants to be a winner; almost everyone has made an attempt to achieve or attain a goal before. Some people make it but others do not. It’s important to study why some seem to make it effortlessly in life, while others still struggle to achieve their dreams. In his book, 7Habits of highly effective people, the late Steven Covey advises one of the ways to become highly effective is to achieve private victories before attempting for public victories!

Often when we see a person achieving in the Greatness Arena we assume and believe that they are genius and that they do so effortlessly. That assumption is what has kept most at bay as we think that we can either repeat their actions then achieve the same results as effortlessly as they did, or we think we cannot make it since we are not genius like them. Both are terrible assumptions!

A closer look at the life of King David from the Bible will reveal and teach you the concept well. Before David’s claim to fame (slaying of Goliath) he fought private battles. Most of us are so familiar with that story that there is no need to give an account of it. What most people never realise about David though is that, David did not just start with the giant slaying act. David had many private battles that he fought and conquered which gave him confidence that he could pull the Giant slaying act. When his brothers tried to stop him, asking him what he knew about fighting, David told them, “When I was with the sheep as a shepherd boy, a lion came and I tore it, a bear came and I tore it with my bare hands.”

All David was telling his brothers was that he had received enough training and practice to equip him with all he needed to fight this Giant that all Israel’s warriors dreaded. While no one knew or bear witnessed of his accounts of his private victories David himself was convinced that he was adequate to bag this public victory.

If a repeat of this story was replayed and another boy from home who had not faced what David had faced would be sent with food to his brothers on the battle front, he would not do what David did. He would not even want to stay long at that battle field, let alone face Goliath. If at all he attempted after hearing of the conquests of David, he would have been ruthlessly killed by Goliath and we would know nothing of him up to this day.

As you develop yourself put it to mind and remember that you too have private battles that you have to fight and conquer before you come out to play in the public arena. Your Private victories will equip you and prepare for the public battles that you will face. If you however decide to start with the public battles, you will find failure glaring at you straight in your eyes after your attempt. You can never start the other way round; it’s always private victories then public victories in that order!

So what are the private battles that you have to fight? Everyone has their unique private battles they will face, depending on who they are and what they are setting out to do. A person who desires to be a public speaker should privately fight the battles of low self-esteem. They should even start building a healthy self-esteem on their own in front of a mirror; speak in front of a friend or two, a group then finally in crowds. Any attempt to start addressing huge crowds will be very futile as they will be embarrassed and stunned by their own failure.

Every public victory is preceded by a private victory! Do not be misled to believe that you can become an overnight success. Some people are prepared for their ultimate success throughout their life from childhood, and when they finally meet their public battles they will steamroll through them.

It is necessary for you to pick and select the battles you will fight carefully. David fought Goliath who was dreaded by everyone, because he had been conditioned to fight and prevail over the most feared! He had killed a lion with his bare hands, the most feared of all animals, and now he was shifting to the most feared man. Don’t fight a battle that you never prepared for privately! It is not yours and it is therefore not meant for you.

Find out your own private battles you have to fight before you enter the public playing field, conquer them privately. Surely when you step out into the public arena victory will be certain!

Till next week, God bless you all.

Ciao…

The writer is a motivational speaker

He can be contacted on glendhliwayo@gmail.com