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Arthur Marara Point Blank

A story is told about one business executive who was sunken in debt and could see no way out.  Creditors were closing in on him.

Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from insolvency.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him.

“I can see that something is worrying you,” he said.

After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said: “I believe I can help you.”

He asked the man his name, wrote out a cheque, and pushed it into his hand saying,

“Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”

Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

The business executive saw in his hand a cheque for US$100 000, signed by Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest men in the world at that time!

“I can erase my money problems in an instant!” he realised.

But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed cheque in his safe. Just knowing it was there may give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

With revived hope, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly after one year, the executive returned to the park with the uncashed cheque of US$100 000. At the same time, the old man appeared there.

But just as the executive was about to hand back the cheque and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried.

“He is always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D Rockefeller who was one of the richest persons of his time.”

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned.

All year long he had been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had a cheque of US$100 000 behind him.

Suddenly, he realised that it was not the money real or imagined, that had returned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

It is a must have

We all need confidence in whatever endeavour that we are going to engage ourselves in.

Believe in yourself.

Only you can change your life. Boost your self-confidence and see the magic in life. It does not matter what you are going through in your life, you need to have confidence.

Charlie Chaplin the comic actor, filmmaker, writer once remarked that, “You have to believe in yourself, that is the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down to defeat.”

Having confidence in yourself is the first step towards success. Once you entertain the belief that you can do something, you are already halfway there!

I was not always a confident person, but one day, I made a decision to work on my confidence. I have a U in mathematics at O Level, C in English from O Level through to university communication skills.

I was never a member of any public speaking club, and never a public speaker before.

I have written 20 books in English. What changed? Nothing, I just decided to work on my confidence and decided to work on what I wanted to achieve.

This is why I believe we can all be intentional about working on our confidence.

I have had the privilege of speaking to really large audiences. My largest live audience was 18 000 people.

People ask how is that I have so much confidence? The answer is simple, confidence is a muscle which can be built.

In the next articles I will be sharing with you some practical ways that can help you build your confidence.

What is confidence?

That is the natural question when a conversation of this nature is commenced.

Confidence can be viewed as a belief in one’s self and one’s ability to succeed.

There is need though to strike a healthy balance between too much and too little confidence.

Too much and you can come off as cocky and stumble into unforeseen obstacles when you overestimate your own abilities or fail to complete projects on deadline because you underestimate the time and effort they require.

At the same time, having too little confidence can prevent you from taking risks and seizing opportunities – in school, at work, in your social life, and beyond.

You need to work on projecting just enough confidence. This helps you gain credibility, make a good lasting first impression, deal with pressure and meet personal and professional challenges head on.

To be continued next week…

Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote speaker, corporate and personal branding speaker commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, strategy and personal and professional development.

Arthur is the author of “Toys for Adults” a thought provoking book on entrepreneurship, and “No one is Coming” a book that seeks to equip leaders to take charge. Send your feedback to [email protected] or Visit his website www.arthurmarara.com or contact him on WhatsApp: +263780055152.