NOTHING TO LOSE

NOTHING TO LOSE

I met a man recently who made me angry. You know I’m not one who is easily given to anger, so you can imagine that this guy was really so over himself. He broke protocols in a manner that disrupted office procedures and he charged at me making senseless demands. But not long after my anger was dissolved and I was left with a great lesson which I’m about to share with you.

I got to find out some details about this guy and that changed my perception. He used to be in the Force [you know, Nigerian police] but got unlucky when a rifle in his care got missing and could not be accounted for. He was mercilessly dealt with and thrown in the cell. He was promised death, but he had to wait 6 years for it to come. Six years in the cell everyday waking up to think this will be the day he meets his fate. And after six years he was thrown out of the cell on mercy grounds or whatever.

For a guy who has died many times over, breaking protocol and bumping into an office against the counsel of a receptionist, demanding money from me and others and insisting that he gets the money all because he believe that he needs if for something really urgent that concerns his life; wasn’t a big deal, he has seen worse things. What does he care he has got nothing to lose anyway. And boy did he get all the money he wanted. We were forced to give it all to him.

The embarrassment and his gutsiness really got to me and I didn’t get him off my mind for a while. However the more I ponder on it, the less I was disgusted as a fact came to the fore especially when his story was narrated to me. I came to respect his boldness and persistence.

You see that is the point. What really holds us back from daring greatness, going for our dreams, asking that lady out, pitching our ideas, coming up with that proposal, being the first to call out a greeting and reaching out to make a new friend is our perception that we have something to lose usually our pride and ego, and the hurt that comes from rejection.

In my next post I will share with you some more stories of people who were in one minute cowards and in the next giants because the suddenly realized in the fraction of a second that they have nothing to lose. Their ego, pride, fears….. and once they transcended that, life opened up its bounties to them in manners that surprised even themselves and me too.

I find a word from Steve Jobs now famed commencement speech at Stanford handy right now. And these are my parting words: “Remembering you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose. You are already naked; there is no reason not to follow your heart.”

This week, let go and reach out for your hearts aspirations; after all, what have you got to lose.