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| Morgan says, 'Get up, Move Faster' (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
This week I had the privilege of being an invited guest at a
Wales Management Council debate on whether Wales as a nation lacks ambition,
whether the country as a whole is hungry enough for success.
This question, set by
fellow guest Dr Paul Thomas whom many of you will know from his TV series ‘The Business Doctor’, caused, as I’m sure you can imagine a passionate and emotive
discussion around the table. Clearly there
is passion in Wales, particularly amongst business leaders and educators it
would seem, but what about in the wider populous? Can we really say that a whole nation lacks
ambition without sinking into national cultural stereotyping? And if we can, what might be the reasons for this mediocrity complex?
That's perhaps a set of questions for another day, as it’s not the purpose of this post to focus on Wales per se. That's because I believe this is as much a personal issue as a national one, so rather I
want to consider what might make individuals and groups be willing to settle
for a Status Quo that is not moving them forward in any way. Why would we be settling for a life of
routine comforts instead of looking towards a future that might be brighter in many ways?
This is where the Freudian psychology might come in…Freud’s
Pleasure Principle suggests that it is human nature to move away from pain and
towards pleasure. This is not a simple dichotomy, however, as some pleasure is gained
through pain...through hard work, through struggle and suffering
(those of you who are working towards a major life-goal, a PhD, bringing
up children, setting up a business, will know what I mean here).
But what if there is no real pain in our life? What if it's all pretty comfortable as it is? What if we know that the safety net of the state will always pick us up if we fall over, and what if moving towards something different, towards a different set of life goals, towards a successful, fulfilling future, actually requires us to go through some of that pain to get there? This is where inertia sets in. We settle for the comfort of mediocrity, the restful state, and it seems to me this warm bath of mediocrity is an easy place to be, and for many an easy place to stay. It's like living under sedation.
But what if there is no real pain in our life? What if it's all pretty comfortable as it is? What if we know that the safety net of the state will always pick us up if we fall over, and what if moving towards something different, towards a different set of life goals, towards a successful, fulfilling future, actually requires us to go through some of that pain to get there? This is where inertia sets in. We settle for the comfort of mediocrity, the restful state, and it seems to me this warm bath of mediocrity is an easy place to be, and for many an easy place to stay. It's like living under sedation.
But what kind of life is that? Is it really so great to stay in your green and pleasant land when there is suffering in the world that you could be helping people out of, where there are challenges and opportunities to make the world a better place - where you can contribute? What a shame it would be if you died tomorrow and your only contribution to society had been in the form of taxes and putting your small change in a charity box.
One of my favourite phrases in life is ’push on’ – I use it
in my self-talk when I know there is pain ahead
but it will be worth it. When I’m
walking long distance and we’re nearly at our goal destination for the day, I'll often say ‘let’s push on’ to the next check point – so we’re ahead of
ourselves for the next day. This is
about attitude – it is, quite literally, about ‘going the extra mile’. If you consistently go the extra mile, you
can consistently achieve more than you, or those around you, thought
possible. And, if you get exhausted, if
you fall down, if you fail…you just take a moment and then you get up and push
on again.
Another of my favourite phrases is from the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (yes I know). In the film, when Robin is knocked down in a fight he asks his friend Azeem (Morgan Freeman) for some advice. Azeem simply says ‘get
up; move faster’, and this is what I say to
myself whenever I fall down or fail at something. Just pick yourself up and do it better next
time. We can all do this if we're willing to go through a little short term pain in order to achieve the rewards we dream of, but so many people don't...and if you're one of those who don't...maybe it might be worth jumping in a cold shower for a minute and asking yourself why?
And as for Wales as a nation, I know there are passionate
people here, people who want to ‘push on’ just as I do, but there are also a lot of people for whom the Status quo is just too comfortable. As a nation, perhaps we also need to get out of that warm bath of
mediocrity and give ourselves a blast of cold water to get us moving again; we need to listen to Azeem and pick ourselves up and get on with it, quite simply, we need to ‘get up; move faster’.
The Wales Management Council is seeking to raise the
voices of business and educators in challenging government to create a Wales
that is hungry for success; a Wales that has passion
beyond the cultural and sporting fields, that has passion in business too – in short, a Wales that has
its ‘hwyl’ back. Being a small nation doesn't mean we have to think small... and so the Council is developing a strategy to engage government and
policy-makers on this vision and ambition for excellence in Wales – you can discuss
and support the campaign by joining the debate in their LinkedIn group or by
following them on Twitter @walesmanagement.
