As a professional motivational
speaker who worked in talent development for many years, I’ve seen this picture
many times. Up until 16 January 2018, many South Africans had never even heard
of 21 year old Lungi Ngidi. In his debut cricket Test against India – he produced an astonishing
man-of-the-match performance with figures of 6/39, helping the Proteas to a 2-0
series victory with a match still remaining.
Many newspapers and
online sites carried his story, with a headline nicely captured, “a star is
born”. It was a great headline and a great story but the truth is that the star
was not born that day; it was just exposed to the world on that day. Lungi knew
he was a great bowler. Scouts in the South African cricket team knew he was a
great bowler but he had to go through what I call the pain of preparation,
which is what every talented person goes through. I think Lungi knew he was
talented. I mean the guy bowls at 140km/h and above, and appears to be similarly
comfortable opening the bowling or cleaning up the tail. He has obviously
watched other people who are probably less talented than him playing and was probably
frustrated but at the right time, he comes and does that on his Test cricket
debut, wow!
It is possible that
you are where Lungi Ngidi was. You are talented but frustrated. You are
talented but concealed. I say this in conferences all the time; your talent cannot be ignored or hidden
forever. Cream, poured in a cup of coffee, will inevitably and eventually rise
to the top. We all go through the pain of
preparation. Sometimes you dread Monday mornings because you don't get the recognition
you feel you deserve. You need to keep working hard where you are because your
time is coming. You might be thinking, yea Siphiwe, you are a professional
motivational speaker, you are just encouraging me right now but this is not
just motivation, it is a principle. "The longer you put in without getting
out, the greater will be your return when it finally comes" Ralph Waldo
Emerson.
Keep serving. Keep doing the job that no one else wants to do. Your
turn to be served will come. You may be in obscurity now and you feel people
take credit for your work. This is fine; it's the law of sowing and reaping.
You will be glad you served."I'm always amazed how overnight
successes take a helluva long time" Steve Jobs. When things start happening
for you, some will call it "overnight success". They are not there
now when you are grinding hard alone, in obscurity. No one knows you. No one
acknowledges you but a time is coming, when they will ask, "where did she
come from". A time will come when your gift/talent will be in high demand.
A lot will be expected from you then. Keep going.
Siphiwe Moyo’s is a professional motivational speaker.
His specialty is organisational behaviour – how human beings function within
organisational settings. He applies behavioural science principles and
practices in organisation to increase individual and organisational
effectiveness.
