I write this while sitting at the kitchen table. Looking outside the top floor balcony, while working on my exam submission for my eighth qualification. This kitchen table has been recently converted into a workstation after I left banking for a solo-knowledgeprenuership career. The motive behind how I managed to acquire almost eight qualifications at the age of thirty-six is still a mystery to me. Given my expertise and knowledge in IT, I had to ask my new friend ChatGPT. I asked ChatGPT what are the ten things that drive imagination, courage, willpower, persistence, and creativity.
Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT gave me a handsome list of ten things I should do to get me going. The list included (1) Reading widely, (2) Engaging in brainstorming sessions, (3) Practising mindfulness and meditation, (4) Engaging in physical activities (5) Step outside your comfort zone, (6) Keeping a journal, (7) Embrace failure and learn from it, (8) Surround yourself with diverse influences, (9) Allocate time for solitude and reflection, and (10) Engage in creative activities. I immediately felt like I was speaking to a guru or life coach who reads a lot of gurus’ literature. There is nothing wrong with reading and listening to gurus. It becomes harder for me to see what they are really talking about. Take (5) stepping outside of my comfort zone for instance, what does that really mean? These are great words with little meaning to me. I should get something I could use.
Hill’s Transmutation
Napoleon Hill’s famous book, think and grow rich, came to mind. I loved this book and associate it with our road trip where were explored South Africa (all nine provinces), Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe in nineteen days. This book was playing on Christmas evening/morning after crossing a border in Beitbridge and heading to Victoria Falls. It was on this route that I heard a chapter on transmutation. That must have sounded like TNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles) to me. What is transmutation and what is this man talking about?
To my surprise, I finally understood that transmutation is what gets you up when the chips are down. Most managers would ask you in passing or in an interview about what keeps you going. I have been asked many times. An executive in CIB (corporate and investment banking) once asked me this during our coffee session for an Analyst role. What is of interest to this individual was whether he I in possession of what motivates him both when I’m pumped up and when I’m down. Hill and this CIB executive made me realise the importance of knowing the source of positive inspiration. Other managers have gotten it wrong thinking that women in clubs, clothes and fast cars are my poison.
Most Powerful Stimuli
Hill listed ten things that can help us redirect positive emotional energy to drive my imagination, courage, willpower, persistence, and creativity. I don’t have to subscribe to all ten powerful mind stimuli at all. It was and still is, better for me to know what I could lean on when I am down. The list includes (1) Passion, (2) Love, (3) Desire for fame/ power/ wealth, (4) Music, (5) Friendship, (6) Teamwork/Collaboration, (7) Mutual suffering (oppression or persecuted), (8) Autosuggestion, (9) Fear, and (10) Narcotics and alcohol.
Although I experimented with cigarettes when in high school I soon realised, after headaches and sore throat, that this is not for me. The same was true for alcohol and the feeling of being intoxicated now, especially considering I was a sober bartender for years in my University days. Hill also writes a lot about how the number (10) destroyed many leaders who depended on this for inspiration. We can’t get another album from Whitney Huston and Brenda Fassie and many others today. Narcotics and alcohol have been reported as depressants instead of stimulants. Hill might have included them on the list because they impair one’s rational logical mind for a more innovative subconscious mind (to operate freely).
Nine Stimuli
From the nine sources that are left, I feel unmoved by passion, mutual feeling, fear, and the desire for fame/power/wealth. However, the other five resonate strongly with me. These are love, music, friendship, teamwork & collaboration, and autosuggestion. The ability to provide for my family, both immediate and extended, has woken me up many times when I felt like pressing the snooze button. The thought of who will pay for my mother’s bond if I don’t increase my pay significantly really did the trick. Back then loud music and music videos were part of the morning routine to get me in the mood to face adverse situations, especially from co-workers who seemed to rejoice in my lack/slow growth. The others could be grouped together in my case.
Friendship, Teamwork, and Collaboration
Friendship, teamwork, collaboration, and autosuggestion work together for me. This is because I keep friends whom I have a strong connection with. As you could imagine, by the number of my university qualification, most of my friends are from school. There are those from high school which was two decades ago. I also spent almost two decades at the bank, and this is where I had many friends as well. The benefit of spending this much tenure with one employer (not one team) is that I meet people who witnessed my growth from a skinny graduate to a successful senior analyst, married with three kids, and contributing to my community. Some of my friends have had prominent positions in society and I have the benefit to send a text or pick up the phone and they advise me with no to little hesitation.
Autosuggestion
Autosuggestion is a mental workout I had to cultivate to see the good in everything. It thus became easier for me to continue waking up at 2 am on a cold winter morning to read an article. This was then proceeded by a 30mins visit to the gym at 5:30 am. I was shower ready and then after, pumped up and ready for traffic to work. It was important for me to assign autosuggestion to people and places and allocated my existence and presence in such places to a mental narrative I wanted. A narrative that boosted me with more endorphins than social media messages would to me – this feeling was addictive. Hill’s suggestion to dress smart was also followed from 2015 – 2020 (thanks to Covid) where I wore ties daily, designer formal shirts, beautifully handmade shoes, and occasional suits to work. Yes, I looked like I rolled out a cover of a men’s magazine. All this was done to boost my confidence in the person I wanted to be, I am that person now working in my kitchen wearing athleisure. All that matters is that I feel comfortable with what I know (mind), how I look (health), my finances, family, and friends.
Conclusion
I have read a lot of books about what steps I should take to keep my creativity going. This was when I wanted to focus on work, with high productivity, and enrol for further degrees. ChatGPT gives a good summary of what is contained in several books. I found Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich book still accurate. Especially when addressing transmutation. Hill acknowledge that we are not all driven by the same thing. He gave a list of ten powerful stimuli to use to redirect positive emotional energy to drive imagination, courage, willpower, persistence, and creativity. I have found that five stimuli from the list resonate with me. These are (1) Love, (2) Music, (3) Friendship, (4) Teamwork/Collaboration, and (5) Autosuggestion. It was important for me to know what drives me to translate that energy into multiple university qualifications. However, it is difficult for me to attribute my success to one of many of these stimuli, I just know that the above resonates with me.
