It is my pleasure to welcome you to this empowerment column, SUCCESS FACTOR, designed to help you develop leadership skills, strategy, self positioning, brand positioning, the relevance of the social media network, goal setting, networking, vision, mission, purpose, etc.

I look forward to interacting with you every fortnight and would be grateful to get your feedback. We begin with this two-part series entitled Breaking New Grounds: The essence of having a formidable kick start. If you have been wondering how you can break new grounds in whatever you’ve been striving for, the answer is finally here.

One day, while driving to work, I saw a space of land about to undergo development. On the contractor’s project notification board was written, ‘Breaking new grounds’. The slogan, if I may call it so, sent a great message down my spines because I saw beyond a building engineer asking the builders to dig a foundation meant for an edifice. In my thought pattern, I could imagine the type of mentality possessed by the contractor, and his ability to see beyond a physical construction. In the mindset of the engineer, as I empathically positioned myself, I saw the sprouting of new businesses, employment opportunities, growth and development, etc. I concluded that it takes someone that has a futuristic attitude to see beyond the immediate; it takes someone who is a visionary to look beyond what people with ordinary eyes can’t see.

What does it mean to break a new ground? Sitting on top of a double Decker bus near the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London; for the first time, I saw an uncovered foundation of a massive building about to be developed. After digging the ground, the engineers, in orderly manner, knocked heavy cylindrical rods into the ground; each rod was very massive. To them, breaking a new ground does not only entail digging the ground but also piercing it with things that will make the building reliable and dependable.

As someone that has lived a few years on earth, I have realised that ground breakers either put something into the ground or get something out. When the farmer breaks a ground, he puts seeds inside; after a while, he also breaks it to get his harvest. When the oil explorer breaks a new ground, his intention is to find the black gold; petroleum. When an entrepreneur breaks a new ground, his motive is to make profits. Efforts will become futile if there is no return on investment. The purpose of every genuine ground breaker is to create values, discover values, or add values. Everyone who thinks formidably acts responsibly; ground breakers are people with great characters.

My simplest definition of breaking new grounds is the ability to create new opportunities with respect to your own identity. What do I mean by your own identity? Your identity is what you’re cut out for. Your identity is your creative talent; what you know how to do best. You can only innovate what you know best; if you aren’t good in it, you will get lost in the basics.

How can you misunderstand the basics, but yet call it a career, profession or talent? In most talent shows especially singing, I sometimes feel like getting into the television screen to throw some people out of the stage because even with my croaky voice, I can do better than some of them. Sometimes, I do blame their families and friends for ever allowing them go on air to embarrass them. It is impossible to break a new ground where you haven’t been broken. Those who are broken in certain skills have the depth consciousness of those skills. Those who are broken in certain talents have the depth consciousness of those talents. You can’t chart a new course in something that you’re cursed. Your blessing is in your originality; your originality is in your genuineness; your genuineness is in your true gift and talent. If you want to break a new ground, focus on who you truly are; be yourself. Your true image is what becomes fruitful; anything else is a waste of time.

The question now arises: How can you break a new ground? For the answer, please keep a date next fortnight – Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Till then. God bless you.

•SUCCESS FACTOR appears fortnightly on Wednesdays. The Columnist, Kenneth Nkemnacho, is a popular London-based motivational writer and YAHOO Contributor. He can be reached via kenneth@kennethvisionmedia.com or publisher@newsexpressngr.com

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