Success is success whether it is inside of the Caribbean, or outside it.
However, in this article, we are focusing on how success within the Caribbean is to be attained. So as to encourage it. If living the Caribbean dream is:
“being able to do what you love within the Caribbean.”
How can we ensure that we are successful? That is, living our own version of the Caribbean dream or the “good life”.
As is always the case. It’s easy to tell someone what they should do. Or, give them directions. However, to increase the chances of people being successful, it is a good idea for us to have a discussion about the values, traits, the characteristics that virtually, ensure success.
This, is what this article is about. Yes, we want Caribbean people to know that doing what you love in the Caribbean is what living the Caribbean dream is. However we also want to take the time to let Caribbean people know the type of values and characteristics that help make dreams come true.
Love Is The Key
The whole reason why love is the key, the starting point and foundation, upon which the Caribbean dream and/or success is built is because love never changes. When you really love something. You love it forever. That permanence, that consistency, enables someone to have one of the most valuable characteristics that contributes to achieving success: being relentless.
Only someone that is in touch with their why, their passion, their reason for being. Is able to be so well aligned with their purpose that they can be relentless. Relentlessness is something reserved only for people that are living their truth. It is the stuff that all significant achievements are born from.
Relentlessness enables human beings to outlive and outlast all our inevitable failures, because being human ensures that at some point, we will make mistakes. Being relentless, helps us to ensure that we survive those mistakes and get to learn, to never repeat them, as we learn from experience. Through being relentless, we are able to survive our mistakes and any negative energy that any haters may put out there.
The Power Of One.
If you say the word community really slowly, the word sort of sounds like two words that were made into one: come unity. Which would allude to the process of becoming one.
Put a different way. The above subtitle, is less about the power of one i.e. you. Instead, it is more about the power of different people becoming one. That is, a community. Ubuntu, love, are really important concepts for Caribbean people to grasp, if we are ever going to achieve success or the Caribbean dream.
As Mungi Ngomane explains in her book Everyday Ubuntu. One of the most important parts of the concept of Ubuntu is the fact that it is inherently a concept about people.
Earning enough money to be able to take care of one’s needs for the rest of their life is only partial success. As the pandemic taught us, the well being of those around you is your concern too because there is a fine line between their health and yours. Which all hints at the fact that true success touches the village. If we are really winning, our wins must impact our village, our country, our region (the Caribbean) and even eventually our planet. Otherwise, how can we consider ourselves truly successful?
In the same way that it takes a village to raise a child that eventually is successful. A succesful person is one that returns the debt the village spent on them, by returning what was given to them to said village. The child and village are interdependent and both must relentless nourish each other, if all are to survive indefinitely.
Show Me Your Network And I’ll Show You Your Networth.
So thus far, we’ve started, with love which enables us to be relentless. We know that our dreams are all about how we impact those around us and we have Ubuntu factored into our vision of success. Is something missing? Yes, it is.
The Caribbean is region otherwise known as the developing world. If we are to close the gap between us and developed world, we better start taking network development seriously.
If Caribbean people never noticed, the developed world has no qualms about networking. In fact, they may actually be more advanced than us at it. Meaning, we may have some serious ground to cover if they actually do have a headstart on us when it comes to networking.
However, it is by no means all doom and gloom. The truth is us Caribbean people have a history, a tendency to be prolific in our abilities to charm. The truth is, in the islands, our laid back, positive, warmth, are all characteristics that make networking easy.
In other words, after we wrap our minds around the importance of networking and actually start the process. We may well find that we are excellent at it. After all, the parts of the Caribbean that are experienced in Tourism, already, may well know a thing or two about connecting with the world in a way that ensures a win/win for all involved. Winning together, is the winning formula that makes networking a no brainer for all involved and it is why the Caribbean as always, is a force to be reckoned with.
So, we’ve got love. We are relentless. We are mindful of consciously focusing on people and the power of community and networking in our pursuit and definition of success. Is there anything else we need to be successful? Probably, but, all of the above should be more than enough to help ensure that your success becomes a reality.
The only other thing to bear in mind, is that it is free to dream and to paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt the future belongs to those who dream. Therefore, why only have one dream? Ben Carson (as his book says) would advise you to Think Big. However, go further. Dream big too, and more than that, dream much! Have so many dreams, that your life is a dream. Does that mean you are asleep most of the time, disconnected from reality and preoccupied with a fantasy world? Of course no!
It means you are extremely connected with your desires for this life. Which means you intimately connected with all of the many wonderful things you want from life. So much so that your journey is immensely rich right now. Freeing you up from being (overly) dependent on needing to reach a particular destination.
Love, relentlessness, ubuntu, community, you got all of that. You are living the dream. You are successful.
