Donald Trump’s journey to the White House was marred with stains that could and should have prevented anyone else from making it to the most powerful office in the world. Yet, he did.
NOW WHAT? What do you do now? How do you process this all? Well, I have found that one of the best ways to cope with situations like this is to make them serve me.
So, instead of feeling like a victim or, better still, DESPITE feeling like a victim, I scavenge the situation for value that I can extract that will make me better than the situation. There are still so many things about him that I do not like or want anywhere near me, here are some lessons that will make a positive difference in your life. Some of them will possibly be hard to accept but they are true nonetheless.
Here we go:
1) He heard the inaudible and operated by revelation
Hold your horses. I am not saying that The Donald somehow got a Holy Ghost bath of revelation. What I am saying is that Donald Trump understood a core emotion that important voters harbored, but had not really expressed. These voters never had any riots and never came on TV but Trump heard them loud and clear. It seemed like no one else heard what was loud and clear to him. We are not talking about whether those voices were right or wrong, we are just observing that he heard what no one else heard and saw what no one else saw.
What does this mean for you?
Always pay attention to what is not being said. It is usually more powerful than what is being yelled. This is how you will win in business and relationships -- by identifying niches and opportunities that no one else sees and listening to customers and people in a way that no one else does.
2) He had more conviction than anyone (in both parties) that he was going to win
If you were watching the entire process as closely as I was, you would have seen that perhaps no one was more convinced about their right, their victory and passage to the White House than Donald Trump.
Debate after debate, I watched him and I kept asking myself…what does he know that the rest of us don’t? What ACE does he have up his sleeve that makes him so confident? Then while working on this article, I finally figured it out! STAY WITH ME HERE.
You see, battles are won by the proper execution of strategy. Confidence allows for the proper execution of strategy even in chaos. Self-doubt reduces the ability to properly execute strategy…especially in chaos. Conviction is a powerful winning tool because it sustains your confidence (therefore allowing you to properly execute your strategy) while simultaneously creating self-doubt in your opponent (therefore reducing their ability to execute their strategy…especially in chaos).
This, my friends, is how Donald won the republican nomination and how Mohammad Ali, the U.S military, corporations, and even Tyrants win battles.
What does this mean for you?
Conviction is magnetic. You need to be confident in what you are doing. You need to be convicted. People will not get out of your way if they smell self-doubt.
3) He didn’t try to please everybody
He realized he couldn’t win by pleasing everybody. So, he properly identified who he wanted to please, focused on just them and pleased the heck out of them.
That was a decision that most certainly aided in getting him to the White House.
What does this mean for you?
You can’t please everybody. In fact, trying to please everybody will hurt you. Launching a new business? Serving in Church? Have a job? Decide who you are going to please and please them well.
4) He cut out the middle men and women (popular vote) and went right for the decision makers (electoral vote)
This is really important. Apparently, “Clinton got the second-highest number of votes of any presidential candidate in history. Trump, who got 2.5 million fewer votes, won the 44th biggest Electoral College victory in history (out of 54 elections).”
In other words, Clinton had the second best popular vote performance in presidential campaign history and Trump had one of the worst electoral votes performance in presidential campaign history…and he STILL won.
What does this mean for you?
It is never about having a lot of money/followers on social media/customers in your business/people who think you should win your case/think you should win an election, etc. It is about having the RIGHT people who can make the decisions you want them to make on your behalf.
It’s about having people whose decisions can affect you in the way you desire. That means Followers who care about you on social media, not just those who add no value to you. Customers who like buying from you and are evangelists for your product/s. A jury that is in favor of you, not just protesters on the streets, etc. Get the real decision makers on your side
5) You don’t win by getting the vote (or whatever) of people who are generally educated. You win by being educated about the people whose vote (or whatever) you want so you can properly present your offer to them.
In other words, it doesn’t matter if what your offer makes logical sense. The only way you truly get people to buy in is to inform yourself about them and what they want. Hillary Clinton was said to be the most qualified candidate to ever run for president in terms of experience. She was the “logical” choice. But, she still lost. Why? Because she ran a campaign that focused a lot of its energy on educating people to prove she was the logical choice because of HER experience. Donald Trump, instead, ran a campaign that focused on educating people to prove that he could solve the problem that mattered most to them.
What does this mean for you?
Don’t depend on people to make the logical choice about you. When it comes to most things, people don’t make decisions based on logic. They make decisions on what they think will serve them or their sense of identity the best. So you always have to ask: will what I am asking for make this person feel like they are more like the person they aspire to be? Will what I propose meet the need that is most important to this person/people?
6) Don’t waste the opportunity to be a positive leader
As an avid student of leadership, this has been one of my biggest gripes with Donald Trump. He has consistently missed, mismanaged, ignored and wasted countless opportunities to heal the nation, bring people together, calm tense emotions and be the national father figure that a hurting nation needs. Under him, even though some people feel they matter, most feel they don’t. Worse still, most feel fearful and disrespected. In his name, many racists have been emboldened and, in his name, many people have been hurt.
During his campaign, he offended and hurt so many people. The following nights after the election, riots erupted. The day after his inauguration, more than 2 million women all across the world marched to show their hurt, fears and pain. What an opportunity to come out to say “I hear you. I see you. I understand. Let’s be better. I won’t ignore you.” What did we get instead? Comments and complaints about his inauguration’s attendance numbers.
What does this mean for you?
Leadership is a powerful responsibility. Never squander it. The greatest leaders are never perfect…but they inspire good. They heal…they turn moments of despair and fright into moments of optimism and hope.
7) It is always more powerful to have a secret army than a counted army
Do you remember the feeling as you watched the votes being counted? As Trump won more and more states, do you remember the question that kept popping in your head? Let me remind you.
You were asking “Who the heck are all these Trump voters and where have they been hiding?”
You see, turns out that people secretly voted for Trump but didn’t talk about it. They didn’t make any noise about it. They played it totally cool. You shamed them into silence and they bit hard.
Think of the conversations about the candidates in your offices and schools and bars.
—Hillary Supporter (Somehow assuming that there is no way a sensible human can support Trump): Hey, did you hear what Dumb Trump said last night during the debate? What a loser! It would be stupid to vote for him.
—Trump supporter (Listening to this… fake-nodding like they agree, and thinking…I’d like to tell you why I support him but you are just going to make me look stupid so I’ll just let my vote speak at the polls)
What does this mean for you?
Underestimate your opponent all you want but never underestimate their hidden resources. This is such a simple statement but let me pry your eyes open with a fork for a moment. It’s the reason countries have spies working in other countries, it’s the reason why every sports team has reserve players with fresh energy they can bring in at the last moment, it’s the reason why there is the Federal Reserves in a country….Get it?
The ACE in your pocket is almost always more important than the cards in circulation.
8) Don’t beat yourself up and don’t allow others to beat you up more than you can take
Not once. Not one single time has Donald Trump allowed you, me, the media or anyone else for that matter to beat him down for one single second more than he thinks he can take. His ways of handling that are not always honest or mature, but I am more after the principle here.
(Stay close on this one).
This is NOT about having thick skin. Oh no. I give that to Hillary. (I have so much respect for her) This is about being good at deflecting so your skin doesn’t have to pay the price at all. Not once has he allowed people to treat him more than he thinks he can take. It seems he can’t take a lot of heat but that didn’t matter. He was good at not dodging the punches.
If I could explain this in superhero terms, Hillary Clinton has been like Wolverine (able to take a beating, able to heal and come back to fight again, great internal strength) and Donald Trump has been like Flash (so fast you can’t hold him down long enough to give him a proper beating.) Or if I were to create a superhero character for him, it would be EEL MAN. I can’t cut it open because it’s too slippery.
What does this mean for you?
Here is what I would like us to extract. Sometimes you need to protect yourself from the criticism of those around you and brush them off. That’s not to say we would not be open to constructive criticism. No. This is to say that when people don’t believe in us…don’t believe that we qualify to achieve what we want, when people are convinced we don’t deserve what we believe we do, sometimes we should be like EEL MAN and let those comments and criticisms glide over.
9) Even when you’ve always had someone’s commitment, don’t take them for granted
Hillary Clinton lost in certain swing states that were supposed to already be guaranteed wins for her. One infamous one was Wisconsin. Here is the irony. She was so confident she would get the win there that she did not visit there once during the campaign. She lost Wisconsin. This was a simple but powerful lesson.
What does this mean for you? (Caution.This might hit you hard)
You don’t “have” anyone “in the bag.” When all is said and done, no one is committed to you unless you are committed to them. If you think clearly about this, you will probably realize that you might be taking so many people in your life for granted because you think “they are already in the bag” or “you already have their commitment.” So you take your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, customers, friends, co-workers, parents, siblings, fans, readers, followers for granted in the present because they showed strong commitment in the past. You have another thing coming.
Remember, Trump did the exact opposite. He found those that were committed to him and he committed right back to them. Apply these, and you’ll be better for it. Trump’s victory will serve you and won’t just be a punch in the face.
Christian Takeaway
While Donald Trump holds the highest office in the physical world today, he does not have the last say over your life. No matter what policies or agenda he pushes, in the end, ALL THINGS WILL WORK TOGETHER FOR YOUR GOOD (Rom 8:28). Donald Trump winning is a slap-in-the-face-reminder that we cannot hang our coat of faith on the hanger of any human institution like political parties or physical places. Like it or not, he is president. So obey your Bible and pray for him. 1 Tim 2:2 says “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people – 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
Finally, remember that Donald Trump did not create “this America” that you don’t like. It existed long before he got here. He did not resurrect all these toxic human feelings. It seems as though we thought they were dying when in actuality, they went for a bathroom break. However, God is not dead. We should be paying super close attention right now to hear or perceive what God wants to do in this season, and to position ourselves where and how he needs us at a time like this.
Tobi Atte is a certified Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner, motivational speaker and the writer behind IJustMetMe, a lifestyle website for young adults who need a good dose of daily inspiration to tackle tough life issues. Tobi is also the author of the new book How to Make Sure Your Values are Aligned: A Guide to Avoiding Relationship Frustration. For more on relationships, motivation, fresh perspectives on faith, personal improvement and more, read/learn more at www.ijustmetme.com, watch him on YouTube HERE and download his free e-book HERE.
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