Are You the 'LAST MAN STANDING' ?

Are You the 'LAST MAN STANDING' ?

Do you recall being the 'LAST MAN STANDING' ?  Probably for some of us, we could hardly discern those situations when we seemed to be the 'LAST MAN STANDING'. And by the way, there are zillion scenarios where you could be the 'LAST MAN STANDING'.  In a bit, let me convince you why it pays for us to be aware if we're the 'LAST MAN STANDING'.

Let me share various real life  'LAST MAN STANDING' scenarios so we can all relate to this.  If you're a student in school and the professor throws a question and no one happens to volunteer.  Will you take the cudgels to be the 'LAST MAN STANDING' and volunteer ?  At work when your client sends you a request for help that is OUT-of-SCOPE.  Will you just shrug off your shoulders ?  Or will you go out of your way to explore measures where you can still give that VALUE-ADD to your client ?

 Currently, I'm in 5th session of an academy training I'm taking [after my work shift ends] which training will culminate by end-FEB 2022 and in our last session last Friday, after our breakout sessions ended, our resource [of a US$ 9bn US technology player with annual revenues close to US$5bn] called out our group number to present in the sales presentation.  Alas, there was eerie silence and before we trigger the ire of our resource, I thought I was the 'LAST MAN STANDING' and volunteered.  Why did I volunteer ?  Good question.  It's because I take that as an OPPORTUNITY for me to grab !

                             

Hmmmm, well in life, we are akin to those dominoes.   Before the game starts, dominoes are all upright but after rounds of skirmishes, there could be that solitary domino that could be the 'LAST MAN STANDING'.  So, let's look at the upside of things.  By volunteering, by taking the step forward to take the challenge, what are you up to ?  If you're one not to cower in fear of challenges, then opportunities like this should be 'music to your ears'.

Here's some breaking news.  Awhile go,I heard the voice of the street-vending tofu vendor so I rushed out to buy his tofu stuff and unknown to him, I was 'sizing' his situation so I asked as to why the past week I would hear his voice close to noontime when throughout the past years, before 9am, i'll hear his voice outside our gate.  

He admitted he had an appointment with an Indian loan shark so he can buy a bicycle with a side-car so he does not need to walk several kilometers with more than 20kg on his shoulders everyday.  Without letting the cat out of the bag, I gave him my mobile phone number and advised him to send me an SMS message once he reaches home.  Not know to him yet, my wife and myself have already decided to finance and buy for him that bicycle alongside the side-car so that his daily selling will be tremendously less difficult instead of walking many kilometers under the heat of the sun carrying more than 20kg of weight on both his shoulders.  Why did my wife and myself decide to give this life-hardened vendor some one-off financial relief ?  It's because we felt we were the 'LAST MAN STANDING' and this was an OPPORTUNITY to MAKE A DIFFERENCE❗❗❗