An opinion poll was conducted recently with the focus on views and preferences about change. The survey sought to knowhow daring people can be, in moving from a routine exercise to a completely different one, especially with an uncertain result in view. Though it was conducted randomly, the sample population was carefully chosen to represent different groups of people. The topmost response was the concern of possibly incurring loss or misfortune. People were betrayed by their emotions, fearing some nonspecific danger, they chose to back out, rather than give the new exercise a shot.
As I thought about the anxiety displayed by people in this opinion poll, I was disturbed about how they could be so scared of a mission yet to be embarked on. I asked myself the following questions: Would there have been a faster way to travel if the thought of inventing an aeroplane was horrific? Would communication be this easy across great distances if the telephone and internet were so much dreaded that we stuck to the traditional means of sending human or bird messengers? Also, would there be salvation and eternal hope, if Jesus was not willing to die for the world, because He considered the possibility of not having a single person accept him as Saviour, a risk too great?
In this article, I am highlighting three lessons from the lives of few people who saw some manoeuvrings and identified them as opportunities instead of misfortune. The unique commonality was their approach or first moves. They were spontaneous moves devoid of anxiety or apprehension; they were filled with hope, expectation and high optimism.
1.A momentary setback is not an indication of a wrong move
While you are on course, you may experience a setback, challenge or delay; never mind, it does not suggest that the move was wrong. Paul’s missionary work was punctuated with some prison experiences. Some Bible scholars argue that Paul could have avoided at least one of those prison experiences, if he took heed to the warning of Prophet Agabus that he would be bound in Jerusalem. However, his trials and imprisonment afforded him the opportunity of appearing in major palaces in his time, captivating the attention of world rulers who were then kingdom or empire rulers. He witnessed to them the testimony of the good news. In Philippians 1:12-14(MSG) for example, Paul stated“I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else too, found out that I’m in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now they’ve learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the Christians here have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out fearlessly about God, about the Messiah”.
- Consistently affirm and maintain your Vision
The events that led to Joseph becoming the Prime Minister of Egypt started out very dangerously, and filled with life-threatening activities. In Genesis 37:5,when Joseph shared his dream with his parents and his jealous siblings, his siblings hated him the more. As you may be familiar with the story, after he shared two of such dreams of greatness with them, they got enraged and ganged up to kill him. After he was sold into Egypt, Joseph remained unwavering in his faith, and refrained from sinning against God. He was eventually imprisoned then moved to the palace in Genesis chapter 41.
Joseph never mistook the opportunities ahead for a misfortune waiting to unfold. For some others, it may appear to be too risky sharing and affirming such revelations. Even if we are bold to share our vision with others, we may be intimidated to continually affirm what God has revealed to us, especially if we are scolded the first time. But in Joseph, we see a fearless and focused individual who was ready to follow as the Lord leads.
- God will manifest His will when you move (act) in obedience.
In Acts 16: 9-40 (GW), Paul’s obedience to God’s instruction led to an unprecedented move of the spirit with signs and wonders. People gave their lives to Jesus, and the demon possessed was let loose. Though they were thrown into prison after being openly beaten and humiliated, this led to massive conversion of souls through the earthquake experience in the prison where Paul and Silas were jailed. When Paul set out to obey the instruction in the vision at night, he never had the inclination that events were going to turn out such that they will stand before magistrates to witness Christ and convert a soldier with his family.
“During the night Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia. The man urged Paul, come to Macedonia to help us. As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we immediately looked for a way to go to Macedonia. We concluded that God had called us to tell the people of Macedonia about the Good News… One day when we were going to the place of prayer, a female servant met us. She was possessed by an evil spirit that told fortunes. She made a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes… Paul became annoyed, turned to the evil spirit, and said, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! As Paul said this, the evil spirit left her. When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities in the public square. In front of the Roman officials, they said, these men are stirring up a lot of trouble in our city… The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas. Then the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered the guards to beat them with sticks. After they had hit Paul and Silas many times, they threw them in jail and ordered the jailer to keep them under tight security… Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. The other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, a violent earthquake shook the foundations of the jail. All the doors immediately flew open, and all the prisoners’ chains came loose. The jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open. Thinking the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul shouted as loudly as he could, “Don’t hurt yourself! We’re all here! The jailer asked for torches and rushed into the jail. He was trembling as he knelt in front of Paul and Silas. Then he took Paul and Silas outside and asked, Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved? They answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved. They spoke the Lord’s word to the jailer and everyone in his home. At that hour of the night, the jailer washed Paul and Silas’ wounds. The jailer and his entire family were baptized immediately. He took Paul and Silas upstairs into his home and gave them something to eat. He and his family were thrilled to be believers in God…”
When God orchestrates such moves termed ‘risky’ by humans, there is always an expected end, or a future plan; the results are always dumbfounding. Therefore, rather than becloud your mind with the thought of misfortune that may be associated with a nudging by the spirit of God, forcefully advance with the thought of enormous possibilities.
Adeyiga Awomuti
He that is born of flesh is flesh, and he that is born of the Spirit is spirit. There is a spiritual side to us, which is more important than our physical side. In everything as Christians, we must act from and by the spirit.
Our heavenly account is of more importance than our earthly account and we must consciously pay attention to its operation.
Yes we all have a heavenly account and Jesus warned that we pay more attention to this account than we do to our earthly account. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20)
That means you can lay up treasures here on earth, and you can do the same thing in heaven from your time on earth!
“Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens.”(Luke 12:33)
When bank accounts were held in bags, Jesus taught that there was another bag account in the heavens.
Paul also referred to this account in the admonition to the church in Philippians: “Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”(Philippians 4:17)
So, we all have a heavenly account. This account is operated in similar ways to how we operate our bank account. You can make deposits and withdrawals at will. But like Jesus said, the account in heaven has major advantages:
It is not subject to loss of whatever kind: no economic upheaval , inflation nor financial system collapse can affect it.
It gives more than monetary returns and for me this is the greatest. Most people lay too much emphasis on “cash”, but the blessings of God maketh complete/whole. It ensures we don’t have emergencies- that means you will not suddenly have a need or an issue you do not have the capacity to meet. It ensures provision and need come side by side. When there is a need, then the resource is available. When you make deposits in this account, a penny with you achieves so much compared to a million in the world. I tell you it is a typical case of give five loaves and two fishes and have more than enough supply to feed a multitude and still have excess! And whatever you cannot afford in a sense you receive for free! A pastor once explained this phenomenon to me in another light; he said even when he does not have the “asset “he always has “access”. Wow! There are a million and one things all the money in the world cannot give you. But the proceeds from your heavenly account gives you access to them.
Another benefit is that your heavenly account is managed by God. And no one gives better returns than Him. Your deposits keeps speaking and bearing fruits.
I am blessed by the story of Cornelius told in Acts 10. Apparently when the time came to pour out the spirit on the Gentiles, God started with a man who had made constant deposits to his heavenly account. “His prayers and gifts to the poor came up as a memorial offering before God”. At that time he was unsaved, but God still kept a record of all the deposits he ever made and rewarded him with the Gift of Gifts!
So how do you make deposits and withdrawals into this account we all have?
Deposit!
As long as the earth remains, seed time and harvest will not cease! Deposits are made in seed time. It is giving time. Anytime we give, we make a deposit into our heavenly account.
Phil 4: 15-17, our seeds or giving is a direct deposit to our account.These accounts can abound and increase through giving to the poor (Proverbs 19:17) Giving to the poor on earth makes an instant deposit in heaven. Jesus said whatsoever you do to the least of them, you do directly to Him. Making any type of investment into the preaching of the Gospel (Mark 10:29,30) and giving simply as praise to God are also deposits to the heavenly account.
So Luke 12:33 says “sell that ye have, and give alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”
1 Timothy 6:17-19 also says “charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on to eternal life.”
If all you have is a heavy earthly account then your tomorrow is uncertain. Money has failed to save anyone. So focus on your heavenly account through giving, and lay up in store for yourself a good foundation for the time to come.
If giving had no returns I will still give. I cannot imagine a life where I cannot share my resources, my time, my talents and the gift that God has made me, and put in me. Life will be without worth if I cannot give and receive a smile, a hug and a prayer from another person. But thanks be to God because we can make withdrawals from our heavenly account and receiving follows giving.
Withdrawing
Let everyman be a liar, God remains true. The scripture cannot be broken. Our deposits are securely received and multiplied by God. Many have been taught to give, but few Christians expect or know how to receive and withdraw from heaven.
But God who cannot lie affirmed that as we give, it shall be given back to us, good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give to our bosom. And also affirms that He is able to make all grace abound towards us that we always having all sufficiency in all things may abound unto every good work!
The first step to making withdrawals is to have the confidence and consciousness that you have an account you have a right to at anytime. This is key; confident faith and a consciousness. This should lead to an unwavering expectation. Expect always a return on your investment. When you go out, expect to be blessed because men giving to your bosom is a form of withdrawal.
Expect things to work for you. When men fail all over, you win because your account has to be multiplied for you. In Malachi,God said test me and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you down a blessing there will not be room enough to receive it. It’ is confident faith, consciousness and an unwavering expectation at all times that we use to withdraw from heaven.
And finally make verbal demands on your account. Exploit the power of your tongue. A man shall eat good by the fruits of his lips and by the increase he shall be satisfied. When you need anything call it. Say you have it. I have should replace I need. Your faith produces the consciousness which creates an expectation. And out of the abundance of that expectation your mouth speaks forth. That’ is how you make a withdrawal. Be conscious of that. God expects you to expect to receive. He expects you to draw on your heavenly account.
You have an account in the heavens. Use it well. As ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace of giving also. (2 Corinthians 8:7).
We are blessed.
Emmanuel A Aladenusi
Roger Bannister, the first man to break a four–minute mile record, did so by breaking down his goal. He broke down the mile into four quarters of a full mile. He would dash off a quarter mile in 58 seconds or less and then jog the rest of the way. Bannister trained not only his body but also his mind.
He held the picture of the first four-minute mile in his mind; it was his predominant thought. He trained his mind by taking up mountain climbing. This taught him persistence and how to overcome any obstacle that gets in his way. When Bannister ran his great race on May 6, 1954, he joined four of his quarter mile goals together and ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.6 seconds.
I have come to discover that the reason why so many people don’t achieve their aim in life is that they want to do everything at the same time. They set a long term goal and fail to break it down. Do you think Bannister would’ve done the four minute mile if he didn’t break it down?
In some of my seminars, I asked my audience if they know it’s possible to get thirteen months in one year. That is getting an extra month in a year. Each time I asked this question, people will always want to take me up on it. Each time, I come out tops. It’s a simple thing. Here is how it works.
If your normal time of getting out of bed is 6:30am every morning and you decide to make it 30 minutes earlier. That means 30 minutes you can use to do whatever you want. It could be 30 minutes of reading, of writing, of exercising or 30 minutes of anything that you have been putting off. Now if you do this seven days in a week, that means 30 minutes times seven which gives us three and half hours. Then multiple it by 30 days and then by 12 months! What you will have is equivalent of one complete month.
What it means is that any of us can be able to do whatever we want to do without any excuse. Of course we all have agreed that there is no excuse for failure. This was exactly how Roger Bannister was able to break the four-minute mile. There is always a way to do whatever you want to do. All you need do is find it.
Some wait for the perfect time. There can never be a perfect time. The perfect time is now. I always put off exercising, because I was waiting for the perfect time. But the perfect time never came. In fact the perfect time came when I started doing what I thought was impossible: finding time to exercise.
I don’t know what it is you want to do. I don’t know what seems like you will never have time to do it. But I do know that if you start today to do a little of it, before you know it, the task will be completed. If you want to eat an elephant what do you do? One bite at time! It could be pretty difficult at the beginning, but consistency is the answer.
To our success!
– Uju Onyechere
Leslie was born mentally retarded, without eyes, and with cerebral palsy. Vegetable like, he was totally unresponsive to sound or touch. At the age of six months, he was expected to die shortly. A nurse, May Lemke, was asked if she could care for him at home until that time. She did… for more than thirty years.
When May accepted baby Leslie, she accepted him as just that, a baby – no different from others – to be taught and loved. Year after year she cared for him, but there was no movement or response. Even so, she never stopped talking to him, singing to him, or praying for him. Music filled their home… still, no response. She and her husband bought an old, used piano and put it in his bedroom. She pushed his fingers against the keys. With quiet faith, she knew God would someday help Leslie to break out of his prison. She rejoiced when he began to walk at age 16.
Several years later, May and her husband were awakened one night by the sound of Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No 1. Startled, they arose to find Leslie at the piano with a smiling glow on his face. Shortly thereafter he began to talk and to cry… and to sing. And at age 28, he began to talk in earnest.
Dear reader, I think by now we would’ve seen, heard or read enough to convince us that the only sure way not to succeed is by giving up. I believe in miracles, but I think it happens faster when we decide to hang on. All we need is faith that it will come to pass. There are times our situation will look hopeless, but pause and remember that men and women havepassed through worse situations and still made it to the top.
Man can achieve anything he strongly believes in. I remember reading the story of Prince Albert. Prince Albert of England once visited the laboratory of a scientist named Lyon Playfair. According to Playfair’s biographer Sir Wemyss Reid, as the Prince and Scientist stood near a caldron of boiling lead, Playfair asked, “Has your royal highness any faith in science?”
“Certainly,” answered Prince Albert. Playfair washed the prince’s hand in a special solution and then told him to use his hand to ladle out some of the hot metal. The prince plunged his hand into the caldron and scooped up some in his palm – and he wasn’t injured.
For those of us who are in positions of leadership, give others a chance to develop. Don’t be quick in judging others. Those who do not perform today, with little assistance and motivation can perform tomorrow. Is there someone God has entrusted in your care? Go the extra mile to make it possible for that person to discover his potentials and put it into good use.
The key is in your hands. Use it!
– Uju Onyechere
| Henry Houdini won fame as an escape artist early in the twentieth century, challenging and claiming he could free himself from any jail cell within minutes.
One time, however, something seemed to go wrong. Houdini entered a jail cell in his street cloths. The heavy metal doors clanged shut behind him, and he took from his belt a concealed piece of strong and flexible metal. He set to work on the lock to his cell, but something seemed different about this particular lock. For thirty minutes he worked without results. An hour passed. This was long after the time that Houdini normally freed himself and he began to sweat and pant with exasperation. Still, he could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for two hours, Houdini – feeling a sense of failure close in around him – leaned in frustration against the door he could not unlock. To his amazement, as he collapsed against the door, it swung open! It had not been locked in the first place! When Charles Schwab became President of Bethlehem Steel, he made consultant Ivy Lee the following offer: “Show my staff and me a way to get more things done in less time and I’ll pay you any fee within reason.” And in twenty minutes Lee gave him a simple idea. Lee took a three-by-five card out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and said, “Write down the six most important things you have to do tomorrow and number them in order of their importance. Now put this paper in your pocket, and first thing tomorrow morning, look at item one and start working on it until you finish it. Then do item two and so on. Do this until quitting time and don’t be concerned if you have finished only one or two. You’ll be working on the most important ones first, anyway. If you can’t finish them all by this method, you couldn’t have by any other method, and without some system, you probably wouldn’t have even decided which was most important.” Lee waited while Schwab wrote his list. Then he said, “Try this system every working day. After you’ve convinced yourself of its value, have your employees try it. Try it as long as you wish and then send me a cheque for what you think it’s worth.” Two weeks later Schwab sent Lee a $25,000 cheque for that twenty-five-minutes consultation. He said Lee’s advice was the most profitable he had ever taken. He later credited that lesson with turning the unknown Bethlehem Steel into the biggest independent steel producer in the world in less than five years, and earning him a $100 million fortune in the process. That was an enormous sum of money in the early twentieth century. Was Schwab foolish to pay so much for such a simple idea? He didn’t think so. “Sure it was a simple idea,” Schwab said. “But what ideas are not basically simple? For the first time, my entire team and I are getting first things done first.” Years ago Henry Ford remarked, “My effort is in the direction of simplicity…. All could be much simpler than they now are and at the same time be better-looking.” ‘In simplicity lies genius,’ says Mozart. To your success! – Uju Onyechere |
When he was only 13 years old, violinist Yehudi Menuhin was invited to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. With distinguished musicians in the audience listening to him, the youthful genius played some of the most difficult compositions by Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms.
The response was so enthusiastic that the management called in the police in case the crowd got out of control. Albert Einstein, who had listened with utter delight to the prodigy, avoided the authorities by running across the stage into Yehudi’s dressing room. He embraced the surprised violinist and exclaimed “Now I know there is a God in heaven!”
If we all learn to autograph our jobs with excellence, beyond personal gains, which is obvious, we end up blessing humanity with it. One thing to observe is that when excellence is attained, that’s when more work should be done. It’s not getting to the top that matters, but staying there.
Many have shortchanged themselves by being complacent. Because they were doing a good job, improvement became a no issue. It can never be good enough.
I remember reading about Royce. Sir Henry Royce overheard one of his engineers telling a colleague, ‘That’s good enough‘. He immediately broke into the conversation by shouting,‘No, it’s never good enough‘. That’s what we are all about here. We are here to make it better and then to make it better than it is today and then better than tomorrow. Never say ‘it’s good enough‘. It isn’t. And that’s what the goal of excellence is all about. It demands an attitude of great expectation. Today the name Rolls Royce is synonymous with what is remarkable, beautiful and fine about something. It is the symbol of quality.
I have on this platform told the story of a man who strives for perfection. Michelangelo stands as one of the towering figures in the history of art. His majestic Frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his masterful sculptures bear witness to his greatness. But he was a man never content to rest on his laurels. He spent countless hours on his back on the scaffolding in the Sistine, carefully perfecting the details of each figure. When a friend questioned such meticulous attention to detail on the grounds that “at that height who will know whether it is perfect or not?”
Michelangelo’s simple response was, “I will.”
After completing what some consider his greatest work, Moses, the master sculptor stood back and surveyed his craftsmanship. Suddenly, in anger, he struck the knee of his creation with his chisel and shouted, “Why don’t you speak?” the chisel scar that remains on the statue’s knee is the mark of a man who always reached out for more. His ambition was to be the best he could be.
Dear reader, take the decision today to brand yourself with every opportunity that comes your way. It was Aristotle who once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” The key is in your hands. Use it!
To our success!
– Uju Onyechere
The sculptures of Michelangelo need no introduction to most people. We are all familiar with his masterpieces, David, Day and Night, Twilight and Dawn, Medici, Madonna and Child.
Michelangelo stands as one of the towering figures in the history of art. His majestic Frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his masterful sculptures bear witness to his greatness. But he was a man never content to rest on his laurels. He spent countless hours on his back on the scaffolding in the Sistine, carefully perfecting the details of each figure. When a friend questioned such meticulous attention to detail on the grounds that “at that height who will know whether it is perfect or not?” Michelangelo’s simple response was, “I will.”
One of his most massive sculptures is a statue of Moses, completed more than four hundred years ago, often called his best work. If one looks closely at the statue of Moses, however, you find a long, narrow dent on Moses’ knee. It is the mark of an artist who was never satisfied with his own work!
After completing work on Moses, the master sculptor stood back and surveyed his craftsmanship. Suddenly, in anger, he struck the knee of his creation with his chisel and shouted, “Why don’t you speak?” the chisel scar that remains on the statue’s knee is the mark of a man who always reached out for more. His ambition was to be the best he could be.
I don’t think it’s a crime to aspire to be the best in your industry. I mean if names are being mentioned in your chosen profession, why shouldn’t yours be among? Most people get satisfied with little achievement. Don’t get me wrong, am not preaching greed. According to Charles Lamb “My motto is: contented with little, yet wishing for more.”
Many years ago, a promising Greek artist named Timanthes was under the instruction of a well-known tutor. After several years, the young painter created an exquisite portrait. He was so thrilled with what he had painted that he sat day after day gazing at his work. One morning, however, he was horrified to discover that his teacher had deliberately ruined his painting. Angry and in tears, Timanthes ran to him and asked why he had destroyed his cherished possession. The wise man replied, “I did it for your own good. That painting was retarding your progress. It was an excellent piece of art, but it was not perfect. Start again and see if you can do even better. The student took his advice and produced a masterpiece called “Sacrifice of Iphigenia,” regarded by some as one of the finest paintings of antiquity.
It was William George Jordan that advised “There are times when a man should be content with what he has but never with what he is.” Many today are like Timanthes, always relishing in past achievements and refusing to move ahead. Those who are satisfied with their accomplishments tend to remain as little as the things they do. The true giants in any field are those who are never satisfied that they have done enough or have done their best. That’s the driving force behind their greatness.
To our success!
– Uju Onyechere
Shortly after Booker T. Washington became head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking past the house of a wealthy family. The woman of the house, assuming Washington was one of the yard workers her husband had hired, asked him if he would chop some wood for her. Professor Washington smiled, nodded, took off his coat and chopped the wood. When he carried the armload of wood into the woman’s kitchen, a servant girl recognized him and rushed to her mistress to tell her of his identity.
The next morning, the woman appeared in Washington’s office. Apologizing profusely, she said repeatedly, “I did not know it was you I put to work”. Washington replied with generosity, “It’s entirely all right, madam. I like to work and I’m delighted to do favour for my friends.”
The woman was so taken with his manner and his willingness to forgive that she gave generous gifts to the institute, and persuaded many of her wealthy acquaintances to do likewise. In the end, Washington raised as much money for the institute from this one act of chopping wood as he did from other fund – raising event! Here was a man who is confident of himself and is not threatened by the opinion of others.
Some of us think big, but are not willing to start small. We just want the big break. The story is told of a man who was walking the streets of Philadelphia searching for employment and finally happened to call on the office of a well-known businessman by the name of Girard. When he asked for a job, Mr. Girard personally responded, “Yes, I can give you work. See that pile of bricks out there? Carry them to the other end of the yard and stack them up.”
By nightfall the man reported that the project was completed and he received his pay. He then asked if there would be more work the next day. Girard said, “Yes, come in tomorrow and carry those same bricks back to where you found them.” The following morning the man arrived early and got busy, never saying a word. For more than a week, Girard instructed the worker to carry bricks back and forth until it was evident to Girard that he could trust this new employee. He was then given a new and bigger responsibility. As far as Girard was concerned, if the man could be faithful in a mindless, inconsequential task… he could be faithful in a transaction, which truly mattered.
If you know where you are going, you can always start from somewhere to get there. According to The Talmud, “Why was man created on the sixth day? To teach that if he is ever swollen with pride, it can be said: a flea came ahead of thee in creation.”
Humility will open great doors for you if you make it a habit.
To our success!
– Uju Onyechere
| Benjamin Franklin learned that plaster scattered in the fields would make things grow. He told his neighbours, but they did not believe him. They argued with him, trying to prove that plaster could be no use at all to grass or grain. After a little while he allowed the matter to drop and said no more about it.
Early the next spring Franklin went into the field and sowed some grain. Close by the path, where men would walk, he traced some letters with his finger, put plaster into them, and then sowed seed in the plaster. After a week or two the seed sprang up. As they passed that way, the neighbours were very surprised to see, in brighter green than all the rest of the field, large letters saying, “This has been plastered.” Benjamin Franklin did not need to argue with his neighbours anymore about the benefits of plaster for the fields. Another of his experiments Benjamin Franklin was told by “experts” to stop all that foolish experimenting with lightning Louis L’Amour, successful author of over 100 western novels with over 200 million copies in print, received 350 rejections before he made his first sale. He later became the first American novelist to receive a special congressional gold medal in recognition of his distinguished career as an author and contributor to the nation through his historically based works. Young Dr. Ignatius Piazza fresh out of chiropractic school, wanted to open a practice on the beautiful community of California. The local chiropractic community told him that there were not enough potential patients to support another practice. For the next four months, Piazza spent ten hours a day going door-to-door and introducing himself as a new chiropractic doctor in town. He knocked on 12, 500 doors, spoke to 6,500 people and invited them to come to his future open house. As a result of his perseverance and commitment, during his first month of practice he saw 233 new patients and earned a record income for that time of $72,000 in one month! Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book, I may have used a couple of examples on those who got their writings initial rejected by publishers, but don’t get me wrong. It’s not all about books here, these rejections and their subsequent success could happen in any other field. Dear reader, your commitment to your goal will make it possible for any obstacle to be subdued. Ed McELroy once said, “Commitment gives us new power. No matter what comes to us , we never turn our eye from the goal.” To our success! |
He was the son of a poor preacher. He was considered to be a sensitive but morbid child. His schoolmaster labeled him, “A stupid blockhead.” He earned a collage degree, but graduated at the very bottom of his class. He was rejected from becoming a preacher. He tried law, and again was rejected. He borrowed a suit of clothes to take an examination to be an assistant in a hospital, and then failed at that as well.
He lived in poverty, was often ill, and once, even pawned his clothes for food. The one thing he wanted to do more than anything was to write. And so he forged a new trail. In the end, Oliver Goldsmith rose above his past to rank among the greatest writers of all time.
Richard Hooker worked for seven years on his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H, only to have it rejected by twenty-one publishers before Morrow decided to publish it. It became a runaway bestseller, spawning a blockbusting movie and a highly successful television series.
After having lost both legs in an air crash, British fighter pilot Douglas Bader rejoined the British Royal Air Force with two artificial limbs. During World War 11 he was captured by the Germans three times – and three times he escaped. Are you there? Am not sure you got that. He escaped on each occasion with artificial legs. You can see the power of determination.
It was Orison Swett Marden who said, “You must back up your ambition by your whole nature, by unbounded enthusiasm and determination to win that knows no failure.” There is no doubt some men and women will want to puncture that determination, but they will succeed if only you let them.
In their Book, Don’t Quote Me – What People Said And Then Wished They Hadn’t, Don Atyeo and Jonathon Green writes, “Addressing his audience in the Berliner Tageblatt on July 12, 1914, Prof. Hans Friedenthal of Berlin University stated his opinions in the evolution of ‘the new woman’ in an era of suffragism and higher education. ‘Brainwork will cause her to become bald, while increasing masculinity and contempt for beauty will induce the growth of hair on the face. In the future, therefore, woman will be bald and wear long moustaches and patriarchal beards’”
Goke Ilesanmi writing in Financial Standard said, “It is a truism that irrespective of what we do and how perfectly we think we have done it, criticism is inevitable. Criticism is even so celebrated that we have different categories of critics.”
According to the man who modernized the production of automobiles Henry Ford “I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.” Never dwell in your past.
To our success!
– Uju Onyechere