Guest Contribution, by Isaac Oluyi
“Somewhere in your make-up there lies sleeping the seed of achievement which, if aroused and put into action, would carry you to heights such as you may never have hoped to attain” – Napoleon Hill
The height you cannot attain in life is that which you have never aspired to attain. There is nothing a person sets his mind to achieve that is not attainable if only he can go about it with the will to succeed, notwithstanding the attendant challenges. The height attained in life is directly proportional to the risk you can take. He who does not take risk may find it intractable to achieve any meaningful feat in life. This, I think, is what Napoleon Hill was referring to when he made the statement above.
What propelled me to write this piece was a casual discussion I had with a senior colleague on Friday, 10th June, 2011 in his office. We were brainstorming generally about life and he did a fascinating analysis for me. He said that he had decided to continue to live his life based on the principle of setting a goal that is higher than him. According to him if he knows that his capabilities can only give him $10, for instance, he would aim for $15 so that he can really dig deep to put in the extra efforts required to achieve the $15 goal. Fascinating! Isn’t it? I think it is. What he is trying to say is that complacency may take the better part of you once you know you have all it requires to achieve the goal you have set for yourself. The ‘extra’ that makes ‘ordinary’ people become extra-ordinary will be missing in the pursuit of your goal.
Recently, I was told the story of a person who used to work with an agency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a junior member of staff. He quit the job and relocated to Lagos suburb where he set up a small farm. He invested all his savings and also borrowed more money from people. He left his job to take his destiny into his own hands. He was not afraid of the unknown. He exerted unusual energy in ensuring that the farm stayed afloat. The farm did not only stay afloat, the man is at the moment working on the expansion of the farm. He just procured 10 acres of farm land in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria for this purpose. A junior staff 5 years ago who could not afford a bicycle is now an employer of labour cruises in Jeep! What a turn-around story necessitated by risk taking!
The man in this story could have remained at the level he was if he had not attempted to take the risk he took some years ago. If he had stayed put in his comfort zone, what we are saying today about him would have been totally different. He quit his comfort zone, put in the ‘extra’ efforts required to change his story to an extra-ordinary story. What story do you want people to tell about you? Is it a story of a person who is afraid to dig deep into his inner self and remains at point zero? Or a mind-boggling story that will inspire others around you to take a bold step of faith towards realising their dreams in life? Whether you are willing to risk something that is higher than you or not, one thing is certain a story will be told about your sojourn here on earth. Therefore, do something about your condition now. Dream a bigger dream, pursue it with vigour and believe all will end well with you.
