THE BIGGER THE DREAM (PHASE 2)

Sometime around last week, we started talking about BIG DREAMS; the how's and the why's.
Today, we will continue in that light, but we will take it a step further and a little deeper.

For you to be successful in life, you must first think success! You must see SUCCESS in your life as POSSIBLE. God told Abraham in Genesis 13:14 "As far as your eyes can see, I will give it to you..." It was now Abraham's responsibility to 'see' and imagine great things; away from the lack in his family, away from limitations in his life, away from the evil people were whispering around him about him, away from the shame in his life....! In other words, God was asking Abraham: "How much can you handle?" Whatever he finalized, God gave him. This same God doesn't show partiality, what He did to Abraham is what He wants to do to all His creation'

Dear friend, you will never get more than you can see. The size of your diving package is provoked by the size of your seeing. How much you see is what determines how much you will seize.

Dreams are developed by imaginations. By the way, your imagination is elastic. How far you can stretch is what determines how much you will get from life (Genesis 11:6). Imagination is the tool for dream formation. Your imagination is what prepares your destination. Every man who is a success or failure is actually a product of his imagination.

To be a success in life, it is not just enough to be a 'hard worker', you must also be a 'success thinker'. The bible says it clear: "By strength shall no man prevail..." but "Be get your transformation by renewing [and making use] of your mind..." Success is always inside-out and not outside-in. We have so many hard-workers who have nothing to show for it. It takes wisdom to triumph in this world of ours. It takes a 'good head'. You must use your head, you must let your mind work!

God will only reward you in proportion to what you can handle. The bible says about Him: "He will never put more on you than you can bear..." This works both for good and evil! So, you must stretch your imagination so can get as much as you should from Him. God cannot be limited by the weight of your desires. So, why pity for Him? Think the impossible, think the unusual. Set yourself up for it. That you could think it actually means it is possible.

We will talk about the next phase in my next post.

Have a super-productive day!

SOME DREAMS WILL NEVER BECOME REALITY!

Anybody can have [or own] a dream, it cost nothing, absolutely nothing. In fact, it is the freest commodity on planet earth... I once said in one of my articles that the challenge of this generation is actually not the lack of dreams [or ideas], but lack of focus. Focus is the major prerequisite for the realization of any dream.... Every young kid on the street has dreams, but most of these dreams are still in the category of WISHES.

As I travelled around Nigeria during the month of October to honour several speaking engagements, I had the privilege of meeting a number of young Nigerians; the [supposed] hope and determinant of the beauty of the future of this nation.

I was really astounded with the discovery that most of these young ones may end up living the kind of sorry lives their parents had lived, if not worse! One of the core reasons for this conviction is that most of these young ones have very impractical dreams/ideas about the future, their approach and attitude to life and their dreams are not any different. The truth is, our parents had dreams of and for their future... But, where did they end up? Isn't it clear through their lives that having a dream is not the only basis/criterion for greatness? There is more to what success demands than just dreams.

Dreams can’t and don’t fulfil itself. While it is your responsibility to develop dream for yourself, it is also your responsibility to work it out. God’s responsibility is to reward you for fulfilling your responsibility. This is apparent in His word: “I will bless the labour of your hands....... Whatever you lay your hands to do, it shall prosper.........”

I have discovered that many young people in our generation have very lofty dreams, great and fantastic dreams. But, most of these dreams have no ladders. There is no [concrete] plan on how they intend to fulfil it; most of these dreams would finally end up in the trash can of wishes or in the comfort of their graves when they finally exit this earth! Someone once said: “If wishes were horses, everybody would own one!” The question is: “what is a wish?” A wish is a plan-less aspiration. Simply put, a wish is a desire without plans/strategies to meet its actualization. If only we could just think and ask ourselves why our fathers failed!!!

God had to CREATE planet earth... He went beyond dreaming; He constructed a ladder [plan] to the actualization of the dream. Developing a personal dream/vision is the first phase, but most people make it look like the only phase!

In one of my recent meetings, a young lady told me how she has dreams of owning one of the biggest schools in Abuja, she told me how the school would look like and lots of other fantastic things. I was so enthused by this great dream that I asked her: “what are you currently doing to ensure that this great dream become a reality....?” She had no answer, none! All she stopped at was the dreaming aspect of success actualization. I wonder how she hoped it will ever come true! It was obvious she was already thinking like many religious folks who always shy away from responsibility by saying: “God will do it....”

Truth is, every great man who is presently at an enviable height had to begin from where he was... he had to act on whatever dreams he had.... any man who got to the mountain top had to CLIMB there, not JUMP!

At another meeting I had recently, a young man said his dream is to become a presenter on CNN in the next three months... While his case looks in some way ‘nice’, this is because he has given himself a time frame... Yet, the laughable angle is that at present he has nothing to do with any media house in Nigeria.... He’s never had! But, he his dream is to become a top-notch presenter for CNN within a year!

Nothing wrong with the dream, but he needs to create a ladder! I told him CNN is like a ‘destination’. He needs to have bus-stops; places where he needs to horn and refine his skills – he just may need to start out as a co-presenter with any of our local TV/radio station, gradually he would build his confidence and know-how of the job.... A 'height' like CNN is not for amateurs. They don’t give starters the opportunity to learn there. They don’t groom starters, at least his kind.

You may want to conclude that these two folks are really dumb. I beg to disagree! I see folks like these ones everyday... Theirs is quite reasonable, compared to others who can’t even explain their dreams, but they know they have one. This is the challenge of our generation.

Many of our university graduates either have no dreams of where they are taking their lives to, while others have some ludicrous and unworkable dreams. I believe this is one reason why the spirit of entrepreneurship is gradually dying in Africa; the spirit of responsibility! I have interacted with lots of university graduates who just stay in life to grow older – nothing more, nothing less and nothing else!

While I am a strong believer in having big dreams, what however makes a dreamer and his dream look daft and dippy is when there is no ladder to the actualization of his dream.

Success is a product of planning. Success is a product of strategies. Every dreamer must learn how to create plans. You must have a structure/plan of HOW you hope to achieve whatever great dream you have. Most probably, it will require you to start somewhere. Your plan will also tell you where you should start from, how and why.......... A dreamer without a plan is actually playing. He is but a joke, and his life may also end up same way.

In addition, you must learn, understand and appreciate the power of action. The difference between a failure and a success story is that one effectively used the gift called: “NOW!” Any man who truly wants to live his dream must first wake-up and if you will ever make progress, you have to first get started!

A conventional dreamer may know what to do, but the wise ones know what to do next. They don't just hope on their dreams, they ACT on them! They don’t squander their present, hoping miracles will happen! They know that success comes in bits. Thus, they look at their dreams and ask themselves: “What can/must I do now? How can I maximize my present so that my future will appreciate?” They create a plan ---- short term, midterm and long term strategies that will see them getting to top of their game............... These are the few ones that slowly but surely become the celebrities and success stories amongst us.

Folks, it is not enough to dream. Create plans. Start from somewhere. Align yourself with folks who have what you don’t have but what your dream needs. Access your strengths and your weakness. Start strengthening your strengths and look away from your weaknesses; the quality of people you connect with will help cover your areas of vulnerability and deficiencies.

You must happen!

TEMPORALLY MENTAL...

I once had a friend who lost a relationship so dear to him owing to his temperamental problems. The sad part was that he wasn’t willing to change or seek help. He just saw it as part of his make-up.

On a certain Sunday afternoon after church service, I made up my mind to talk to him. The sum of what I told him is that being TEMPERAMENTAL is being short sighted... Also, when you check out the synonyms of temperamental, you will discover that words like UNRELIABLE and UNTRUSTWORTHY are used. Which implies that a temperamental person cannot be trusted because his moods are inconsistent. Poor management of his/her emotions always betray them.
To my mind, a temperamental person is TEMPORALLY MENTAL.
While this article is not intended to outrightly condemn temperamental individuals, it is however my style when i speak or write to first say things as they are, then proffer solutions...

As a temperamental person, you effortlessly lose the point you are sweating hard to pass across. I have seen folks who out of anger said words they could not retrieve and others who destroyed properties they could not pay for. I believe that in many instances, our point is better made with silence... Without any doubt, it is easy to manage our temperament. You must not be under the control of situations. The Holy bible says: “...when [even] a fool keeps cool, he is assumed to be wise...”

I want o share with you an article I believe will effortlessly drive home my point. I read this piece about 1week ago, it was written by Samson Milla Akpaka and titled HOW TO CONTROL BAD TEMPER.

Once there was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he would have to hammer a nail into the fence in the backyard. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally, the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to control his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him back to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, you also leave scars just like these holes."

Next time you are about to lose your cool with someone dear to you, think about the fence full of holes and reconsider. When all is said and done, “YOU CAN NEVER TAKE BACK SOMETHING YOU SAY BUT YOU CAN SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE APOLOGIZING FOR IT."

LIFE LESSONS...

Life is a puzzle, a mystery! What the system strives for is not what works. Ignorance of the principle and operation of what greatness really means has kept the world in its present state for a long time, particularly Nigeria.

We have often failed to agree that greatness is acquired by acting as servants and learning to accept instructions. Only those who subject themselves to strict discipline and service will experience greatness. Proud and arrogant souls never attained greatness, neither the timid or those who lived in fear.
Humility is the pillar of greatness, it cannot be transfered or taught. It is gotten by self-discovery.

Life is now, stop brooding about yesterday's defeat. Refuse to be cheated! No one has a monopoly of life, success or greatness.
I have always held as true the believe that anybody can be great and truly achieve whatever he sets his heart to. The godfather factor and favoritism that has clipped our wings of national success will soon become history. A new breed of people who have the right perspective to life are warming up [they are in their individual refineries, developing and building themselves for national impact], ready to take charge on every side... in Nigeria and beyond! In the very near future, they will step out on the horizon to take charge of things and re-write our national story.

However, dear friend, be true to yourself, be simple and humble. Life is complex already without YOU.
Things don't just turn up in this world until somebody turns them up, and only a fine-tuned man can turn things up. Connect with your God, Creator and Maker. I believe that no matter the volumes of books you have read or have, if God is not in the picture, your life will be reduced to a struggle.

On a final note, man is made by his thoughts, his world is made by his acts. We all make mistakes but to live and reach for your dreams is the bliss of life... living daily, doing our best and reaching for our goals is the fulfillment of life.