Don’t live alone

“…except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies, it brings firth much fruit” —John 12:24

IMAGINE living on your own island where you grow your food, raise chickens and goats, spin your own wool, dig your own well, sew your own clothes, build your own house, creating your own world, free from stress, and from everybody’s trouble. An idyllic scenario for someone who seeks escape from the stress of urban living. Unfortunately, the possibility is at best nostalgic. I bet you would not even last on that island for more than a week before you find a way to escape. Even in the Hobbesian state of nature, such a life is not only grueling, but also punishing and a disservice to a worthy existence.

The independent life is an illusion. You cannot be totally independent and be successful at the same time. If you want your life to be meaningful, you cannot live it alone, for the simple reason that you were designed for others just as others were designed for you. Every person on earth has Eves and everyone is an Eve to someone. By Eve, I don’t mean the woman. I mean the principle of helpers to supply strength and support where you are lacking.

The fact that you came into the world through a collaboration between two people that you grew up knowing as parents already establishes your dependence on others, most of whom you don’t get to choose. In God’s wisdom, no man after Adam was created from scratch. Even God used earthly parents to birth and raise Jesus, His only begotten Son.

Subsistence living is a trap and the tragic outcome of self-focus. Have you ever heard of a subsistence farmer farming one hundred hectares or entering the export market with the proceeds of his farm? The man who does everything by himself never grows beyond his limited space. We grow up by reaching out. The rich grow richer by delegating or outsourcing some aspects of their enterprise, so that they can free themselves to think, strategize and do more. Nothing in creation increases in value except by collaboration with other items in creation. That is God’s instruction for growth. Eve became necessary when Adam’s capacity became limited, limiting and restrictive. God brough Eve into Adma’s life to underscore the fact that the solo life is a crippled life.

Subsistence living gives you an illusion of independence that masks the reality of a deep-seated bondage that requires you doing everything all by yourself. The man who isolates himself from everyone else is self-absorbed and very vulnerable. When things turn against him, he has no one to turn to for help because he never offered it to anyone. The wisdom of God stipulates that two are better than one.

The way to liberate yourself from the bondage of the recluse is through specialization and exchange. Your life is your number one currency in life’s marketplace.

Specialization facilitates increase. Prosperity in any community happens only when everyone provides a specialized service that makes liberty possible for others in that area. It’s the reason why manufacturers look for distributors. Specialization allows concentration on a distinct area in a way that it can scale enough to become a business and attract a reward from everyone who needs it

When one person in a farming community grows yams, one grows vegetables, another is in animal husbandry, while another provides and facilitates the maintenance of the farming implements, hunger will be far from such a community because it always has a surplus that can fetch money from even outside the community.

A specialised economy where everyone brings something to the table engenders integration that serves and prospers everyone in that collective. You can only have more of what you want when you supply others more of what you have.

Specialization enables proficiency. Proficiency at a task enables turnaround speed which enhances efficiency and effectiveness and by extension, the cycle of reward.

Specialization enables FOCUS and creates a win-win situation when specialized value is exchanged.

True prosperity does not happen in a cocoon. Successful people don’t live in a bubble. Highly successful entrepreneurs focus on their strengths and competence while they outsource their deficiencies through staffing and outsourcing. Specialization helps you to purchase value hours to do MORE of what you do best while letting others supply what you need but lack or have limited capacity for.

The multi-talented person often falls into the trap of wanting to do so many things at the same time because he believes he can do it like the expert or even better. However, only focused energy multiplies impact. Dissipated energy leaves everyone confused about your real identity and wears you thin. People may hail you as multitalented but within you, you know you are confused.

The frustration and exhaustion that comes from being scattered in different directions cannot be described and should not be endured. Energy is only powerful when harnessed, focused and unleashed.

Poverty is the natural outcome of a life of subsistence that wants to conserve what should have been given to others in exchange for value. Proverbs 11:26 is instructive, “people curse the one who hoards grain but they pray God’s blessings on the one who is willing to sell” (NIV)

Money loves speed and momentum. When you slow it down because you want to live the independent life where what you have remains only yours while you want what belongs to other to be added to yours, you perpetuate an unending cycle of lack and frustration. I am building a community of people who want to understand how money works and how to attract, instead of chasing it while losing yourself, your friends, and your family. Search for THE MONEY CLASS with Tope Popoola on Facebook and ask to join. It’s free.

This week, identify ALL your skills, abilities or talents.  Next, narrow them down to a maximum of TWO that you can or would love to deploy. Then begin a personal development program to specialize in those areas through mentorship, education etc.

Look around for opportunities to deploy them, even when no one is willing to pay you a dime. Remember, Reward is always a consequence, not a pursuit. Nobody can reward you for what they don’t know you for. Thereafter, identify which of the two is more fulfilling and enables you to honor God and serve more people. Hone it and deploy it massively and aggressively. Grow. Scale. Embrace excellence. Do it even when it appears no one is interested or watching. As David honed his music and warfare skills while tending sheep, he had no idea that a top official of King Saul’s army was watching him. Be consistent. Give it your best shot and expect to be rewarded in due course.

Hoarding your capacity or stretching yourself thin by dissipating your energy in too many directions are both precursors of poverty because they focus on being independent of others who are the custodians of your reward. Release always leads to increase. It’s a law in creation and respects no one in its operation.

Like the sun at the break of day, the world awaits your rising!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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