Your story may sound quite convincing in your own ears. It may even evoke sympathy in the hearers’ ears. But it still makes you a victim of circumstance instead of a Master of it.
How bad is your present story? Consider these ones.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin and had only one year of formal education. He failed several times at every level of elective office except the highest, the Presidency. He went ahead to become, arguably, the best President America ever had. Bill Gates, arguably the world’s richest man, decided to opt out of university in his second year.
John Bunyan wrote the classic bestseller of all time, Pilgrim’s Progress in the dingy isolation of a prison cell.
Helen Keller became blind at nineteen months and went ahead to become a university professor.
Albert Einstein dropped out of school at the age of 12. At 26, he came up with the Theory of Relativity, the basis of the atomic bomb. In1922, he received the Nobel Prize in the field of science for his work on photoelectric effects.
Frank Roosevelt was born with infantile paralysis. He ruled America as President on a wheelchair.
Van Beethoven, the legendary composer was partially deaf.
These success stories give eloquent proof to Sidney Newton Breimer’s statement that “success is in the student, not the university. Greatness is in the individual, not the library”!
Fanny Crosby became blind shortly after birth. He wrote over NINE THOUSAND hymns, among them the classic, Blessed Assurance.
Glen Cunningham suffered severe burns in a fire incident. Doctors said he would never walk again. In 1934, he set the world record for running a mile in 4 minutes and 6 seconds!
John Foppe was born without arms. He has earned millions of dollars as a motivational speaker. He writes, drinks and drives with his feet!
And in Nigeria, the late Idowu Akinrolabu became paralyzed from a debilitating ailment as an undergraduate. He learnt to paint with his mouth and made money doing that till he died.
Yinka Ayefele, a notable Nigerian musician from the Southwest region of Nigeria, has walked past the story of a vehicle accident that left him confined to a wheelchair and is today a highly successful musician.
Now what is your sabotaging story? You too can walk past it and change your life! And you can start NOW!
It begins with acknowledging that you do have a sabotaging story. Many people live in denial. They think that a problem would go away when you simply pretend that it does not exist. I wish it was that simple!
Secondly, identify the story. Tell it to yourself again – hopefully for the last time! Think about how long you have told the story and the debilitating effects of the story on your destiny. Think about the great things you want to achieve but which your story has prevented you from achieving.
Next, think about a compelling WHY for the attainment of those goals. If you have a compelling WHY, you will be able to employ those who know HOW. (Someone I know in the USA runs a chain of healthcare centres even though he is not a doctor. He employs doctors and uses the proceeds for maintaining orphanages and a ministry to widows in Africa!)
Now answer the following questions:
How badly do you want those things?
How specifically will the attainment of those goals confer benefits on you, your family, and the society at large? In other words, how valuable is the idea?
Do you merely “want to” or you “will to” achieve it? Where there is a will, they say, there is a way.
What kind of person do you have to be for you to have the things you dream about?
What kind of consistent emotional state do you need to maintain?
What kind of disciplines are in consonance with that achievement?
What makes you come alive the most?
Is what you want to accomplish so clearly defined in your heart that you can literally describe it even in your sleep?
Inside the answers you get to these questions lies the key to your life purpose and the discovery of a new you – the unstoppable force! When your vision and your desire become more powerful and more real to you than the reality painted by your sabotaging story, you are on your way to greatness.
Discover who you truly are, distinct from who people think or say you are! The discovery of your true identity will help you to streamline your personal values which in turn will become your life’s guiding compass. You truly know your capacity when you know your identity.
You are probably wondering, “How can I know who I am?” The simplest answer I can give you is that every product finds its identity in its maker. In the same way, if you know that you are a product of God, it naturally follows that you can only discover your true self when you discover God. Every attempt at self-discovery outside God is an exercise in futility.
To truly enter the realm of limitless possibilities in God, you must first disconnect yourself from the old story. Kill the story. Use the answers you get from the questions above to construct a new story of possibilities, a story of victory that brooks no excuses and takes no prisoners!
Prosperity is not in a land but in the people. The same land that Elimelech ran away from was where Boaz became prosperous (Ruth 1). Prosperity doesn’t begin from your pocket but from your head. Money in the mind will eventually manifest in the pocket. The one who only has it in his pocket will eventually lose it to the one who has it in his mind.
How did you feel the last time you were able to surmount what you thought was a big obstacle? Excited? Each time a debilitating story wants to replay itself, remind yourself of the last victory you scored and how you felt. Replay that victory over and over until it becomes what Anthony Robbins calls a referenced experience. When you are able to build up a rich repertoire of positive stories as your referenced experiences, you will walk past every limitation.
Relationships affect your story. Surround yourself with people who speak the language of your expectations rather than the language of your circumstance. When you develop relationships around your frustrations rather than your aspirations, you open the door to discouragement and failure. You cannot advance beyond the most qualitative relationships in your life.
It’s a new day. Kill and bury the old story. Stop exhuming it simply because it is convenient so to do. Let it stay DEAD. Communicating with dead issues is called NECROMANCY. You must never be guilty of it!
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
READ FROM ALSO NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
