Empowered to live….
With the daily increase in the
world’s population, the high cost of living in both developing and developed
countries, and the deplorable economic conditions in most nations of the world
in recent times, many are perplexed about how to provide the necessities of
life for themselves and their immediate families. Even the rich sometimes find
themselves wondering how they could cope with this situation. Notwithstanding
the current economic recession, man must still feed himself and provide the
basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare
and security. The big question now is “how does one achieve all of these to
survive” My take is that one can actually be successful and fulfilled even
in the face of these challenges if they learn to follow some of the basic
principles of success which are often neglected. In these principles lie the
answers to those our everyday questions about how to make it in life and how to
impact positively in the lives of people we come in contact with….and I will
like to share some of these invaluable principles with you here today.
NO. 1 PRINCIPLE –EVERY GOOD THING COMETH FROM GOD
What many have failed to
understand is that even with seeming difficulty all around us, the Almighty
creator has more concern for us than any man, woman, government or non
government organization we can think of. Because of this his unparalled and
unequaled love he has given us all we need to survive in the vicissitudes of
this life. Thus the bible said in Genesis 1:27 and 28 “so God created man in his own
image, in the image of God; created him male and female created him them. So
God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the foals
of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (NKJ
Version).
This principle of labour,
fruitfulness and wealth creation given to Adam and Eve continuous to be effective
generations after them and will continue until the end of time. This principle
also supports the fact that man can’t just fold his arms idly and expect wealth
and every good thing to roll into his possessions. NO!, man must labour using his strength and mind to
overcome/overpower his environment and spiritually command forces of nature to
his own advantage.
God does not desire that man’s
existence should be to eat and die. NO! He intends that his entire creatures
should succeed. God wants you to acknowledge the fact he is the giver of
fortunes. Duet 8:16-18 But thou
shall remember the Lord thy God; for it is He who giveth thee power to make
wealth. That he may establish the covenant which he swore to thy father even as
it is this day” (KJV). We must
learn to put him first in our pursuit for wealth, for success and fulfillment.
On our own, we can do nothing, his due respect and honour must be accorded to
him. We must not put wealth first as the worship of wealth will invite God’s
displeasure and may consequently bring about hunger, retrogression, sickness,
shame and even death. Man must work to achieve success but it must be God
first. That’s why the great book said that we should seek God first and his
righteousness and every other thing inclusive of wealth, happiness, long life
and any good thing you can think of will be added to us.
PRINCIPLE NO. 2- TRY SOMETHING ON
YOUR OWN
Even if your father is Bill
Gates, your brother Warren Buffet and Uncle Aliko Dangote, it is not enough
reason for you to stay back and expect fortunes to roll into your pockets. Wake
up my dear, things don’t flourish that way anymore. The world today does not
need lazy people, have you ever wondered why successful people are skeptical
about giving alms to able bodied persons who can work but rather take to
begging? Do you think it’s impossible for them to give the beggars enough money
for them to start something else other than begging? The answer is emphatic NO!
the truth is, no successful person wants to waste resources on people who are
lazy and cannot start from where they are, the same successful person will
willingly partner with a hardworking committed person who would rather start
from where they are than wait for the world to hand them treasures.
I have always quipped that no one
is created to fail, and none is also born a success. Success is a product of
individual choices and actions which to a large extent is determined by ‘WHOM
OR WHAT’ constitutes our driving force or source of power. It is
incontrovertible that every individual is driven by a force. Whatever that
force is, is what is guiding, controlling and directing the person’s life.
These forces can be negative or positive. This is why it’s pertinent that we
make consorted effort to subdue the negative forces of nature which are bent on
bringing us down against our effort to live successful lives. The driving force
of any individual has a great influence on the success or failure of that
person.
Some people are driven by fear,
others by their past mistakes while some still believe that no matter what they
do, life continues to be unfair to them; they lose hope in life refusing or
afraid to try something worthwhile. In situation as dastardly as the present
economic recession, they sink deeper and deeper into despondency. This
shouldn’t be so; we should not be driven by fear and past mistakes. It is not
bad after all to make mistakes, mistakes has been said to be one of the best
teacher. Mistakes are not supposed to weigh us down; rather they are meant to
toughen us. Many of the successful people you see today had made mistakes sometime
in their lives, but chose to sit back to analyse and study the courses so that
they do not fall into such mistakes again. We should always learn from our
mistakes and also from people who had succeeded where we failed. Make every
effort to start from where you are no matter how little, I remember how I
worked in people’s farms, help with domestic chores and even lived with someone
as a maid (house help) for sustenance and to raise my school fees. Today, I can
say that I don’t need to work in someone else’s garden to feed or take care of
immediate needs. That is how life should be, start with what you have and do
something for others, look out for services you can render and get rewarded while
you wait for something better...I wish you all the very best!
Chioma Azosiri
(Excerpt from my first book Titled Success and Fulfillment)
WATCH OUT FOR MORE
PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS…..to be cont’d
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