Teens Meet Outreach

You look into the mirror and you look back at the limelight and you ask yourself, “Am I ready for this?”, the glamour, honour, accolades and joy that comes with success. You see yourself in that position you crave for and you feel this thing of joy and fright. Then you ask yourself “Can I really do this?”

Every one of us has dreams of being something or someone someday but anytime we see someone achieving this dream or something similar, we get scared. Scared, not because the person achieved it but because you feel incapable of achieving such feats. Do not despair! Be encouraged and read through this.

There is a process required for greatness called preparation. No one becomes a lasting success overnight despite what you see. ~ Paul Adefarasin.

If preparation is very important, how then do I prepare to be successful? There is a whole lot of answers to that question but the crux of them all is that success starts from the little things you do today.

Success is a habit. You have to be successful in doing little things before you can be successful in bigger things.

No matter how great or small your dream is, you will have to go through a process to see it come through. Success is a step-by-step realization of a particular goal. So, what little things have you started to do that are aimed at fulfilling your goals?

Yes, set goals, long term and short term goals. You can do it if you truly live by the fact that every little decision and step is important in the big picture. Every tile is needed to make a perfect floor or wall finishing.

The very first thing you have to do is to believe. Whatever your dreams are, maybe to be the World Best or the greatest _____ (fill in the gap), you have to believe in yourself. There is nothing I can say to make you believe in yourself. Just believe in yourself, Simple!

I learnt from Albert Einstein that everything we do is 90 percent inspiration and 10 percent perspiration. And also from Stephen Covey in his book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” that the Second Habit of Effective People is that they “Begin with the End in the Mind”. This establishes the fact that if you don’t settle things first in your mind, the reality of those dreams might be a fluke.

Help yourself by believing in yourself because if you don’t, no one will ever believe you!

Say to yourself every time you wake up in the morning, whenever you are walking and every time you can that “I can do it!”. This prepares you mentally and makes your body and all your faculties aligned to that dream so that every part of you won’t rest until the dream is achieved. It is only when that is done that you can communicate your dreams well to others.

Remember that your success starts when you can effectively communicate your dreams and passion to people.

You probably might have heard people say that if you believe you can, you can. But it doesn’t stop there. In fact, that is just the starting point. It does not mean you will just get the result at that instant you believe. It is not enough for you to believe you can do something; you have to start to do the thing. There are things you would not know until you do something towards achieving your dreams.  You can never know what you are capable of doing until you start doing something. So, the question you should ask yourself is “What have I done or am I doing towards reaching my dreams?”

One crucial part of your preparation is acquiring relevant knowledge. It requires you to go the extra mile to look for someone who is excelling in your field of interest and seek advice from him or her. Please, note that you don’t have to do it the same way he or she did it. All you need from them is the principles of business. This ‘principles’ is the rock you can build your work on and not their stories. Be careful not to take in everything they say hook, line and sinker. Filter it and pick what is useful for the journey before you.

Asides seeking advice, it is also necessary that you do your homework well. I mean, you have to do personal study and research about what your dreams entail. Prepare yourself mentally. Read books. Feed yourself with necessary and quality information. Develop yourself. Someone aiming to be a Public Speaker, for example, has to learn the rules of the game. He should know how to command attention and effectively communicate his thoughts in ways that the audience can understand easily.

Another price you have to pay is to be emotionally prepared. John C. Maxwell wrote a book and titled it ‘Failing Forward’. Sounds funny, right? He is simply telling that us we can turn our failure into opportunities for our success. I found out after a series of observations in the little life of mine that our areas of greatest strength lie in our zone of fears.

What you fear most times is what you can do excellently. So, don’t be afraid.

In fact, don’t be scared of failures. Welcome them when you encounter them, learn the lesson and move on. Failures are opportunities for us to learn better ways of doing things.

Also, be prepared to accept what you cannot change but don’t use them as excuses for not doing what you ought to do. You cannot change some things, yet it does not mean they have to hinder you from achieving your goals. Stones on your way should lift you up, not stop you!

It is important to know that just doing is not enough. Doing towards a specified objective is what counts in the real sense. Activity does not equal productivity. A rocking chair never leaves where it is but it is moving.

You need to know what you are pursing well. Dreaming is good but you need to sit down and evaluate your choices. Ask yourself tough questions. Know why you are embarking on this journey of success. Be specific about what your purpose is.  Know who you are doing this for, whether it is for God’s glory or your vainglory. Because at some point on this journey, you will have to defend your purpose and actions, it is good for you to have a solid foundation. Be definite about your purpose, because it is what will sustain you!

Just to wrap it up, I want you to know that you are truly ready when you believe you can achieve your dreams and you start doing something towards achieving it!

See you at the top!

Read: Motivating Yourself For More

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