“Prepare for greatness and set yourself up for success.”
One day, a very big opportunity of a lifetime came to me and, sadly, I saw it go away just because I was not yet in position to welcome it appropriately, utilize it maximally, and benefit from it fully. I saw it go back the way it came, and it left me with tearly eyes. Over the years, I have come to believe that it is always better to prepare and an opportunity fails to come than for the long-awaited opportunity to arrive and find you totally unprepared for it.
The Complaining Team:
I meet many people complaining, saying, “I have waited and waited and waited for this thing but it is not coming. I have been ready for the last seven years but nothing is materializing. I feel something is wrong.” Well, something may be wrong, but also chances are high that something is very right. If you are ready, as you claim, then something is right – YOU are ready… and that IS great. Maybe, the timing is what’s not yet right for what you are ready for. It may just demand some bit of MORE patience before you lay your hands on that long-awaited break!
Like I said in my previous post, the only difference between a live birth and a miscarriage is TIMING. Some things cannot be rushed the way we would want to do. As someone said, you cannot produce a baby in one month by making nine women pregnant! It simply has to be NINE months. Timing is important.
The Unprepared Waiters:
The problem, however, is that many are NOT prepared at all for what they desire to have in life. They only WISH they could get that better job, bigger house, higher position, etc, but they have done nothing serious about getting themselves rightly positioned for those things.
A much-needed better job comes and finds you lacking the minimum requirements for it. A bigger house is advertised but you have not saved the needed money to purchase it. A higher position comes but your character is not prepared for it. So, all the needed opportunities come but find YOU not prepared for them at all.
The Ignorant Accusers:
The funny bit of it is that such people who are really not prepared when opportunity knocks on the door go ahead to falsely accuse the prepared of many negative things – tribalism, corruption, luck, among others. They declare themselves unlucky, disadvantaged, and hated, yet it is a matter of not being ready enough!
Wisdom of the Wise:
Stop complaining or accusing others. Simply prepare yourself enough. Prepare for greatness and set yourself up for success. Stop complaining that your life partner has delayed to come; just ensure you are growing deeper and better in issues of marriage. Stop accusing others of bribing to get jobs (even if this was true); start standing out of the crowd to a point of being “unignorable.” Stop complaining about not being voted into leadership; prepare yourself better for the next election. Stop waiting for someone to sponsor your business start-up while you are busy doing nothing; prepare your documents, premises, marketing plans, and much more. Stop complaining about not YET having a child of your own; be getting ready with skills and knowledge on parenting and child nurture as you patiently wait. Like we used to say in Scouting, “Always Be Prepared.”
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President (1861-65) once said, “I will prepare and some day my chance will come.” That is the exact attitude with which all of us should live our life. Prepare, and one day, YOUR turn will come. It should not find you turning in your bed, not ready. Your chance will come. It should not find you just taking chances with life! Your opportunity will come. It should not fail to find a ready door on which it can knock.
In fact, IT IS COMING. The break is coming. The opportunity that is going to catapult you to your next level is just doing push-ups. The turn for you to do what you have always wanted to do is around the corner, negotiating the last lap towards your home. The opportunity of a lifetime that you have prayed to God about for long is about to enter into your house.
The question is one: ARE YOU REALLY PREPARED FOR IT? Opportunities will always punish the men and women that yearn for them yet not prepared to receive them at all.
April is about to end. Have a very fruitful second quarter of “Twenty-Fit-In” (read as 2015) a year in which 20 great opportunities will fit into one year for YOU. You only have one challenge: to be prepared for them.
To Your Success,
“Inspiring transformational, exemplary and authentic leadership worldwide.”
