NOTHING JUST HAPPENS!!

"Nothing just happens!" Everything happens because something caused it to happen. The law of cause and effect not
only applies to success, but equally applies to failure. Most of you would agree that such statements make sense when it
comes to prosperity and success. But would you agree that cause and effect apply to poverty and failure as well? What I mean is that it is generally accepted that if you are rich then you must have worked very hard to get rich. You must have done something special or extraordinary in order to acquire your wealth.

However, if you are a failure it is generally thought that you did not do anything, but simply happened to find yourself in that situation. Failure seems to be accepted as default circumstances in people’s lives. But I dare say that the person that is a failure also did something extraordinary or special to be in that situation. They worked very hard at becoming and remaining failures. It takes effort to be successful. You have to dream of success, see yourself a success, plan, work on your plans every day, overcome obstacles, keep yourself motivated in the face of temporary defeat and not fold your hands to opportunities.
Similarly, it takes effort to be and remain a failure. You have to dream of failure, see yourself a failure, not plan, avoid working on anything worthwhile everyday, give in to temporary defeat and fold your hands to
opportunities.

So people that are deemed as failures are very successful people. The problem is they are successful at the wrong things. They may be successful at being lazy, complacent, unimaginative, defeated and not taking charge of their lives. Nothing just happens. Success has to be worked at.
Equally, failure has to be worked at. I would propose that it takes just as much effort to succeed as to fail. What determines whether you succeed or fail is where that effort is directed or applied.
Everyone in Nigeria is successful. The question is: “at what?” If you are a failure, then you are a poor success or a success at being a failure. So if you are not doing something to be a good success, you are doing something to be a bad success. There is no middle ground. You cannot be doing nothing about anything. You are either working very hard to succeed or you
are working very hard to fail.

One definition of success is “the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.” I remember writing a poem on success some years back: “Success is achieving what one sets out to do; It is seeing your plans through; So if you set out to be poor and have not a dime on
you, congratulations to you: Success is truly yours.” If you set out to be poor and then become rich you are a failure because you have not achieved your desired aim. So what are you setting out to do? What is
your desire? What have you planned for? Riches or poverty? Sickness or health? Happiness or despair? You see, success cannot be looked at in isolation. It can only be properly understood in the context of the desired outcome. What you desire or
plan for ultimately determines whether you are successful or not. It therefore becomes unimportant how society in general defines success.

Society may say success is having a big house, driving a big car and having a big job. That is not necessarily true. You can have all these things, but if it’s not what you desired or planned for, you will still be
unsuccessful. Before I go any further let me say that I am not by any means trying
to put down those that are not financially well-off and those that are suffering for one reason or another. Sometimes people find themselves in bad situations that were not their own creation at all. My message is not that these and others like them are totally to blame for the situations they find themselves in. My message is that even in
these desperate circumstances one thing remains true: we have the power to make a difference in our own lives. We have the capacity, one way or another, to change our own lives. Therefore, we have the option
of staying in a situation or escaping it.

I truly believe that no situation is ever hopeless. Anything can be turned around as long as you have breath in you. It may be a cliché, but “where there is a will, there is a way.” Yes, you may need a helping hand, but ultimately only you can make a lasting difference in your own life. Treating people like they cannot help themselves leads them to do just that. They become disempowered, hopeless and dependent. Over the past few weeks you have seen that it is important to have a dream and to pursue it with everything you have. Now you know that the size of your dream is up to you because the sky has never been the limit and you have all the potential to have anything and be anything you want. Furthermore, you know that you have the full responsibility for your own life and should be in the driver’s seat, because it is your thinking and your talk that ultimately determine your destiny.

Having known all these things, what do you desire? What are you working towards? What are you planning for? As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning for failure.” Do not be a hearer only. Be a doer. Reading these articles every week won’t help you achieve your dreams. Action is what will bring your dreams to reality. Nothing just happens. You have to make it happen. You are all you can be. Go on and be it!

See you at the top!!!