Greater Success Lies Ahead

Greater success lies beyond our present scope of reasoning, imagination, and lifestyle. But because we do not take note of this fact, we make little or no progress in life.
To make progress in life, we must start looking beyond our present way of life, reasoning, and imagination.
Sometime ago, I was privileged to read the success story of Adi Dassler. Adi Dassler is the founder of Adidas Corporation, manufacturer of sportswear and equipment.
Dassler was a trained baker by qualification. In order to begin a lucrative career in bakery, he went round applying for bakery job, but he could not nail a job. All his effort to get a job proved abortive.
Out of frustration, he set up a small, insignificant shoe making business. Things did not turn out the way he expected. The turnout of customers was nothing to write home about. But he kept on with the business.
With patience and perseverance, he grew the tiny business into a large corporation, manufacturing all kinds of sportswear and equipment, including soccer balls, soccer boots, jerseys and shorts, hose, sports canvas, and a host of others.
Today, Adidas is a household name in the world!

Look beyond
Dear reader, greater success lies beyond your present reasoning, imagination, and way of life. Greater success lies beyond your present condition and field of discipline.
There is great sense in specialisation. There is great sense in carving a niche for yourself in a particular profession. But, then, it is important to note that greater success lies beyond these. You can be better than what you are now. You can achieve greater success than you have at the moment. You can also achieve greater success outside your field of discipline.
By qualification, Dassler was a baker, but when he could not get a job, he went beyond his field of discipline. He employed himself by becoming a shoe maker. He did not keep waiting endlessly to be employed as a baker.
It is a grave mistake to think that it is only in your area of discipline that you can succeed in life. While it is essential that you fit into your field of training, where the opportunity is not yet available, don’t sit down and fold your arms.
You can look beyond your present field while waiting to bounce back into your main field. On the other hand, you may even remain outside your field and turn things around for your own good, just as Dassler did. When he could not get a job, Dassler looked beyond his field of discipline and found goldmine in shoe making. His passion for the shoe making business gave him the strength to go on even when things looked difficult.
Like Dassler, you also can achieve great success in life, if you learn to look beyond your present condition, reasoning, imagination, and field of specialisation.
Don’t Follow the Crowd
You get easily lost in the crowd when you follow the crowd. On Saturday July 12, 2008 to be precise, there was a nationwide recruitment into the Nigerian Immigration Board. Thousands of candidates trooped out for the recruitment exercise. In Kwara State alone, about 9 000 candidates participated in the exercise, and eventually, only 50 candidates were recruited to fill the 50 vacant posts. The same situation applies to the rest of the 35 states of the federation and Abuja.
Now, that is not all, in the course of undergoing the physical fitness test, several candidates lost their lives; while many others fainted, sustained injuries, and were rushed to hospitals.
“Is that madness?” you may ask. Well, that is the reality. Now that we are in 2011, it may get worse, unless something drastic is done. Thousands of candidates will be chasing 50 vacant posts!
In this type of situation, what are the chances of the thousands of the candidates applying for these jobs? Slim, very slim.
In this situation of unemployment when hundreds of thousands of people are pursuing, at most, a hundred jobs, it is very easy to get lost in the crowd.
But you can avoid getting lost in the crowd by simply refusing to follow the crowd. The mentality of the crowd has not changed.
They want to be employed and work for others. They believe that is the only way they can enjoy their life. As a result of this, many people spend several years doing nothing but waiting to be gainfully employed.
Dear reader, if you want to make positive impact in life, you must run away from the “crowd mentality”. It is not true that it is only when you are employed to work for others that you can enjoy a richer and better life.
I think the reason most unemployed people prefer working under people is because it is the easiest way out of problem of employment. It is, however, certainly not the best way of enjoying a richer life. The truth is, even if you are making millions for your employer daily or weekly, the employer may not like to pay you millions of naira for your input. The employer pays you only enough to meet your basic needs; he won’t pay you to make you richer than you are.
If you want to stand out in life, you must be ready to stand out of the crowd. This does not mean you should stop looking for employment, rather, it means you should stop tying yourself down to getting a job.
You can think the other way round, for instance, you can think of being self-employed. There are many businesses or jobs you can do to make your life more meaningful and richly rewarding. Think as an individual; don’t think the way the crowd do. Think your own thoughts. Be original. You are more likely to succeed when you follow your own line of thinking than when you follow the crowd.
Swallow Your Pride
You become successful in life not by starting from the top, but from the bottom.
If success in life requires starting from the top, then, many successful people you see today would not have been where they are. Most of them started with little or nothing. For Dassler, the story is not different. Apart from the shoe maker’s tools and the tiny shop, he had no other resources. If he had waited to be employed as a baker or waited until he got millions of Deutschmark, probably you would not hear the name, Adidas Corporation.
The reason many unemployed graduates are suffering untold hardship is because they feel they cannot descend so low as to start a business of their own from the scratch; or because they feel ashamed to do menial jobs to earn some income.
Dear reader, life is not stagnant. Why should you remain stagnant? Things will get better, if only you can humble yourself to start something now, no matter how little. It is the work of your hands that God will bless, not the folding of arms. A radio preacher once said; “Praying and fasting alone will not make you to prosper. You must find something to do.”
Find something to do. Just start with what you have and from where you are. Swallow your pride today and you will be amazed at the level of success you will achieve in a short time.
Take the Risk
One of the greatest qualities of successful entrepreneurs is the ability to take risks.
Every idea or decision you take is laden with risks. There are risks involved in any business you embark upon. The important point is not how you can avoid or dodge the risks. Some risks are unavoidable. The important point is your ability to take risks. It takes courage to take risk. Do you have the courage?
Like any other business, shoe making also has its risks, but these did not deter Dassler. He ventured into the business and took the risks involved. The rest is now history.
On the secret of his success, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, chairman of DAAR Communications Plc said: “A good manager must be courageous and capable of taking decisions. He must be able to take calculated risks and to LOOK AHEAD, not behind. There is no born manager or administrator. You acquire the skills. You just have to be in a position to be courageous, to have foresight, take calculated risks and go ahead. When I set up Ray Power FM Radio, people thought I was crazy, but today, I am a super hero. That is simply a calculated risk that turned out right.”
The greater the risk you take, the greater your chances of success. Take the risk today.
Handling Frustration
Whether you are looking for a job or you wish to set up your own business, one skill you need to master in order to succeed is your ability to handle frustration.
In anything you wish to accomplish, you may encounter setback, disappointment, and failure. Sometimes, they come in large numbers, but it is your ability to handle them without breaking down that determines your success.
When Dassler started his small shoe making business, he did not have a smooth sale. He encountered setbacks, disappointments, and failures. It was his ability to handle these frustrations that enabled him to overcome them and grow the little business into a large corporation.
If you can handle frustrations, there is nothing you cannot achieve on planet earth. People fail in life not because they don’t have what it takes, but because they cannot handle frustration.
Take frustrations as those things you will encounter on your way to success. Learn to handle frustrations by refusing to bow out whenever you encounter one.


Create Wealth by Creating Jobs
Although Dassler did not venture into shoe making business for the purpose of creating jobs and employing people, he ended up doing so. And by employing others to work for him in his factory, he ended up creating wealth for himself and for shareholders of the corporation.
If you want to be wealthy, change your mindset from that of a job seeker to that of a job creator.
Yes, you can go ahead and look for the job you wish, but note that great wealth is achieved by creating jobs and employing people to work for you. It all starts from just an idea: self-employment. You employ yourself by setting up your business. As you progress in the business, you begin to expand and employ workers.
You Win by Patience
B.C. Forbes said: “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.”
Patience is the determining factor in anything you wish to achieve in life. Patience is the ability to remain focused when everything seems to go wrong.
Rome was not built in a day. Just as it takes time to build a city, so it takes time to build wealth. You, therefore, need to exercise patience in anything you set out to achieve. Don’t expect to be rich overnight. A proverb says:” “He who desires to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.”
You are a victor!