POSITIVE REMINDER FOR
VICTORIOUS LIVING
Welcome to part two of this article. One of the battles we must
constantly fight is the battle against doubt/unbelief. Anytime we want to
embark on a worthwhile project, doubt normally creeps into our mind, telling us
that we cannot accomplish it.
If we accept this fallacy and hold unto it as a fact, it will
incapacitate us and thus make us unable to achieve what we set out to achieve.
But if we reject it as a fallacy and refuse to believe it, we will, despite all
odds, go on to achieve our worthwhile project.
Mount Everest, one of the tallest mountains in the world, remained
invincible until Alfred Tennyson and his other team members conquered it. After
eventually climbing it, they were asked the major challenge they had when they
were climbing the mountain.
They responded that the major challenge they overcame was the
thought that kept whispering to them that they could not climb it. They said it
was not the climbing of the mountain that was the major problem, but the
thought that kept saying they could not climb it.
Doubt: the Cemetery of
Potential Stars
Every man, every woman that walks across the face of the earth is
loaded with unlimited potentialities. With these unlimited potentialities, there
is nothing we set out to achieve that we cannot achieve.
But as we go about making effort to achieve our set goal, we will
encounter challenges that will try to truncate our effort. One of these
challenges, and in fact the major challenge, is DOUBT. What makes doubt a major
challenge is that you don’t overcome it once and for all. It keeps coming and
going. You keep fighting it until you achieve your set goal.
Doubt becomes a monster to overcome when you are striving to achieve
a difficult task. For many years, Mount Everest remained insurmountable. Many
tried and failed. Many lost their lives while trying to climb to the top. It
remained an insoluble puzzle!
But along came another team of highly determined individuals who
were ready to lay down their lives. It was either they climbed Mount Everest or
they die. As determined as they were, there was a monster that kept raising its
ugly head, telling them that they could not climb the mountain because it was
impossible.
Alfred Tennyson and his other friends were aware of previous
failed attempt by some highly determined individuals. They were aware that many
people lost their lives while trying to “conquer” Mount Everest. The awareness
of all these made the monster (doubt) look bigger than it was.
Anytime their energy were sapping due to exhaustion, the monster
would whisper: “Ha ha, I told you: I said you can’t climb it. People that are
mightier than you have tried and failed. Count the number of people that lost
their lives while trying to climb it. People that are mightier than you have
tried and failed. If you don’t want to be disgraced, you better quit and go
back home quietly.”
Voices! Negative voices! These were the challenges they had to
overcome before they could climb Mount Everest. Doubts are monsters that strive
to dampen the enthusiasm of potential victors. Doubts are faith killers. They
can kill your faith if you embrace them, believe them and act on them. To
guarantee your success, you MUST overcome doubt, which is the major challenge
confronting you in anything you wish to achieve on earth. Never let doubt
become your cemetery.
Overcoming Doubt
Doubt is the tool the devil uses to destroy your faith. The devil
cannot do you anything until he first destroys your faith. And that is why you
must guard your heart with all diligence.
To overcome doubt, it is important to realize that is not a
once-and-for-all fight. If it were so, no one would be a failure in life,
because almost everybody can silence or overcome doubt on the first few
occasions when they show up. But when they bombard the mind intermittently,
only few persons can confront the bombardment, crush it and proceed to overcome
the doubt.
The battle against doubt is a battle you must keep fighting until
you achieve your set goal. As long as you have not yet achieved your goal, you
must fight and keep fighting any doubt that will come to undermine your effort.
Whether you like it or not, doubt will keep coming. As a destroyer
of destiny, if you embrace it, it would kill your faith. And once your faith is
killed, you become vulnerable to the onslaught of satan.
The important question to answer is: how can one overcome doubt
and go on to achieve one’s goal? To overcome doubt, you can practice the
following instructions:
1. Cultivate Positive Attitude
If you have become used to talking negatively, thinking
negatively, behaving negatively and listening to negative people, then, now is
the time to break away from this negative lifestyle.
And the way to do this is to start thinking positively. But note
that you cannot start thinking positively until you realize that negative lifestyle
is destructive and that you are willing to do away with it.
Also take note that it takes constant practice to do away with
negative habits. That said, let us now proceed to consider how to cultivate positive
attitude that will help carry you through every unpleasant situation.
In the field of motivation, the basic lesson for cultivating
positive attitude is affirming positive statements. We are used to making
negative statements. Let us now learn to make positive statements all the time.
For instance, if you are used to saying:
a.
“I cannot make it. Things are
hard;”
b.
“There are enemies working
against my success;” and
c.
“If I can’t make it this time, I
can never make it again.”
Then, start affirming as follows:
a.
“No matter how difficult the
situation, I will make it because God has equipped me with unlimited
potentialities for achieving great success in life;”
b.
“God is using my enemies to
promote and lift me up. The world is conspiring to prosper me;” and
c.
“I will keep trying until I
succeed. I will never give up.”
Exercise
Write the above positive statements on a sheet of paper or on
cards. Recite each of them 10 times every morning and 10 times every night
before you retire to your bed. Keep on doing these until these statements
become part and parcel of you.
2. Review Your Goals
When things are not going well contrary to your expectation,
doubt/unbelief may set in. you may begin to question why you take the decision
in the first place. Many negative thoughts will whisper to you and cause you to
doubt or disbelieve.
Times like these are not times when you should give in to
discouragement or quit. They are times when you just have to sit down and
review your goals. Do you still believe in your goals despite the fact that
things are not working the way you expect?
There is always a period like this in the life of every truly
successful person. And during this period, their faith in the venture they are
undertaking is tried and tested in the crucible.
Amazon.com founder, Jeff Bezos once found himself in this kind of
adverse situation. When he started Amazon.com, things didn’t work out as he
expected. The prospects were not coming. In that moment of discouragement, he
and his team would sit down and review their goals and plans and would ask
themselves whether they still believe in their goals.
Anytime they reviewed their goal, they always came to the
conclusion that they still believe in their goal and this gave them the power to
continue with their business until the tide turned in their favour.
Dear reader, the lesson from the conquest of Mount Everest is that
on your way to stardom, the main challenge you will face is the negative
thought that keeps telling you that you cannot make it. Doubt/unbelief is the
greatest challenge you will encounter on your way to success.
Your battle with doubt/unbelief is a constant battle. They will
keep hitting you hard and telling you to quit. But if you must be victorious at
last, you must keep trading punches with doubt/unbelief until you achieve your
goal in life.
The way to trade punches with doubt/unbelief is to:
- Cultivate positive attitude that will help carry you through unpleasant situations; and
- Review your goal constantly in order to strengthen your resolve.
The message to you once again is: si, se puede! Yes, it is
possible! Yes, you can! Yes, you are able! The main challenge is your belief
system. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN ACHIEVE IT, YOU WILL ACHIEVE IT.
Start working on your mind today by cultivating positive attitude.
Constantly undermine the negative thoughts that will keep coming to discourage
and demoralize you. Think positively always and believe that you can achieve
any goal you set for yourself.
Until I come your way soon, go and fill your life with faith! Go
and live victoriously!
