How to Turn Threat to Fortune

If he were not a successful legal practitioner, he would probably have become a renowned international motivational speaker and life coach.

The first time I encountered him was in a dinner party organized by the Lokoja branch of Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON) on 6^th November, 2012, at Fen Hotel, Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria.

He was invited to the dinner programme as a Guest Speaker to deliver a message titled The Secret of Success in Legal Practice. The impact of his speech in the dinner programme was massive. I went away that night filled with faith and determination to aspire for great height.

I wrote about this legal icon in my epic post titled, “Faith for Elevation: Strategy for Stardom,” which I posted on this blog years ago. It is a bit lengthy, but it is an article you must not miss. To read the article, click this link:  FAITH FOR ELEVATION.

Now, what motivated me to write this article was that recently 28^th April,, 2015), while listening to kogi State Confluence FM radio, Lokoja, a  programme was presented in which he was featured and interviewed.

With rapt attention once again, I listened to him as he narrated how he rose from oblivion to stardom. Virtually all he said were not different from his speech that he delivered at the previous dinner programme. But what grabbed my attention this time was how he turned obvious threats to his legal career into fortune.

As he narrated in the interview, Chief James Enejo Ocholi (SAN) started his legal practice at Ankpa, Kogi State, with no brief for some time. Later, when briefs started trickling in, he lost his first 10 cases.  It wasn’t because he wasn’t brilliant, but because of corruption that prevailed in the judiciary as at that time.

Undaunted, Ocholi, a former gubernatorial candidate in Kogi State, appealed against the judgment of those trial courts, and he won 9 out of those 10 cases. These victories marked the turning point in his legal career, for they brought him fame and fortune, and consequently, more briefs.

Turning Your Threats to Fortune

One vital lesson you must grab in this article is that every threat that is starring you in the face can be turned into fortune. Don’t give in to threat. You can turn it into fortune.

Ocholi (SAN) has demonstrated that every threat can be turned into fortune. What could have truncated his legal career was what he   turned around into fortune. We can take a cue from him.    

Below are steps we can take to turn every threat confronting us into fortune:

1.   Maintain a Positive Outlook

Threats have a way of beclouding our view about life. But threats are   not indications that the future is bleak. No matter the intensity of the threat, it has nothing to do with the potentials that the world offers to all and sundry.

The starting point to turning threats into fortune is to maintain a positive outlook about life. Highlighting on this, the legal icon said: “Life can be exciting. It is full of potentials and possibilities.”

The world is not bad because you had some setbacks. No amount of threats confronting you can deplete the world of the endless potentialities and possibilities therein.

To turn the threats confronting you into fortune, you must hold tenaciously to the fact that there is always something positive you can do about them. The opportunities are there. The potentials are there. And in this world, everything is possible.

2.   Never Settle for Less

One fact about threat is that it is either you take steps to turn it into fortune or it turns you into mediocrity. Threat has a way of destroying destiny. Threat can cripple creativity and productivity, if we allow it.  But if we want to achieve great success in life, we must make up our mind not to allow threat to limit our progress.

Be willing to move forward. Be dissatisfied with your present level. Get agitated and never let threat make you settle for less.  Highlighting the secret of his success in legal practice, the legal icon said: “No time for frivolity. To succeed, read and study, not when you have briefs, but any time because you don’t know when briefs might come.”

3.   If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to You

Things may go wrong which could become a threat to our life, career, business or profession. But it is our responsibility to take decisive steps to “right the wrong.”

Winston Churchill, said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” Similarly, the price of fortune is responsibility. It is your responsibility to turn everything confronting you into fortune. No one will do it for you. Don’t expect someone to come and do it for you.

The legal icon demonstrated this practically when he used his money to appeal against the judgments of the courts in respect of the 10 cases he lost at the trial court.

He knew that losing the 10 cases at the trial courts were a big threat to his legal career. He knew that if he could appeal against the trial courts’ judgments, the threat could be turned into fortune.

For this reason, he did not wait for his clients to fund the appeal. He used his own money to prosecute the appeal. He won 9 out of the 10 cases! And this practically changed his fortune!

Dear friend, you may find it difficult to believe, but the fact is, every threat confronting you is a blessing in disguise, if you can discover how to turn it into fortune and begin to take steps to turn it around positively.

Don’t wait for someone to do it for you. The responsibility is yours. If it’s going to be, it’s up to you.  

4.   Avoid Making Excuse

Pastor David Abioye of Living Faith Church (A.K.A. Winners’ Chapel), Abuja branch, said: “You don’t have any excuse, except the one you manufacture.”

The excuses we make are the obstacles hindering us from making progress in life. If we really want to turn every threat confronting us into fortune, we must stop manufacturing excuses.

While advising people on the secret of success, the legal icon, who seems more of a motivational speaker and life coach, said: “AVOID EXCUSES. THERE IS NO PERSON WHO HAD BECOME GREAT THAT HAD NOT GONE THROUGH WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH.”

Dear friend, no amount of threat should be an excuse for not striving to be the best that God wants you to be. If others are making it big despite threats, oppositions and setbacks, then, no excuse is genuine enough to stop us from getting to where God wants us to be.

5.   Use Your Time Wisely

Pop singer-turned evangelist, Felix Liberty, once sang:

“Time na money

Time na money

Money no dey fall from heaven

Use your time well

Money go come.”

Time is of essence and how you utilize your time determines how far you will go in life. “Every person has the same amount of time,” says Ocholi (SAN), “Some waste it away, while others go out of their way to inconvenience themselves and achieve great success in life. Make up your mind that you will never rest until you achieve.”

In conclusion, it must be reiterated that every threat confronting you can be turned into fortune. You don’t have to cower and settle for less because of threat. All you need do to turn threats into fortune have been explained in this article. You only have to read and re-read this article and endeavour to practice the instructions therein.

And as you do this, it is my hope that you too will turn your threats into fortune. Until I come your way soon, go and live victoriously!

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ONLINE PLATFORM FOR ALL PROFESSIONALS! – Discover how to leverage the internet to grow your professional practice.  

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A-Z OF COPYWRITING! – Master the technique of copywriting and earn fat income constantly!

 SUCCESS SECRET OF THE AGES! – Grab hold of the lessons contained in the ancient, life-changing parable of the pencil.

How to Turn Setbacks to Comebacks

The wind of God is always blowing, but we must learn to adjust our sail. Just like the wind of God, adversity comes and goes, but it is how we respond to it that matters.

Things may not go well as we expected. Despite all our preparation, effort, seriousness, hard work and determination, things may not turn out well the way we expect.

In times like these, many people get discouraged and lose hope. They expected success but what they get is failure. They expected victory, but what they get is defeat. They expected their condition to improve, but it continues to deteriorate. They expected financial success, but they are entangled with poverty.

In the midst of these, they throw their hands up in despair and conclude that it is all over.

Dear friend, have you found yourself in similar circumstances? You expected the best, but you are getting is the worst? You turn right, left and centre, and every path you take is blocked?

And you begin to ask yourself: Is there any hope? Are there no more opportunities? Are there no more ways out of my predicament?

Surely, there is hope. No matter how worse your situation has been, there is hope. Hope is the principal objective of the gospel. The gospel is a message hope – hope of salvation, eternal life, victory, prosperity, success, freedom, etc.

The Bible says: “For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.” (Prov. 23:18). When it appears you are not   getting what you want, hope is the anchor you need. Hold unto your   hope; it will not tarry, because you will surely have what you want.

The summary of the  gospel message is that: THERE IS HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS. THERE IS VICTORY FOR THE DEFEATED. THERE IS SUCCESS FOR THE FAILURE. THERE IS PROSPERITY FOR THE POOR. THERE ARE WAYS WHERE THERE SEEM TO BE NO WAY. THERE ARE LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES WHERE THERE IS NO OPPORTUNITY.

As far as the gospel is concerned, no situation is hopeless. In this dispensation, there are ways where there seems to be no way. And there are limitless opportunities where there appears to be none. In fact, we are living in a world of unlimited opportunities.

This is one reason you must hold tenaciously to the fact that NO ONE CAN CLOSE ALL DOORS OF OPPORTUNITIES AGAINST YOU. IT CANNOT BE THAT THERE IS NO WAY OUT OF YOUR PREDICAMENT. IT CANNOT BE THAT ALL DOORS OF   OPPORTUNITIES ARE CLOSED AGAINST YOU. To think or believe otherwise is to totally ignore the gospel message.  

In his bestselling book, One Door Closes, Another Door Opens, Arthur Pine narrated inspiring stories of famous people who encountered heartbreaking setbacks, went through adversities and emerged victorious.

One of the stories that impress me in Pine’s ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER DOOR OPENS is the success story of great actress, Carol Burnett.

Carol’s ambition was to be a super successful actress. She was passionate about it and was doing the best she could to realize her ambition, but she was not making any headway.

One day, she was invited to audition for a revival. She saw the invitation as an opportunity to make her dream come true. She prepared for it and participated in the audition.

But her performance was nothing to write home about. As she narrated the story of her dismal performance to her sister, she cried.

Her sister consoled her and assured her: “One door closes, another door opens.”

And that was exactly what happened to Carol, for that evening, she   received another invitation to audition. She went for it, did very well and was given a lead role to play in a play titled, Once Upon a Mattress! Her excellent performances in the play marked the turning point in her acting career.

Four Lessons that Can Change Your Fortune

Like carol, you can change your fortune. Never allow yourself to be held down in despair. You only need to take the steps that Carol took. Below are four steps you must take to make your dream come true:

1.   Be up and Doing

It is not enough to have a worthwhile goal or ambition. Having an ambition is the starting point.  If you want to realize your ambition, you must be up and doing. If it’s going to be, it’s up to you. A wise man once said that some people expect their ship to arrive harbor when they never put any ship on the sea.

Don’t expect your dream to come true, if you don’t make some effort to actualize it. Carol desired to be a successful actress and she was   not sluggish about actualizing her dream. She was up and doing. She struggled. She did the best she could. She seized every opportunity that came her way, and in the end, she got her breakthrough.

IF YOU ARE UP AND DOING AND YOU ARE NOT SLUGGLISH   ABOUT IT, DOORS OF OPPORTUNITIES WILL CONTINUE TO OPEN FOR YOU UNTIL YOU ACTUALISE YOUR DREAM.

2.   Believe that When One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

It was British billionaire, Richard Branson that said: “Business opportunities are like buses. Another one is coming.”

The truth is, we are living in a world of unlimited opportunities. If you want to achieve super success, never conclude that all doors are   closed against you. One of the reasons we get easily discouraged in life is that we wrongly believe that someone is in control of our   destiny, but that is a blatant lie.

 In Africa, it is common to attribute defeat, failure, misfortune, etc to witchcraft and enemies of progress. Now, this is not to say that there are no witchcraft and enemies.

The point is, many unserious people use witchcraft as an excuse for not pursuing their dream. Some are not brave enough to admit the fact that they are responsible for their failure in life. Instead, they look for anything they can use as an excuse.

Don Wilder said: “Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” The fact is, if you believe that the devil or any person is more powerful than God to destroy your destiny, you are doomed. You can never be victorious in life, if you hold the belief that someone other than God is in control of your destiny.

Every true believer, every person who claims to owe allegiance to Christ knows that in spite of the onslaught of the devil and his cohort, his destiny is in the hand of God, and that it is only God that has the final say in his life.

To be victorious in life, we need to work on our mind. We need to change our perspective about our destiny and about our God. The fact that you failed does not mean your enemies are in control of your destiny. The fact that you fritter away every opportunity that came your way does not necessarily mean that the enemies have closed all opportunities against you.

As long as the world continues to exist and as long as you can think and pray, limitless opportunities will continue to come your way. One of the lessons you should grab in this article is: WHEN ONE DOOR   CLOSES, ANOTHER ONE WILL OPEN FOR YOU.

If you have been missing opportunities after opportunities, do not conclude that all doors of opportunities have been closed against you. The devil and his cohorts will try to close doors against you but they cannot close all doors of opportunities against you. God will never allow them to close all doors of opportunities against you.

When it appears all doors are closed against you, the fact is, they aren’t. Anyone who tries to close all doors against you will labour in vain, because doors of opportunities are limitless. They are uncountable!

When a door of opportunity is closed against you, it is an indication that there is one BIG door that God wants to open for you. This is why you must hold firmly to your faith in God.

If you always get discouraged and lose hope whenever a door of opportunity is shut against you, you are likely going to miss the BIG door of opportunity that God wants to open for you.

You have to fill your mind with hope, and always trust God to open another door for you. That is when you will be able to hear the door creak when God is opening it.

Carol struggled and frittered away several golden opportunities, and she was bitter about it. But with the word of encouragement from her sister, she rekindled her hope. Eventually, another BIG golden door was opened for her.

Like Carol, you can rekindle your faith now and become receptive to more opportunities that will come your way.

3.   Be Ready for Opportunities

It could be a phone call; it could be an idea that come to your mind while you are reading, brainstorming, chatting, listening to radio, watching  TV, praying or performing a task. Whichever ways ideas/opportunities come to you, you have to be ready to grasp them.

What does it mean to be ready for opportunities? To be ready for opportunities implies not to be taken unaware when opportunities come. If the opportunity you are waiting for comes to you this very moment, are you ready to grab them?

One big mistake some people make that is affecting their career is that they wait until the opportunity comes before they start preparing, and by the time they finished preparing, the opportunity would have passed by.

A successful professional once advised up and coming fellow professional thus: “To succeed in the profession, read and study, not just when you have briefs, but anytime; because you don’t know when briefs might come.”

What a great lesson! Opportunities don’t wait for you; you wait for them and before they come, you have to be ready. Carol was   always ready, and anytime anyone came her way, she seized it.

4.   Utilize Every Opportunity that Comes Your Way

Idea, they say, rule the world. But ideas can’t rule the world until they are practicalized. So also are opportunities. Opportunities will always come your way, but if you don’t grab them, the opportunities will pass by.

It is your ability to utilize every opportunity that comes your way that will give you an edge and distinguish you in your area of pursuit. Don’t just embrace opportunities; utilize them. Carol distinguished herself in her career because she always utilized every opportunity that came her way.

As I round off, let me reiterate that you can turn your setbacks to comebacks. All you need do is to practice the four lessons discussed in this article.

Till I come your way soon, go and live victoriously!

Recommendation

Dear friend, CFVL is highly recommending to you a bestselling book that will empower you to break records where others are breaking down. “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of things.”

Grab a copy of Arthur Pine’s ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER DOOR OPENS.

The lessons you will learn from this bestseller include:

• How to turn your setbacks to comebacks

• How to cultivate positive attitude that will help you walk through   adversity and emerge victorious

• Secret of grabbing bigger opportunities right in the midst of adversity

• Secret of overcoming negative habits that can cause you to  break down

• Inspiring stories of how famous people went through adversities and struggles to become rich and famous

• Secret of finding blessings in adversity

• And many more!

CFVL CLASSIFIED ADS 
CFVL RECOMMENDATIONS 

Here are some of our products that we highly recommend to all or readers. For a full list of our products, CLICK HERE  

SELF-EMPLOYMENT SECRET 1 – Discover the strategy of walking in financial freedom.

INFORMATION GOLDMINE! – Tap into the never ending goldmine of information!  

PRINTING PROFITS! – Make fortunes from printing with little or no capital.  

MAKE FORTUNES FROM IMPORT! – Start with little capital without travelling overseas!  

WRITE ONLINE ARTICLES FOR MONEY! – Discover the secret of making money online writing articles.  

AFFILIATE MARKETING GOLDMINE! – Discover the success secret in affiliate product marketing!

ONLINE PLATFORM FOR ALL PROFESSIONALS! – Discover how to leverage the internet to grow your professional practice.  

LUCRATIVE POULTRY BUSINESS SECRETS! – How to make huge income constantly from egg and broiler production.  

A-Z OF COPYWRITING! – Master the technique of copywriting and earn fat income constantly!

SUCCESS SECRET OF THE AGES! – Grab hold of the lessons contained in the ancient, life-changing parable of the pencil.

Dare to Be Different (2)

Welcome to part 2 of this article. To read part 1, click  this link:  PART 1

True success comes from knowing yourself and being yourself. In as much as we idolize others and wish to be like them, the fact is, we can never be like them. God never created you to be a replica of another person.

For this reason, God created you to be different from others. He also deposited in you unique unlimited potentials. And he expects you discover, develop and focus on your dominant talent and not the talents of others.

The tendency to imitate super successful people is there, but as Emerson said, “Imitation is suicide.” If you imitate others, the best you can be is second rate. The secret of becoming a super star is to BE YOURSELF.

The story is told of a great American musician called George Gershwin. Gershwin began life as a poor music composer, earning a meager sum of $35 a week in New York City. However, his biggest wish was to be like the famous American musician, Irving Berlin.

One day, Berlin spotted George performing excellently. He offered to employ him as his music secretary and be paying him $105 a week (triple of what he was earning).

But he however suggested, “George, I advise you not to take this job, because if you do, you will become second rate Irving Berlin. But if you say to yourself, ‘I, George Gershwin, am unique, and I’ll be nobody else but George Gershwin,’ you can become immortal.”

 George grabbed what Berlin told him and refused to take up the job. He went away to develop his own talent instead of laboring in vain to be like Berlin his idol. In the end, he became a great American music icon!

Choosing  the Path to Stardom

Dear reader, the easy path is not the best path. Often, we are tempted to take the easy path because we don’t want to ply the difficult path, though it is the difficult path that leads to stardom.

As Frank A Clark said: “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” It is easier to imitate others than to discover and be oneself. But as easier as it is to imitate others, we can never be like those we are copying; the best we can be is second rate or what I call “photocopy.” Photocopy cannot be original. Where an original is needed, photocopy cannot be presented.

In law, original documents are referred to as “primary evidence,” while photocopies are referred to as “secondary evidence.” Where primary evidence is required, you cannot tender secondary evidence.   It is only in exceptional circumstances that that secondary evidence will be accepted in lieu of primary evidence (e.g., when the primary evidence is lost, destroyed or cannot be found).

So, as long as primary evidence is available, secondary evidence is   of no use. What does this go to show? It goes to show that only the best is good enough. And to be the best, you have to be original. This means you have to be yourself and stop copying others.

A poor music composer, George Gershwin was tempted to work as music secretary to Irving Berlin, a music super star he had always idolized, much especially as Berlin was ready to pay triple of the amount he was earning.

Thanks a million to Berlin. He was a true mentor. He never concealed the true position of things to the up and coming George. He made George to understand that the only way to be truly great was to be on his own rather than worked for him.

There are many who, when they get to the top, would destroy or hide the very ladder they used to climb to the top, so that others won’t find it and use it to get to where they are. Not Berlin!

If all super stars will be liberal enough, like Berlin, to reveal their success secrets to people, we would have many more super stars, and the world would be the better for it.

Be Somebody

One of the most adored US presidents is Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was raised in poverty, but he had a mother who spurred her on to become a super achiever. Any time she observed that Lincoln was unserious, she would say, “Abe, don’t be a ‘nobody,’ be ‘somebody’.”

Dear reader we need this kind of encouragement and motivation. We shouldn’t be a “nobody” considering the enormous potential God had bestowed on us. God’s reason for depositing in us unique and unlimited potentials is that we should be “somebody.”

And the way to be somebody is not by copying others but by being yourself. The best you can be is to be yourself and not a replica of another person.

If George Gershwin chose to work for Irving Berlin as his music secretary and tried to be like him, he would have become a “nobody.” But because he chose to be himself, because he chose to be unique and different from Berlin and others, he excelled and became immortal. No list of America’s most outstanding musicians will be complete without the inclusion of George Gershwin!

Dear reader, I urge you to dare to be different. Never imitate any person. Choose to be yourself. It is when you chose to be yourself and not a photocopy of another person that you will stand out.                                          

Until I come your way soon, go and live victoriously!

CFVL CLASSIFIED ADS  
CFVL RECOMMENDATIONS
Here are some of our products that we highly recommend to all our readers. For a full list of our products, CLICK HERE  

SELF-EMPLOYMENT SECRET 1 – Discover the strategy of walking in financial freedom.

INFORMATION GOLDMINE! – Tap into the never ending goldmine of information!  

PRINTING PROFITS! – Make fortunes from printing with little or no capital.  

MAKE FORTUNES FROM IMPORT! – Start with little capital without travelling overseas!  

WRITE ONLINE ARTICLES FOR MONEY! – Discover the secret of making money online writing articles.  

AFFILIATE MARKETING GOLDMINE! – Discover the success secret in affiliate product marketing!

ONLINE PLATFORM FOR ALL PROFESSIONALS! – Discover how to leverage the internet to grow your professional practice.  

LUCRATIVE POULTRY BUSINESS SECRETS! – How to make huge income constantly from egg and broiler production.

A-Z OF COPYWRITING! – Master the technique of copywriting and earn fat income constantly!

 SUCCESS SECRET OF THE AGES! – Grab hold of the lessons contained in the ancient, life-changing parable of the pencil.