Making Things Happen

Success doesn’t come on a platter of silver. People who succeed make things happen. Often, our inability to achieve our goals in life stems from our reluctance to take decisive steps necessary to reach our goals.

One major factor responsible for our reluctance to take decisive steps is fear of failure, fear of the unknown and fear of starting something new. Everybody experiences these fears, but people who succeed in life are those who refuse to be held down by fears.

If you must achieve great success in life, the first thing you should do is to get rid of the fear in your mind. And the way to get rid of fear is to ignore it. Don’t listen to your fear.

Fear has a way of holding you down for as long as you allow it. You haven’t launched out yet, but fear makes you feel that you cannot succeed. No wonder, Shakespeare said” “OUR DOUBTS ARE TRAITORS AND MAKE US LOSE THE GOOD WE OFT MIGHT WIN BY FEARING TO ATTEMPT.”

What great opportunities we miss when we allow fear to hold us down. George Benard said: “THE WORLD IS RULED BY DEED, NOT BY GOOD INTENTIONS.” The movers and shakers of this world are not the idealists but the practicalists.

Decades ago, a gubernatorial candidate in Enugu State, Nigeria, by name Rev. Dr. Hyde Onuagulushi, was interviewed on the TV and one of the questions he was asked was: “What are the qualities expected of a governor that you think you possess.”

As the question was asked I thought he was going to respond by reeling out the number of certificates and degrees he has acquired over the years, but surprisingly, he did not. Rather, his answer was: “I don’t know the qualities a person may possess to become a governor, but what makes me the right candidate is that I MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”

And you know what? The man’s success story reveals that he is not a theorist but a practicalist. He has been chairman and managing directors of conglomerates and he is also a founder of a church called God Dabbath Mission located at Achi, Enugu State. Talk of certificates and degrees, he had them in great numbers, but he never relied on them. THE GREATEST ASSET HE RELIED UPON WAS HIS ABILITY TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.

There is a great lesson for us to learn here. In life, it is not the number of degrees and certificates you have that matters; it is what you can do with the knowledge you have acquired.

Dear reader, are you a theorist or are you a practicalist?  All the knowledge you have acquired will be of little avail if you don’t utilize them for greater accomplishment. One of the greatest assets you can deploy for greater accomplishment is your God-given ability to make things happen.

How do you deploy this ability and start making things happen? Below are three steps you can take:

1.   Find Your Own Opportunity

Successful people are those who get up and look for the opportunity they want. They don’t try to copy or imitate others. They don’t jump into any venture because they see others doing it. They look for their own opportunity and they stick to it.

This is one the greatest secret of success: BE ORIGINAL, DON’T BE A CARBON COPY OF ANOTHER PERSON. IF YOU TRY TO COPY ANOTHER PERSON, YOU CAN NEVER BE YOUR BEST, BECAUSE BY VIRTUE OF YOUR GOD-GIVEN ABILITY, YOU CAN ONLY FUNCTION OPTIMALLY WHEN YOU OPERATE ON YOUR OWN PLATFORM. So, find your own platform. Discover your potential, for that is what you need to make things happen. You make things happen faster when you make up your mind to function on your own platform. Be original; don’t be a carbon copy.

2.   Create Your Own Opportunity

Successful people create their own opportunity, if they cannot find the opportunity they are looking for. Charles Cotton said: “GREAT MINDS MUST BE READY NOT ONLY TO TAKE OPPORTUNITIES, BUT TO MAKE THEM.”   

 Every person is loaded with creative abilities. With these abilities, there is no limit to what you can do. So, if you cannot find the opportunity you want you can harness your ability to create the opportunity you want.

During my undergraduate days at Ibadan, a friend of my roommate once told us of an OND Insurance graduate who went out looking for a job. But when he couldn’t find it, he took a bold step to create the opportunities he wanted. Today, the Insurance graduate owns several hotels, secondary schools and vocational centres in Nigeria as well as several businesses abroad.

The man’s advice to graduates who used to come to him for jobs is: “YOU USE YOUR HEAD. YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT FOR OTHERS TO CREATE EMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOY YOU. I DID NOT WAIT FOR THE GOVERNMENT OR ANYBODY TO EMPLOY ME. I WENT OUT TO CREATE EMPLOYMENT FOR ME AND OTHERS. MY ADVICE TO GRADUATE IS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT WAIT FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE JOBS FOR THEM. THEY SHOULD RATHER GO OUT AND PIN THEIR INTEREST ON A PARTICULAR VOCATION AND STICK TO IT.” 

That is it dear. If you can’t find the opportunity you are looking for, Go out and create your own opportunity. Remember: YOU HAVE UNLIMITED POTENTIALITIES WITHIN YOU AND WITH THESE POTENTIALITIES, THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT YOU CAN DO.

I wrote a book that deals exensively on the issue of creating your own opportunities. The e-book version is also available. For details about this book/e-book, click this link: SELF-EMPLOYMENT SECRET

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3.   Act on What You Know

Life is not about accumulation of knowledge; it is about contribution - using the knowledge you have acquired to better the lot of members of the society. The question then goes: what have you been doing with the knowledge you have been accumulating over the years? The fact is, things won’t happen until you act on thothese knowledge you have acquired over the years.

In this information age, what you need in order to excel is INFORMATION. There are many things you know which others don’t know. These are the things you need to put into action to make things happen.

Dan Kenedy, a successful internet marketer said: “Some dynamic insight into that small minority of people who achieve their goals and dreams, MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, get rich, etc, there it is: THEY ACT ON WHAT THEY KNOW. The vast mediocre – majority of people know more than enough to do much, much better than they do, it’s just that they never use what they know. I’d suppose if you could actually ACT ON WHAT YOU KNOW, 30%, 40% of the time, you’d be 3000% or 4000% of the time ahead of the 95% of the people around you.”

In conclusion, here is a rundown on what you should do to start making things happen for you:

• Get rid of fear and doubt by ignoring them or refusing to listen to them.
•  Create your own opportunity by choosing to be original and not a carbon copy

• Use your creative abilities to create opportunities for yourself

• Fasttrack your progress in life by acting on what you know.

And until I come your way soon, go out and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN by creating your own opportunities and living a victorious life!