You are Engineered for High Adventure

Pastor John Haggee’s bestseller, LIFE’S CHALLENGES – YOUR OPPORTUNITIES, is no doubt an assemblage of life lessons for every person. By my assessment, the content therein can make any reader to see problems as opportunities and start exploiting the opportunities right away for his greatness.

One great lesson Haggee teaches in LIFE’S CHALLENGES – YOUR OPPORTUNITIES is that everyone possesses the potential for greatness. As he puts it, “You are God’s divine creation, and locked within you is the spirit of excellence. You are designed for high flight.”

But he goes further to warn that if we allow negative thoughts to dominate our mind, we will never soar to greatness.

   
Narrating how destructive negative thoughts can be to our lives and destiny, he buttressed his point with the story of an American Indian who found an eagle’s egg and put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of prairie chickens and grew up with them. All his life, the eagle did what other prairie chickens did, thinking he was a chicken.

One day, he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky, flying with majestic grace on the powerful wind currents. It soared with scarcely a beat of its powerful wings. Admiring the bird, he said to the chickens, “What a beautiful and majestic bird, what kind of bird is that?”

“That’s an eagle, the chief of birds,” the chickens clucked. “But don’t dare think you can fly like an eagle; you can never be like them. You are just a chicken.” 

The prairie eagle accepted the negative utterance of the prairie chickens and never attempted to fly. He lived and died like a chicken scratching the ground for food.

Although, like every other eagle, he was engineered by the divine architect (Almighty God) for high flight, because he accepted the negative opinions of the prairie chickens that he could not fly, he ended up never flying.

Lessons for High Adventure

Let me share with you four lessons I extracted from the above story and how we can apply them in our own lives:

1.   You Are Engineered for High Flight

The same divine architect who engineered the eagle for high flight also engineered us to soar to the pinnacle of our life, career, job, business or profession. 

The problem, opposition, obstacle or difficulty you are facing now does not change the fact. The fact remains: YOU ARE ENGINEERED FOR HIGH ADVENTURE.

One of the reasons some of us may never be the best that God created us to be is that we allow the present unpleasant situation to demolish our self-esteem. One man that suffered  from problem of low self-esteem is  Gideon in the Bible. Although Gideon was a “mighty man of valour,” because of the ordeal of the entire nation of Israel in the hand of the midianites, he never realized that he was a mighty combatant.

The angel of God that accosted him said: “…The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” (Judges 6:11-12).

But Gideon doubted: “And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”   

Drawing Gideon out of the pit of inferiority complex  that he had put himself, the angel assured him, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”  (Judges 6:14).

Gideon’s inferiority complex was so much that even after the angel’s assurance, he kept asking God for signs from time to time. God would show him every sign he requested, and after seeing the signs, his self-esteem would increase instantly.

Though weak in faith due to his inferiority complex, God still used him to deliver Israel from the hand of the midianites.

Like Gideon, our biggest problem is inferiority complex, or put it in another way, low self-esteem. We look at problems as signs that God has abandoned us. Instead of holding unto what God says about us we magnify problems and see ourselves as helpless.

But unless we get rid of our inferiority complex and start seeing ourselves the way God created us to be, we may never soar to greatness. We may end up like the prairie chickens.

God is saying: “GO IN THIS THY MIGHT.” And in Romans 8:37, the Bible says: “Nay, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him that loved us.”

Get rid of inferiority complex today and start approaching life’s battle with the mentality of one who is more than a conqueror.

2.   Locate Your Habitat

The natural environment for chickens is quite different from that of the eagle. An eagle that finds himself in the chickens’ environment will behave like chickens and do everything the chickens do.

The plight of the prairie eagle was that he was raised among chickens and was content remaining there. In the end, he was deceived and made to believe that he was not an eagle and so could not fly. He accepted the negative remark and he never flew.

The point here is: THE ASSOCIATION YOU KEEP CAN MAKE OR MAR YOUR DESTINY. If the prairie eagle had left the chickens’ environment for his own, he would have done great exploits like other eagles.

You may or may not be able to dissociate yourself completely from negative thinkers and the underachievers, but watch the company you keep. If you are associating with negative-minded people, failures, and the never-do-well, the tendency to become like them is very high. Don’t sell your destiny to the chickens. Look for the eagles and associate with them.

3.   Learn to Handle Negative Thoughts

Even if the eagle relocates to his own habitat, he still has to fight tough battles against negative thoughts emanating from his own mind and that of the other eagles.   

The way to handle negative thoughts is to become a changed person. This you do by renewing your mind. Deliberately and consciously refuse to entertain negative thoughts. Clear your mind of doubt, fear, despair, and fill your mind with positive thoughts.

In the field of positive thinking, we use the weapon of affirmation to dispel doubt, fear, despair and other negative thoughts. Here is an exercise that can renew your mind and change you from a negative thinker to a positive thinker. Three times each day, affirm to yourself, ten times, the following passages from the Bible:

• Nay, in all these things, I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me 
• If   God before me, who can be against me? 

•  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. My faith overcomes the world
• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

This principle of affirmation and many other success principles are found in Norman Vincent Peale’s bestselling books, The Power of Positive Thinking and The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking.

4.   Determine to Fly

In an old edition of The Word For Today, a power-packed Christian devotional publication published by Grace So Amazing Foundation, Bob Gass, the publisher and writer, narrated the story of a boy who climbed a high mountain and found an eagle’s egg. He brought it home and put it among his hen’s eggs.

The eagle hatched, grew with the other chicks and behaved like them, and thought he was a chicken. Many a time, he had the inclination to fly, but it did not made effort to do so. One day, he saw an eagle fly over the compound. He looked up, saw it and admired it. He wished he could fly like the eagle he was seeing.

 
Just then, he made an attempt to fly. He struggled to fly a bit, but finally, he effortlessly soared higher and higher, and departed never to return again.

 

The difference between this eagle and the prairie eagle is that this eagle had a higher self-esteem and this propelled him to attempt to fly. Though he lived, wined and dined with chickens, he never allowed the chicken-mentality to rub off on him. He flew away to his own habitat.

Dear friend, as Pastor Sam Adeyemi, founder of Day Star Christian Centre said, “An eagle does not know if it can fly until it tries.” Your inclination for high adventure is an indication that you are engineered for it, but it is not enough to aspire for greatness; you must strive for it. You don’t know how far you can go until you try.

Get up now, roll up your sleeves and begin to strive for stardom and like the eagle, you will soar to greatness. 

 I wrote an e-book titled, SOARING TO GREATNESS. Drawing analogy from the lifestyle of the eagle, I discussed success principles we can apply to attain greatness. For details about this book, click this  link: SOARING TO GREATNESS

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

Rolex Watch Analogy: A Concept that Can Change Your Fortune

One of the most accomplished copywriters on earth is Nick Usborne. I read about Usborne in the newsletter sent to me via email by American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI). As an icon and resource person in the field of writing, especially copywriting, AWAI used to make references to him.  

After reading some impressive remarks about Usborne in one of the AWAI emails to me, I got fascinated about him and clicked a link from the email that AWAI sent to me to visit Usborne’s website - www.nickusborne.com.

On his website, Usborne reveals that in his “virtual coaching program for freelancers who want to earn a lot more,” the financial success of a freelancer has less to do with his level of ability, but much more to do with perception of his own value.

To buttress his point, he explains the analogy of the ordinary watch and the Rolex watch: “You can buy a digital watch for $10 or you can buy a Rolex watch for $15,000. Both do the same thing…they tell the time. The Rolex doesn’t do a better job…but it has a much higher perceived value.”

In summary, Usborne’s lesson on how freelancers (and indeed any person) can earn a lot more is that we should have a very high perceived value of ourself.

But the question now is: how can we become Rolex in whatever we are doing? There are three lessons I learned from Usborne’s analogy   which I am going to share with you right away.

1.   Don’t Price Yourself Too Low

Often, in a bid to earn money  at all cost, we lower the prices of our  products or charge very low fee, thinking that we will attract high patronage, but we end up earning little or nothing.

While explaining the negative effect of pricing ourselves too low, Usborne recalled an instance where he priced himself too low and ended up never getting the job. In his words, “Several years ago, I sent in an estimate for a project. My price was $15,000. I didn’t get the job. It turned out that they had been expecting my price to be closer to $35,000 or $40,000. By pricing myself too low, I had undermined their perception of my value.”

The point here is: IT IS BETTER TO PRICE YOURSELF VERY HIGH THAN TO PRICE YOURSELF TOO LOW. This is because the price you place on yourself determines how you will be valued. The mentality of prospects generally is that low price connotes low value while high price connotes high value.

This is why people buy Rolex watch of $15,000 or $20,000 and buy other watch for $10 or $20, not that Rolex works better than ordinary watch. In fact, a research shows that Rolex used to have more problems than other cheap watch.

 

I think the lesson to grab here is that we should not be too desperate to earn money however little. If we are too desperate, we would fall into the temptation to price ourselves too low.

2.   How You Perceive Yourself is How You are Perceived By  Others

Another lesson I learned from Usborne’s analogy is that it is how you perceive yourself that others perceive you. According to Usborne, “People buy Rolex for $20,000 as against perfectly good watch valued $20 because of their perception of its value.”

Going by Usborne’s analogy, your work has less to do with its real value, and more to do with its perceived value. That perception resides in your mind and in the mind of prospects and clients. And for the prospects to have a high perceived value of you, you must maintain a very high perceived value of yourself.

Like the Rolex, the highest paid professionals are not necessarily the best; they are those who have a high perceived value of themselves and their abilities.

If your perception of your own value is very low, it may be very difficult for others to hold a high perception of you. Hitting harder on this point, Usborne queried: “Would you buy a Rolex watch for $200? Of course not, because at that price it must be fake.”

Your real value may not be fake but if your perceived value of yourself is too low, others will take it up from there and equally hold a very low perceived value of you.

3.   Upgrade Yourself

Upgrading yourself here means building your self-confidence. Self-confidence is crucial to your success. According to Usborne, “If you want to earn a strong 6-figure income, what you need most is self-confidence. It’s not the best copywriters who make the most money. It’s the copywriters with the most self-confidence.”

In building self-confidence, we should stop seeing ourselves as the low-priced watch. Rather, we should see ourselves as the Rolex in whatever we are doing. 

We should also believe that we are Rolex in our profession. And as Rolex, we cannot afford to price ourselves low.  If we do, we may end up creating the impression that we are either a fake Rolex or the perfectly good but low-priced watch.

Now ponder this: “If you don’t believe you’re a Rolex, why on earth would anyone feel the same way?”

In addition to seeing yourself as the Rolex and believing that you are the Rolex in your profession, you must also affirm constantly and loudly to yourself the following assertion:

“I am a Rolex in my profession.”

As you do this, it is my hope that you will not only build self-confidence, you will end up becoming one of the highest paid persons in your profession.

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