By
Babatunde Oladele
I got
this insight after watching a movie entitled “Bubble Boy.”
Humans,
when caged by self, dogma or fellow humans cannot be free, neither can they manifest
their full potential nor succeed in their endeavours. The very thought of
freedom, manifestation, and success suggests an image of outward flow of activities
rather than an inward blossom.
However,
freedom, manifestation and success do not happen without some degrees of internal
and external struggles. These restrictions usually come in form of limitations
imposed by the self, others or the environment; and it is to the extent that you
overcome them that you will be free, become and succeed.
Therefore,
to be free, to manifest or to succeed, here are three keys you may find very
helpful:
1. Go
out: you cannot
reach your full potential unless you go out of your comfort zone. Have you seen
a tortoise moving before? No matter how big or small it is, it cannot move anywhere
until it juts its head out of the shell. Humans are no different; there is no
progress unless you go out of your shell. You cannot succeed unless you discard
the limiting beliefs and self-doubts that have held you down for whatever length
of time. To grow, you need to proceed from one level of reasoning or operation
to the next. To succeed, you have to go out of the miry of nonchalance and
average performance.
2. Reach
out: as you go out
of your comfort zone or bland level to pursue your dreams and ideals, you also
need to reach out to people and resources that will help you to achieve your
objectives along the way. Fortune most often does not favour the taciturn. You need
to identify the persons or association that can enhance you as a person as well
as enable you to accomplish your aim, and then reach out to them. This is not
limited to humans alone; as you are “going out” you will also encounter books,
events and other resources that will be helpful to you. Reach out to them, subscribe
to them, engage them and assimilate them.
3. Launch
out: to the extent
that you have gone out and reached out, you also need to launch out with the
idea and initiative you have been nursing, or those that occur to you as you
become. A popular maxim holds that “people will not celebrate you for your
intentions, but your actions.” To succeed, you need to have a sizable action
quotient per day. And the key to doing that is making every hour count. Input substance
into your hours and you will have a productive day. Never let an hour pass by
without a substantial investment of rigorous thinking or effort with short,
medium or long-term yield in it. Even the chunk of time you take to rest or spend
with your family constitutes a judicious investment of time that will produce
positives. So, don’t think it’s all about working alone.
So, dare the odds and discouragements
to launch out and start that business, NGO, product/service line, and whatever
it is that you have tucked in the recess of your mind for so long. Don’t fall
victim of the paralysis that develops from over-analysis. You will never know
all there is to know, have all you need to start, nor have a panoramic view of
all there is to see about the idea anyway. So start where you are.
I conclude with a saying I heard some
years ago, “instead of waiting for a perfect time, make the present time
perfect.”
