Intelligence and money are not reasons to pull you down or to hinder you from achieving your goals.
Sure,
learning is a process.
Sure,
maturity is a choice.
Sure,
life is a constant voyage.
Sure,
each of us is given built-in skills that will enable us to be better and to
better enjoy this good life.
Sure,
we are the captain of our own lives.
We
can become whoever we want to be. Truly, we are not given equal amount of
talents, skills, and other gifts gifts; but surely, we are all given the same
amount of time each day—24 hours. Whether too long or too short for you, we can’t
do anything to adjust its length.
Time
is equally given to each of us—rich-poor, young-old, girl-boy,
literate-illiterate, good-bad. 24 houts a day; 525,600 minutes a year. Period.
Time
is fixed. But the good news is, we can diminish or increase its value by how
we make choices and how we act upon our choices.
Learning
and maturity should be directly proportional to our time alive, our age. But we
all know that a big chunk of humanity is not a reflection of it. I’m not
discounting myself.
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If
we look around, we will see many people who have become skilled and empowered
in their chosen fields, and some in the
places they found themselves. However, there are more people who are otherwise
or who don’t enjoy the lives they are entitled to enjoy.
We
sometimes catch ourselves quipping, “She’s brilliant. I wonder why she ended up
like that,” or “He’s diligent, but it seems he toils today to feed himself
today so he can work tomorrow.”
(Setting
aside those people who are able to get what they want because they know how to
manipulate people for their own advantage, or see things as “delegation” when
in fact they know in themselves that they intentionally make others do things for
them, or get to finish a requirement by doing 20% of the work…)
The
legit achiever knows four basic things: diligence, focus, responsibility, and
sharing. The self-made achiever is like a house built on a rock, strong storm or
raging flood comes, it stands firm. Wherever you put him, whatever you ask of
him, whenever you need him, he can deliver well.
I. Diligence
Being diligent doesn’t
require exceptional IQ. What one needs is only common sense and initiative. Being
diligent is being able to discern what an ordinary prudent man would do in a specific situation. Diligence is also
the ability to delay gratification and do some a-little-tightening-here-and-a-loosening-there.
A diligent person
would ask himself what shall I do first; what is the most efficient and
effective way in doing this; will I bypass or disrespect or hurt someone; what
degree of care is appropriate.
More than being industrious, a diligent person thinks of the implications of his actions before he executes his action plan. He eats first the icing before the cake, I mean, he does first the things he doesn’t like most so he can enjoy the rest of the day doing the things he likes.
More than being industrious, a diligent person thinks of the implications of his actions before he executes his action plan. He eats first the icing before the cake, I mean, he does first the things he doesn’t like most so he can enjoy the rest of the day doing the things he likes.
II. Focus
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A purpose driven and
dedicated person knows his goal and he presses on it every single day. He knows
where he should end up. Whatever the weather is—stormy or sunny; whatever kind
of road he is taking—bumpy or smooth—his mind, feelings, words, and actions are
all oriented to his goal.
A focused person is
not discouraged or demoralized by trials or failures. Instead, he is fueled by
his challenges. For him, another trial means another platform for him to stand on
so he could see things from a better vantage point. He sees failure just as a
delay to his goal or sometimes a detour so he may take a better path towards
it.
Being focused is
being able to see clearly what you want and seeing it steadily through layers
upon layers of distraction.
III. Responsibility
Acceptance of
responsibility is being open to challenges, pain, heartbreaks, and other uncomfortable
emotions associated with growing up, achieving, and victory. Responsible
persons know that trials, challenges, or problems don’t go away unless you
yourself work through them, or else they will remain a hindrance to your growth
and victory.
Some people deny to
themselves the problems they encounter; others acknowledge the problems but do
nothing about it hoping the problems will just go away. But the responsible
person acknowledges his problems, sits down and studies each problem for a
reasonable time, make an action plan, and face the problem properly—right time,
approach, and means—based on his evaluation of the situation.
A responsible person
knows that when he avoids the legitimate suffering that results from dealing
with problems, he also avoids the growth that problems demand from him (Peck).
Learning is the twin
of responsibility. As in taking on responsibility for what one feels, for what one
ought to do, for whatever situation one finds himself, one will always surely
learn whether he fails or succeeds.
A responsible person's mentality is, "Either you win or you learn."
A responsible person's mentality is, "Either you win or you learn."
IV. Sharing
An empowered person
shares what he learns. An empowered person is someone who becomes who he is
because of what he has gone through in his life. He has a personal account to
share about his journey from rags to riches, or from being a victim to being
the philanthropist, or from being the last to being the first, or being the nothing
to being the superstar.
Having a first hand
experience of the essential polishing in life—from thinking of a dream to being
diligent to pursue his dream and making it a goal; to being focused and
dedicated to his goal; to taking on the responsibility for every circumstance
that leads him his goal—an empowered person knows the feeling and thoughts of
one who is also driven to legitimately achieve their goals, which enables him to empathize and believe in them.
A small mind will
tell one that his dream ridiculously difficult and he will not achieve it
because of he is poor or he is not intelligent or he is ugly or he because he
is who he is. But an empowered person will encourage one to pursue his dream,
pray, and work hard and that if others can do it, he too can do it and may even
do things better.
Sharing is a mechanism
that multiplies and scatters good things in life. Sharing is the system which
makes giving away good things come back in better packages, better quality, and
sometimes more in quantity. Simply put, sharing makes good things last from
generation to generation.
Whatever
our statuses in life are or wherever we are and whatever we want to achieve, it
is possible to achieve our goals if we are willing to do our part and focus our energy and
resources on the goal.
Intelligence
and money are not reasons to pull you down or to hinder you from achieving your
goals.
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Everyday,
within 24 hours, do something that contributes to achieving your goals. If you
want to be a teachers, entrepreneur, priest, lawyer, doctor, or corporate
executive…
Think
like one.
Talk
like one.
Act
like one.
What
you think of, speak of, read about, or do in a day will make a difference in
the quality and essence of your 24 hours and 525,600 minutes.
Dream.
Believe. Feel. Receive. Thank. Share.
…and
thank God for the each brand new day He gives you to become better, do better,
and become step closer to your goal.
One
sure thing, you can make it if you believe and want it.
Never underestimate your capacity and never underestimate God's power.
Pray
and work hard! You can make it, I know!
