It's not over until you Win

It's not over until you win

Opportunity, no matter how small it may appear, is what God Has put in your hands. And many times you may tend to focus on what you lack and say "If I were born into a richer family if I was in a better school or if I had these books, then I would be happier" It is my firm belief that we are all here for a purpose. Really our role in this life is to find this purpose and fulfill it. On this life journey, God has given us all that we need. Where you end up in life is not a function of the doors that open for you. It is a function of what is in your mind and what your mind believes you can achieve.

Do not focus on your past; God does not intend to create for you new blessings in your past. They say that life is God's gift to us; how we live it is our gift to God. The biggest challenge facing gifted people is that they may lose that most important component of habit called discipline. To most intelligent people, discipline comes naturally but to many, it doesn't. Consider the following key attributes that  successful people have:

1. Believe in self

You need to have faith in the immeasurable talents God Has given you. You need to form your own reality and write your own script. If someone does not believe in himself/herself, no one will believe in them. You will notice, as you are walking around in the streets, a billboard or a painting speaking about Coca-Cola. Why so? It is because the human mind is inherently negative so you have to keep on marketing yourself to yourself. You are intelligent, you have the capability, and it does not matter that you are young. You are capable and you have immeasurable talents. Have Confidence And that confidence in your will inspires other people to have confidence in you. Enthusiasm will inspire you to strive for greatness

2. Big Vision

The second attribute is big vision. There is a speaker called John Maxwell who says that there are two great days in a person's life; the first one is the day you are born and the second is the day you discover why you are conceived.

3. Explore and discover

To be successful, you have to explore and discover what purpose gives you joy.  Develop good habits. And those habits are not formed overnight. When you are 40 years old it is a lot more difficult to break old habits; When you are 14-17 it is possible to form habits that will shape the rest of your life.

 Successful people work with what they have and where they are. Sometimes in the materialistic culture that we live in, when you see phones and shoes and clothes and the rest you start wishing you had them. You have something far more potent between your ears. Today we live in a world where young people are seen as objects of consumption but you who are privileged to be in positions of leadership, have the ability to create wealth. You are not here to be consumers; you are here to create wealth and in the future to give back and add value to others. 

4. Positive attitude

A positive attitude means you do not focus on the difficulties of life unnecessarily. Life is difficult but that is not what is essential. What is important is that today you are alive, intelligent in school and all your faculties are in order. So, focus on the opportunities and have faith you can achieve them.

Have faith that as you overcome the challenges of life, you are getting stronger. There's nothing as bad as getting to the pinnacle only to realize that you lack the mental strength to handle success. Anybody can handle adversity but not many people can handle success especially when it comes to a tender age. Your capacity to handle success at a young age is a function of the challenges you have overcome. So rather than a complaint about your challenges, see them as a blessing, as an opportunity to develop the mental resolve to be able to deal with difficulties

5. Inquisitive mind

Have an inquisitive mind that seeks to consistently acquire knowledge and insights. The biggest thing you learn in school is not so much the content but the discipline of getting the knowledge, analyzing the information, and knowing the relevant questions and where to get answers. There is a habit I developed and worked on in my younger days and have kept up to date; Everday I read for 20 minutes something unrelated to my work. by the end of the month, you would finish two books.

And when you read, you interact with greatness and you literally ride on the shoulders of great people. I read different things: I am a fan of success. I do it in the morning between 4:30 am and 5 am when the mind is alert. That habit for me has worked wonders. Today there is so much opportunity for knowledge. You can get the best as well as the worst on Youtube. Some of the great innovations have been done by people far young. Look at Facebook, Google, and even Microsoft started by Bill gates when he was young. You have that capability. Please do not postpone your success.

6. Turn dreams into goals  

A dream is not necessarily a goal. A goal is a plan on how you want to be admitted to Harvard University. When you look at success and successful people, you only see a tenth of their stories of success. You don't see the effort that it takes to get there. Success is a journey of small steps and the more sustainable your success will be.

7. Beware of  Your Surroundings 

Look at those you surround yourself with. Their values will become your values and their habits will become yours. We are in a society where being young is particularly difficult because we have a shortage of role models of high integrity. Integrity is about not reaping where you have not sown. Integrity is the focus on the results. This really is the powerful role that peer pressure plays. When you are in a group you influence one another. It's important to remember that you will not always be in a group. 

8. Never ever give up

To be where you are, you have overcome a lot of challenges and you might be going through so much in your life. You may want to give up and surrender and say, "I have gone through enough; I have had so many setbacks". It's not over until you win. Always add value to anything that you do. Start by leading yourself. Always look for an opportunity to make the better situation that you are in. And value flows not from those who receive but to those who give.