In this scenario, i would be linking football to how you can prepare for opportunities. Football, undoubtedly is/still remains one of the largest sporting activity that brings heterogeneous and diversified people together all around the world. It involves coaches, two(2) goal post and team, 11 players on each team, a referee and of course, the tossing of the ball around the playing field.
Some time ago, a friend and I were analyzing the years Kola (not a real name) has spent in the company, not as a Manager, Executive Director or Department Head but as an Office assistant for a solid 14 YEARS still with his tertiary certificate. You can imagine that he should have spent those years upgrading his qualification, engaging in career training sessions or investing in his God-given talent but for the lack of vision, determination, focus and procrastination in most cases; he lost out on the unlimited opportunities that would have come his way.
I am really not a football fan but I know most players started out by developing their skills while playing for their small/local teams before being scouted and moving to bigger teams. Take for example Cote D’Ivoire player Didier Drogba started with his national team before moving to Chelsea and later on to China’s super league Shanghai shenhua-that is building their football culture. Other footballers are Samuel Eto, our very own Mikel Obi, Enyeama Vincent and even Victor Moses.
Truth is, we (as individuals) can’t afford to be stagnant and continue to visit various prayer house everyday seeking God’s divine intervention in our lives, NO. It’s best to strategize how to grow and better our life each-day, from time-to-time, reinforce your team (skills or talent) and you will definitely run your life to in the midst of opportunities. So many people don’t tap the wealth of opportunities that come by and sooner or later they become a surplus indirectly a liability and I’m sure you know what that means especially in a work environment (redundancy and subsequently- sack).
PLEASE WATCH THIS INSPIRING STORY of a young man who went from manning the gate at Insight Communications, a leading advertising agency in Africa to an Art Director position at the agency. Credit: 02 Academy
Here are a few life lessons from this story;
1. Finding himself manning a gate didn’t stop him from practicing his innate skill of illustration. However or whatever your circumstance or wherever you find yourself, don’t stop expressing your gifting. Remember the Joseph the Dreamer.
2. Engage the opportunities available for expression.
3. Develop your talent and be confident in yourself, that way, other people can be confident in you too. Remember, chocolate is priced higher than Cocoa.
4. Whatever your degree or educational qualification it is more important to harness your skill because it is in higher demand than the number of degrees you acquire.
Enough on the rants which can be considered sensible and a wake-up call to those who might find themselves in this situation. If you can’t fly, run… if you can’t run, walk… if you can’t walk, crawl but most importantly keep moving and you will surely get there. Time is precious, no respecter of person and waits for no-one so it high-time we are up and doing.
How else can we enjoy that “tomorrow” we long for if not when we aim high and work towards it today.
Keynote: The nature of a tree determines the fruits it bears… Your nature is what makes way for your future and it takes more than strength, grace, skill to scale through life. Cultivate the right attitude!
