The sixteenth president of the United States Abraham Lincoln expressed a universal truth when he said: “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

A thousand good intentions is not as powerful as a single action and what matters most in life are not the things you think, believe or know but those things you do. Action is incredibly powerful and that one word alone can produce all you need to take you out to achieve your life dreams.

There is so many underachievement in the world today because most people refuse to get off their butts and take positive action. Success as they say is just 10% inspiration… the rest is the 90% of perspiration.

Check your age today and ask yourself – Is there anything you ever wanted to do in your life still a dream today? If there is, ask yourself if you have taken any action towards the attainment of that dream. Most people never have, and never will but you need to understand that this world of ours only respond to people of action.

Nothing works until you work it. Nothing happens until you take action. Invariably, nothing happens unless you make it happen. You are the change your life is waiting for, all you have to do is rise up now and do something towards your intended goal.

You have done enough of planning and analysis. The honest truth is that too much analysis mostly leads you to paralysis. The most successful people in any society are those that just do it like the motto of Nike: “Just Do It”

Think of that one thing you’ve always wanted to do. Think of that one dream you’ve always wanted to translate into a reality and think of that one wish, you wish all the time and take just action towards it today.

Author: Adebola Oni

The story of Ali in the classic, Acres of Diamond is one that has refused to clear from my memory ever since I read the story. Dr. Russell Cornwell, did a yeoman job by painting in stories the lives of the ordinary people whom greatness is within their grasp but couldn’t just smell it talk less of grabbing it.

What a great pity! Ali had a huge deposit of diamond in his garden, but just because he could do some searching sold off the garden for a peanut and went in search of diamond. He never found any diamond because he has sold it off and the lucky buyer discovered the world’s largest deposit in the same garden our journeyman friend sold off! Abu got frustrated with his life and committed suicide while our friend that bought Abu’s garden became the richest man of that time. What an Irony!

The story represents so many of us that have so many things to offer but are still wondering about what we want to do with our lives! Deposited in all of us is a huge deposit of greatness but amazingly only few ever get to become something in life. We talk about poverty, unemployment and several other things that should have never being heard among us if only we all can sit down and do some soul searching to discover the deposit within us.

Most times that I go out, I always see one person or the other that is evidently suffering and I shake my head praying silently that this ignorant person could just see what the Almighty has placed inside of him/her.

The world is replete with those who have discovered themselves and are really living it big and loud in our time, while there are also those who have failed to discover who they truly are and are living frustrated every day of their lives. Do you think the celebrities we have today will ever pick up pen to write an application for any job? No! They have discovered who they are meant to be and what is deposited within them. They never hesitated in using what is deposited inside and look at the fame people like them have acquired.

Prior to discovering my potentials, I used to be scared stiff whenever it occurs to me that I will leave the University one day and start looking for a job. I used to wonder whether I will be qualified for any job considering the education I receive everyday in the University. I used to see most of the courses as obsolete and irrelevant in this present age.

When I discovered my potentials, I just couldn’t be put down any longer. There has never being a day that I became dejected anymore because I have discovered a purpose to live for and I couldn’t be less excited. Whoa! What a great discovery! It was as if I just came into the world.

All those things that used to worry me disappeared because I was seeing a bright future instead of the bleak one that I used to see. People couldn’t believe I have decided not to look for a job like every of my other colleague that we graduated together. It was an abnormal situation to majority of them except just a few.

I want to let you know that your life can experience the same massive change I experienced years ago. Discover the power within you and you will never have to worry about your tomorrow again. Those who have discovered their passion are no better than you. You have the same brain and you can do the same thing they are doing if only you take the time to discover yourself.

Adebola Oni is the Author of “The Lessons Of Life”. So many lives have been touched by his newsletter, Life Lessons Digest. You can have a copy delivered to you every week by visiting his website: http://NaijaMotivation.com You will NEVER regret doing so as so many articles are waiting to change your life.

There was once a farmer who had a horse he loved very much. One day as he was walking with his horse, the horse fell into a well. The farmer tried everything he could to pull his dear horse out of the well but nothing worked.

The farmer loved his horse so much and with tears decided the best thing to do was to bury the horse on that spot. He picked up his shovel and with the tears rolling freely down his cheek, started heaving sand into the well. His intention was straight forward enough – to bury his beloved horse.

The horse seeing the situation resigned to fate and decided it was over but something strange happened. As the first heap of sand landed on the horse’s back, it had an idea – Shake off the sand, stamp on it and you’ll get out alive!

That was exactly what the horse did. As each heap of sand landed on the back of the horse, all it did was simply to shake it off, stamp on it and that horse made it out of that well alive.

Your day cannot and in fact will not go perfect all of the time. There are times when it just goes rough. Even, when everything decides to go perfect for you, there are people who deliberately try to hurt you, just try to get at you, try to infuse some stress into you happy day.

When such thing happens – remember that every obnoxious act is a cry for help. Understand that person in unconsciously trying to rub his inner frustration on someone else. That understanding helps you handle the scenario better.

David Brinkley could not have said it better when he said: “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

It also helps to remember when the day starts going bad that somewhere sometimes in the past, you’ve been in far worse situation and you handled it. Think back to the past and you’ll discover there have been worse days than today which you don’t even have vivid recollection of. If that is the case.. then it means today is not so bad. Cheer up!

Another tip to help you handle a day going bad is to practice talking back to yourself aloud; powerful motivation quotes. For example, “shake off the sand and you’ll come out alive” or “I expect the best and with God’s help will attain the best” – Norman Vincent Peale or “Only Winners go to dinner” or “Misery is an option”

Say such things to yourself over and over until you’ve calmed down and you actually start to feel better despite the situation that cause the bad day being present. You will notice that as you cool off.. the so bad day will get no so bad and the stress level falls drastically.

Never forget: we cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails. “Your attitude determines your action and your action determines your accomplishment.” – John C. Maxwell

A bystander observed Michelangelo as he took a long time retouching every detail of a statue he’d been working on for many days, and asked why he bothered with them. Michelangelo replied; “Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.”

The greatest enemy of best is good. If you’re satisfied with what’s good, you’ll never have what’s best. (John Mason). The quickest and easiest way to become a high flyer is to do more and then more than is required and then to continue doing it.

One secret every true achiever knows is the power of going the extra mile with tasks. Zig Ziglar wrote; “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” The ability to put in a little more hard work and a little more detail is the hallmark of excellence and life always rewards handsomely men who truly and dutifully do a little more than all others.

“If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great Streetsweeper who did his job well.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Thomas Edision said; “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man, and I will show you a failure.” “There are two kinds of men who never amount to very much,” remarked Cyrus H.K. Curtis to his associate, Edward Bok. “And what kinds are those?” inquired Bok. “Those who cannot do what they are told,” replied the famous publisher, “and those who can do nothing else.”

“Where we cannot invent, we may at least improve,” said Charles Caleb Colton. Find a better way and make that way better. That is the surefire lift to great achievements.

Beethoven composed some of the world’s best music. His handicap? He was deaf. One of the world’s greatest leaders was US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His handicap? He served from a wheelchair.

Wilma Rudolph was born into a poor home in Tennessee. At age four, a double pneumonia and scarlet fever left her paralyzed with polo. She had to wear a brace and the doctors said she would never walk again. But her mother encouraged her; she told Wilma that with God-given ability, persistence and faith, she could do anything she wanted. Wilma said, “I want to be the fastest woman on the track on this earth.” At age nine, against the doctors’ advice, she removed the brace and took the first step the doctors said she never would. At age 13, she entered her first race and came out last. She entered the second race and third and fourth, she kept coming out last until one day, she came out first.

At the age of 15, she went to Tennessee State University and met a coach names Ed Temple. She told him “I want to be the fastest woman on the track on this earth.” Temple said, “With your spirit, nobody can stop you and besides, I will help you.”

The day came. She was at the Olympics where you are matched with the best of the very best. Wilma was matched against Jutta Heine who had never been beaten. The first event was the 100meter race. Wilma beat Jutta and won her first Olympic gold medal. The second event was the 200meter race and for the second time, Wilma beat Jutta to claim the second gold medal. The third event was the 400meter relay and she was again racing against Jutta. In the relay, the fastest person always ran the last lap and they both anchored their teams. The first three people ran and changed baton easily. When it was Wilma’s turn, she dropped the baton. But Wilma saw Jutta shooting off; she picked up the baton, ran like a machine, beat Jutta again and for the third time, claimed the gold medal.

History was made. A paralytic woman became the world’s fastest woman on the earth at the 1960 Olympics.

One of the greatest injustice anyone can do to his destiny is to have a fatalistic approach to destiny and to accept the forces of limitation. Great men realize that to become achievers, one has to become a master at the act of turning scars into stars. Henry David Thoreau said; “What a man thinks of himself; that is what determines, or rather indicates, his fate.”

Never accept limitation. That is a recipe for achievers that never fail to hit the mark.

© Oluwafisayo Akinlolu