“Nothing in the world can take the
place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful
men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always
will solve the problems of the human race”
Calvin Coolidge
Helen
Keller, at the age of 19 months,
became deaf and blind. But that didn’t stop her from pursuing her vision. She
was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree going on
to become an author, political activist and lecturer.
Think
about this for a moment. If someone you loved were trapped in a building, would
you stop trying to rescue them if the front door were locked? Wouldn’t you try other
ways and means, the windows, the roof, and every opening, right?
The reason why many people fail in their endeavours is
because they know more about failure than about success. Bad news sells faster,
they say, and people subscribe to it without giving much thought. The media
bombards us with stories of wars, deaths, collapsed businesses, high commodity
prices, and ailing economies.
We are told of how worse the economy has become, yet
there are inspiring stories of individuals and organisations influencing change
in significant ways in their communities.
We are made to believe that all is falling apart, and
therefore, many people discount the need to invest their best efforts in their
endeavours. Afterall, ‘everybody go die’, ‘dollar dey die’, ‘government dey
chop chop’, ‘everything is falling apart’ they say. This negativity is
poisonous and it travels faster than the venom from a snake’s bite. ‘The
losers’ mantra’ is how i call it and how they sink into our deepest thoughts is
pathetic, burying our very flickers of hope.
Little, however, is shown and told of the many success
stories littered across the landscape of Africa, of the people improving their
lives through gainful employment, of young people volunteering in their
communities. My grandmother built her houses from the sale of ‘Kenkey’ and fried
fish in the sixties. Her diligence and determination accounted chiefly for her
success.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are a thousand reasons to
fail but a thousand and one reasons to succeed, and you are the constant in
that equation. Give yourself no reason to fail because conditions seem to be
against you. That is the more reason why you ought to be resilient.
You need not have everything to begin a project but
you need to gather much confidence and resoluteness. These virtues are drawn
from within. The biggest excuses I hear are “I don’t have enough money”, “I don’t
have enough time,” “I’m too busy”, “I don’t want to travel,” Shut the fuck up! Nobody has ever
had everything and nobody will ever have everything. All those whose lives you
admire did not have everything either yet they took the first step
nevertheless.
If you know how to write songs, start serious writing,
keep writing and then do everything possible to get your songs out there. Take
advantage of Youtube. Youtube? Yes, Youtube, you need not have a professional
camera. You can begin with the 4 megapizel camera of your mobile phone. Go to one radio station. If they turn you down, go to
the next and the next and tell them about your songs. Rejection is why you
should push further. Do it! Do it!! Do it until you succeed. Never give up!
Never!!
Young people of today give themselves beautiful
reasons to be idle. Many of them are interested in short-cuts without mastering
a skill. A lot more are frustrated because they are not realising what they
were thought formal education would bestow them; to secure a white collar,
green collar, gold collar kind of job after graduation. This conventional
mentality has left many in a hole as unemployment figures continue to soar.
Most people prefer the safe haven of blaming all else
but themselves for their circumstance. They are yet to realise that their success
depended mostly on themselves and their actions or inactions. They do not understand that where there is a will,
there is a way. The earlier they realised this, the better.
Meet Esi Owusu, intelligent and
charming, a Fine Arts graduate, who intends to run an Arts gallery. The funds
in her bank account is only enough to buy porridge for a few days. She sends
her works to potential buyers but each gave her sermons on why they couldn’t
buy. Those who thought she had a brilliant idea gave her one option; that she
agreed to a sexual barter.
Esi is discouraged, doubts her own innate
abilities. She contemplates taking up any available job offer just to make ends
meet. She is also frustrated, continually judging herself in the light of the
temporary setbacks, and measuring her real worth by a piece of certificate. She
finds a job as a teller in a rural bank. Should Esi, in the hustle and bustle
of work in a bank forget her real passion; she will very likely end up living
out a life of regret.
Esi must come to the realisation of
her life’s task. She must give herself no reason to fail in this task. She must
not look at others except to draw inspiration from those who are making it
happen in their own lives. She must give herself no excuse to fail but to
continually ask herself what she can do to better her lot and her society. She
must begin to build a career around her ability to paint creative emotional
scenes. She must begin today, not tomorrow. Yes, today!
Victory may be like a hesitant
woman but with persistence, you will woo her to your side. Make it happen!
Refuse to die!!
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