“What an arrogant prick”, I thought after hearing President Buhari boast “I will congratulate myself, I am going to be the winner”. I mean, I could understand the fact that optimism is the bedrock of every successful feat but at least tone it down a little. Yes, you’re confident of your win but tell us what you would do IF you failed. And that was my problem, what I was unable to realise, at the time, was that this was a man that had contested and lost three times, what could I possibly know about optimism, failure or arrogance?
The presidents’ statement had me thinking for the past three days, what if he loses? What if things don’t go the way he wants? What if the voters surprise him? But everything finally made sense after the results came in, he won by a wide margin. How could he have known? Did he know? Or was he just being arrogantly hopeful? It dawned on me that hoping for a good thing to happen is not good enough; I need to KNOW that it is going to happen.
The realisation of this new ray of optimism revealed that most of my failures in life came because I accommodated a little enemy called doubt. I want you to think back with me, to a time when you thought your wildest dreams were possible, a time when you realised just how powerful you are, a time when you imagined all you could accomplish? What made you give up on those dreams? Was it the lack of resources or the lack of faith in your ability to scale through? I’ll take a bet, it was the lack of resources right? News flash: it wasn’t. You gave up because along with your dreams, you let doubt in. You allowed your fears to consume you with worry and subsequently let your anxiety bury your dreams.
I’ve been in your position, everyone has been in your position, and for me, I know exactly when the fear creeps in. It comes with the hum of creativity. The hum is an indicator of the conference of my passion and gift. The hum comes when I’m doing something I love, and something I’m good at, like writing, dreaming or coming up with business and marketing strategies. The hum is a feeling of power, it’s when I’m one with myself, the hum is where my wildest dreams reside, but the hum is also where my doubts hide. And so even when the hum is gone, and I have mapped out a clear strategy on how to achieve my dreams, the fears stay and slowly grow into worry until they find a way to convince me that I can’t do all I am destined to do. Do you know what your hum is? Have you found your hum?
The presidents’ response led me to something profound, and that is “Hope keeps you enthusiastic, but knowledge sustains your faith”. The knowledge that you’re going to make it is what you need to make it, even when you can’t see a way out. Faith is knowledge in a higher being, and I wish I could go deeper into this, but this isn’t a religious class. Your dreams are not impossible, you know it, I know it, and the enemy(fear) knows it. But to truly achieve all you want, you need to be like the Nigerian president and say to yourself, everyday “I will congratulate myself, I am going to be the winner”. Self-talk is critical to your success, and the more you affirm that you know you’ll make it, the bigger your faith will grow.
On a final note, knowing you’ll win is not enough to make you win, faith without work is dead, and if you’re truly serious about achieving your dreams, then you need to find what you were called to do. It’s that little thing we call talent, and I hate to disappoint you, but it’s not always singing, dancing or acting. If you want to learn more about talents, then you should read this article
