The bumble bee unlike the honey bee is gentle and slow. She is a busy creature but very different in a lot of ways from her close relative the honey bee. She is round and furry and not at all like her wasp shaped cousin. Some years back, a number of well wishing scientists got together and undertook a number of tests on the bumble bee. Their conclusion was that despite the fact that the bumble bee flies, it is not at all supposed to fly. They concluded that it must crawl because its body weight is too much and its wings cannot sustain its heavy body. Fortunately the bumble bee cannot read science journals and hence this information did not reach it. It would have incapacitated and limited the capabilities of this creature that defies science.
You have capabilities that are hidden in you. You are capable of achieving extra ordinary things if only you could take time to unleash your potential. We have grown up in societies that have encouraged us not to pursue our innate abilities causing us to fall by the road side on our race to greatness. The information we receive and the things we witness cause us to develop barriers and limitations. We tell ourselves not to dare cross those lines because it cannot be done! This is why we have so many starters that never finish or see anything to its fruitful end they give up when the first signs of failure show up!
To be extra ordinary in life, you must decide to defy the logical, the scientifically proven and the accepted norms of your society. Contrary to what you have been told, the things they said are impossible are possible. Never look at your surroundings for assurance on what you have set out to do, look inside yourself. The make it in life the following is critical:
Persistence: Less than ten people in a hundred start something and see it through to the end. This is because they naturally do not persist or pursue! The first denial or failure is final for such people and they will immediately bury their idea no matter how brilliant it is. Persistence is the remedy that will deal with failure, to persist is to try again until you get the desired result. Do not take “NO" for an answer! Failure and persistence cannot co-exist. Failure will eventually have to pack her bags and go for fear of persistence. I remember when I wrote my first book
(Breaking The Invisible Barriers), I approached a number of publishers who refused to even look at the manuscript. It was a stressing time in which giving up was easier than continuing to try. I persisted and I approached anyone whom I thought could help! I was disappointed several times but I eventually hit gold, I met someone who introduced me to my current publisher. To date, that book has continued to surpass my expectations.
Defy external limitations: The bumble bee is safe and will continue flying because of its ignorance of the scientific deductions. For this creature, flying comes as a natural instinct and without it is doomed to death. You must defy external limitations defined by those around you. Look inside of yourself, in there is great potential that is hidden and can propel you through any obstacle.
Banish procrastination from your life: Procrastination is one of man’s worst enemies. This habit lurks behind the shadows waiting to destroy any form of success in life. Many people know exactly what they want to do in life but they will never begin it waiting for the right time! The great King Solomon spoke in his wisdom and said
“He that observes the wind will never sow." Learn a lesson from the farmer, he does not wait for the perfect whether conditions to put his seed in the ground. You must desist from the habit of wanting to do things when everything looks favourable. In life, there must always be an element of chance. Noone has ever succeeded waiting for the perfect conditions. The truth of matter is that perfect conditions will never come! The bumble bee knows that to survive, it must go out every day to do its work…
Don’t lose your hunger: Hunger is one of the most potent forces in this world! It is as powerful as death because if not satisfied, it causes fatality. If well channeled, hunger brings about the desires of your heart it drives you to achieve extra ordinary things. It is imperative that you keep the hunger to be a better person, to develop yourself and to become what you perceive in your heart. Without that hunger, you banish yourself to the doldrums of life. The bumble bee knows that it must keep working until the day it dies, it depends on it and the amount of honey it makes depends on how focused it is. Read a book and broaden your experience through reading, study and learn something new. All these habits are consistent with successful people they cry and hunger for more.
Decisions: We are where we are today because of the decisions that we have or not made in the past! You must engage yourself in a habit of making decisions and sticking to them. You are created to make decisions and failure to decide on things will put you at the mercy of events. Opportunities run away from indecisive people. It is easy to see these people their language is filled with, “I almost got that deal or that car etc…" Act fast and do not change your decisions too quickly. Ineffective people make very slow decisions and they change them quickly and frequently. You cannot get ahead that way.
What is in your mind? A person’s mindset determines how far they will go in life. What limitations have you imposed on yourself in your mind? What do you believe you can achieve? When you use spreadsheets on a computer for example in Microsoft excel, normally you put formulas and all you need to do after this is to feed your figures. The spreadsheet will readily give you all the answers without you cracking your head with a calculator. The formula on the spreadsheet will determine the answer. Your mindset is the formula for the direction your life will take. Things come into your life and they are like the figures entered into a spreadsheet. Mindsets can be changed just like formulas can be changed in a spreadsheet. That changing of ones mind is called a paradigm shift. Some people will die poor because the formula in them is poverty, they will not see an opportunity that potentially could change their lives even if it is shouting out loud! The formula in their minds is poverty and that formula will always produce the same result- poverty.
How have you been doing things? It’s folly to keep doing the same things and expect different results. When a strategy is not working abandon it quickly. Do not waste time trying to get it to produce results- it will not! If you have been sleeping for ten hours a night, it is time to change that strategy. It will bring poverty right to your doorstep. Challenge yourself to do new things and in a new way. New wine must go into new wine skins. Take time to learn the strategies that other successful people have used in life (see Breaking The Invisible Barriers, Charles Magaiza ©2003).
©Charles Magaiza, Purpose Clinic. For more motivational articles and materials please visit
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