On The Path Of Winners By Bayo Ogunmupe Winning attitudes of champions

On The Path Of Winners

By Bayo Ogunmupe

Winning attitudes of champions

WINNING begins from your believing you are a true champion. Despite the devil’s machinations, you are the best. The first Adam failed because he never went through the furnace of depression, but Jesus the last Adam succeeded because he went through the travails of life. You just don’t sit down to complain, just rise up to confront the enemy.

  Thus, you need a paradigm shift in order to win. You cannot be doing things the same way and expect different results. You need courage, scholarship, discipline, perseverance and innovation for victory in life.

  A champion is a winner in a competition. To win on the other hand is to be the most successful. Those who have successfully won battles are called champions. Here are five secrets of winning.

  One, belief in God is the first secret of winning. Life is a battle that you cannot win outside of your faith in God. There is always something behind everyday reality. This is the God factor in life. Those who win in the face of dire opposition always have a spiritual foundation from God. There is no doubt Goliath was a champion from another realm. But he stood on wrong foundation in contesting against God who had chosen David as the champion of His people.

  There is no neutral ground in the attainment of victory, you are either with God or the devil. True champions never trust only what they know, they trust God. Your goal is to consolidate your life and future. Since we are confronted everyday by life-limiting factors, only the God factor enables us to surmount those challenges. Standing on the shoulder of God is the surest way to victory.

  Two, because ignorance can hurt you, you must recognize the devil in your neighbourhood. So to win you must recognize who your enemies are. You cannot kill the enemy you don’t know. In life, it is either you slay your enemy or you became its slave. Victory begins with the right knowledge and the right mind-set. You must know that your enemy is not afraid to confront you because he knows you. Every victory strengthens you to attain greater victory. Seek changes in you so that you can change your life.

  Three, a true champion cultivates the right attitude to winning. Attitudes are the totality of who you are. They contain your beliefs, values and the way you act. A champion does not allow his circumstances to limit him. Let your life be transformed by creative ideas. Make God your partner for success. Never blame God or anybody for untoward circumstances. God uses challenges to make you become His true friend and champion. You must see breakthrough in every barrier, promotion in every opposition and victory in every obstacle.

  The hero in you cannot berth until fear is extinguished. The way you see yourself matters in life. Young David killed the fear of facing giant Goliath. He didn’t allow Goliath to intimidate him. He focused on victory ahead of him. You, will always win by extinguishing fear from your mind. Believe who you are. People never believe in those who do not believe in themselves. Your upbringing does not change God’s plan for you. Do not expect people to help you fulfill your dream.

  Four, champions sacrifice is born out of passion. No one ever won a life battle without sacrifice. You must sacrifice something to be a winner. Sacrifice is about giving up a thing of value for another. Nelson Mandela gave up the glamour of the legal luminary to go to prison for freedom.

  Consequently, he became the greatest blackman of the 20^th century. There is always a price for success. It took God the sacrifice of His son to redeem the world from sin. The proof of your love for excellence is the sacrifice of your comfort zone. The test of true love is sacrifice. Nigeria is underdeveloped because her leaders and people are not ready to sacrifice for greatness. Nigerians only want to get not give. You must be willing to die for something in order to be great. If David had not taken the risk of dying for his generation. Israelites would have remained slaves.

  Five, the true champion has the courage to finish his life well. Courage is the offspring of faith, it isn’t the absence of fear, but the conquest of it. Courage enables you take the risks necessary to fulfill your dream. Life yields its bounties to those who refuse to quit. God dos not use cowards for His work. God first transforms people into courageous beings before making them champions. The scriptures have it that those God used, He first made them bold and fearless before their targets. Jeremiah, the apostles, Gideon and Paul came out as examples. Never underestimate any man of courage because Satan fears the fearless. When you become fearless, then you can conquer whatever comes your way. You can become whatever you want as you are. Your direction depends on your vision and achievement is determined by your focus. Thus, as a champion you must have a vision and focus in every contest. Success is determined by the needs of others you have met. It isn’t how many people you knew, but how many will fill a lasting loss when you are gone.

  Our champion for today is Joseph Edward Murray, the American plastic surgeon who performed the first successful human kidney transplant on identical twins, Richard and Ronald Herrick in December 1954. Murray shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1990 with Donnall Thomas for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease.

  Murray was born to William and Mary Murray in April 1919. He grew up in Milford, Massachusetts. He was of Irish and Italian descent. He studied philosophy and English, earning a degree in humanities in 1940.

  He later attended Harvard Medical School, doing his internship at Bent Brigham Hospital. Then, he was inducted into the Medical Corps of the United States Army. Serving at Valley Forge General Hospital, Pennsylvania, Murray worked for an esteemed plastic surgeon – Dr. Bradford Cannon where he developed lifelong passion for plastic surgery.

  After his military service, Murray joined the surgical staff of Bent Brigham Hospital. Then he trained in plastic surgery at the New York and Memorial Hospitals, returning to Brigham in 1951. In 2001, Murray published his autobiography, Surgery Of The Soul: Reflections on a curious career. There, he chronicled his success. After performing successful renal transplant between the Herrick twins, he went on to perform the world’s first successful allograft and in 1962 the world’s first cadaveric renal transplant.

  Then Murray became the world’s leader in the study of transplantation and reconstructive surgery. In his 20 years as director of the Surgical Research Laboratory, at Harvard, he inspired others who became leaders in transplantation. He retired as Professor of Surgery Emeritus in 1986 from Harvard Medical School. Murray suffered a stroke at his Boston home and died at Brigham, his old hospital in November 2012. He was aged 93 years.