On the Path
of Winners
By Bayo
Ogunmupe
Preparation
as key to success
What happens when you are
unprepared is that what you hope for won’t happen. Preparation positions you
correctly. Preparation is the difference between winning and losing.
Spectacular achievement comes from adequate preparation. Lack of preparation is
the primary reason for business failures today. That is why banks demand your
business plan before granting you loans.
Talent may be a given, you
have to earn success. Which is why Nigeria is in shambles. No Nigerian leader
since independence had the preparation and talent to handle Nigerian reality.
Proverbs 18:16 say: “A man’s gift makes room for him.” Thus, your talent can
only give you the opportunity. Preparation alone can enable you take advantage
of your opportunity.
United
States General Douglas MacArthur said, “Preparedness is the key to success and
victory.” He also put it more bluntly thus, “The more you sweat in peace, the
less you bleed in war.” The frustrating aspect of preparation is that it takes
more time than the event you are preparing for. Understand that no matter your
circumstance or talent, certain things are always within your grasp, your
ability to work harder and smarter than anyone else. Always remember that when
preparing for the challenges of your future.
Above
all else, getting ready is the secret of success. Here are some preparation
principles. One, preparation enables you to tap into your creativity. Two,
preparation is a process, not an event. We live in a world of quick-fixes. We
think in terms of instant gratification preparation doesn’t work that way. This
is because it is human focused. Human oriented issues are process orientated.
Like leadership, maximizing your talent develops daily. The best way to improve
your team is to improve yourself.
Three,
preparation comes before opportunity. Luck is the point where preparation meets
opportunity. From Abraham Lincoln, Otto von Bismarck and Winston Churchill,
preparation for opportunity was a common theme. Lincoln said, “I will prepare
and some day my chance will come.” Premier Benjamin Disraeli of England said,
“The secret of success is for a man to be ready when his time comes.” Four,
preparation for tomorrow must begin today. Your success in life will be
determined by your preparation. Your future preparation will be determined by
your ability to anticipate problems rather than solving them.
Five,
preparation leads to seizing opportunities when they come. Thus, preparation is
useless unless it leads you to take action on time. Preparation does not mean
getting all the facts or the answers. It does not mean achieving consensus.
Margret Thatcher, the longest serving British premier in the 20th
century said, “Consensus is the negation of leadership.” Preparation puts you
in a better position to succeed. Even a genius needs practice to sharpen his
talent and reach his potential.
Six,
practice sharpens your talent. You refine your skills through practice. Seven,
practice leads to discovery. Eight, there is a price you must pay to reach the
next level. This is a traveler’s principle. Before you enter into a cab, find
out how much the ride is going to cost. If you don’t, you may end up paying
much more than the ride is worth. Half of knowing what you want is knowing what
you must give up before you get it.
Nine,
practice demands discipline. Practice engenders a winning mindset. Excellence
is an art won by practice and habituation. Thus excellence is won through
persistence.
There
is a distinction between success and excellence. Success bases our worth on a
comparison with others while excellence gauges our value by measuring it
against our own potential. Excellence is available to those willing to prepare
for success. By making excellence your target you attain success easily.
Charles
Dickens was the greatest novelist of his day. Before he began writing fiction,
he was already the best newspaper reporter in England. He could have remained
where he was and stay at the top of his profession. But something inside him
told him he was not in his area of excellence. So he shifted his focus in
search of his greatest potential. You need to do the same.
At
once you should find out where your greatest potentials lies and start
practicing there. If you don’t you eventually lose your ingenuity. Potential
works exactly opposite from the way a saving account does. When you put your
money in a savings account in a bank, as time goes, your money compounds and
grows. The longer you leave it untouched, the more it increases. But when it
comes to potentials, the longer you leave it untouched the more it decreases.
If you don’t tap your talent it wastes away.
The
best way you can get the best from yourself is to set high standard for your
greatest potential. Even if you do many things right, you need to fashion the
right resources. Without adequate resources your efforts may come to nothing.
During World War II, US general George Patton was an accomplished face to
commander for the Allied Forces. He was innovative, focused and fearless. As a
distinguished strategist and tactician, he was in charge of the tanks and
soldiers to strike boldly against the Nazis and end the war. But he lacked
petrol with which to act. Without fuel his tanks were useless. That prolonged
the war. Fashion out adequate resources to accomplish your purpose.
Ten,
going the extra mile is a secret of success. Historian Charles Adams, a former
president of Cornell and Wisconsin Universities observed: No one ever attains
eminence by simply doing what is required of him. It is the excellence of
accomplishment over and above the required that determines greatness. The
difference between the ordinary and extraordinary is attained while going the
extra mile. That extra effort gains you the prize. You beat 50 percent of
Nigerians by working hard you beat 40 percent by being honest among a
generation of fraudsters. Besides, you must stand for something and the last
ten percent is a dogfight in this free enterprise system. If you want to win
that dogfight, then take a little extra time to go the extra mile.
The
common trait among great people is that they have conquered the temptation to
give up. Winning requires perseverance and patience. By cultivating your talent
through giving extra time and effort, you cannot succeed without the help of
others. You cannot become what you desire to be by remaining what you are. To
sharpen your talent, you need more than being open to change. You need to
pursue change. Change yourself to improve your circumstances. Do something new
to get different results. If you don’t strive for excellence, you are soon
settling down to mediocrity. And nobody hails a mediocre.
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