YOU ARE GREAT, AVOID EXCUSES

AVOID EXCUSE

A roadblock that stands between you and success – and you felt compelled to retreat or, even worse, give up? At one point or another, everyone has found
themselves without motivation or with no strive to keep going. However, we’re privileged to be in a generation where excuses are no longer interesting stories.

Excuses are good reasons for bad results. Dear, do you think generations unborn will reckon
with your “good reasons” for not making headway? If men and women of preceding generations could etch their names boldly across the pages of history, what
then is your excuse?

Poor Background?

Looking at her today, you’d never imagine that Oprah Winfrey was born to a teenage single mother in
impoverished rural Mississippi, or that she gave birth to a son at 14. As a child, Oprah often had to wear
dresses made of potato sacks – that’s all her family could afford. Today, Oprah is one of the most
influential women on earth. Dear, wake up to the reality of your dreams and never let your background put your back on the ground.

Little or No Formal Education?

Before drawing conclusions that your success has been truncated because you don’t have a University degree, remember that Benjamin Franklin’s schooling ended when he was ten (after two years of formal education).
Yet, Ben rose to become one of the most prominent figures in American history.
You remember Nelson Mandela? Serving under several masters didn’t earn him a Master’s Degree. Yet, he played a critical role in
bringing an end to apartheid in Africa. Dear, formal education is good, but never allow schooling interferewith your learning.

Gender?

J.K Rowling became the world’s bestselling children’s author, despite managing on benefits as a single mother. Being a female writer, her manuscript for Harry Potter was rejected by several publishers. If that doesn’t make sense, remember the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, Rosa Parks,
Angela Merkel, Joan of Arc, Catherine the Great, Marie
Curie, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Louisa Diogo, Florence
Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, and many others. Dear, if these ones weren’t limited by gender; you shouldn’t be.

Physically Challenged?

This is probably the commonest excuse of our generation. Listen, for a musician to lose his hearing is the greatest possible misfortune. Yet, the inevitable
frustration didn’t stop Ludwig van Beethoven from composing some of the most sublime pieces of music in the history of man. Perhaps that didn’t sound
impressive, Hellen Keller became deaf-blind before her second birthday. Despite this debilitating disability, she learned to read and write, and became the first deaf-
blind person to gain a Bachelor’s degree. One more!

Franklin D. Roosevelt is often regarded as one of the greatest American presidents. He contracted an illness at 39 that left him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. Dear, the wheelchair didn’t stop him from being elected to office four times making him the only American president to be elected more than twice.

Past Failures?

Apart from the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison, almost every other great achievers encountered one or more setbacks in their journeys in life. I believe
this quotation from the great basketball player, Michael
Jordan, will convey the point I’m trying to drive out here; “ I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I
have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed it. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Rejection?

If you had told the people who rejected Einstein from college for failing the entrance exam that he would go on to write important scientific theories, they would
have laughed you out of the room. Einstein didn’t give up after not getting into college the first time. Have you ever given up on something because of rejection?
Learn from Stephen King. After his first book was rejected 30 times, he threw it in the trash. His wife
fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it. Dear, the rest is history, with King now having hundreds of books published.

Poor Childhood?

As a child, Richard Branson performed poorly on tests
in school and go struggled with dyslexia. Teachers and authority figures assumed he wouldn’t go very far, but Branson defied the odds. Today, he is one of the richest persons in the United Kingdom.

Dear, let me leave you with the words of Tom Hopkins:
“The single most important difference between champion achievers and average people is their ability to handle rejection and failure.”

Whenever you fall, remember to pick something up

written by - Obi Anthony Uchenna