You cannot break barriers if you
don’t desire expansion. There must be a nudging in your spirit saying you have
been hemmed-in.
When you begin to feel the restrictions all about you – you
need to start breaking out, breaking through and breaking free from the burden.
Limitations cannot be overcome until
you know you are caged.
To break barriers, effort is majorly needed from you. You have to
stretch beyond limitations; not as a ‘one-time-get-it-all-done-thing’
but through persistency, fervency, and focus.
In my primary school days, I had
these classmates who would bring to school their dads’ or grandpas’ magnifiers.
During the break-time, we would focus the magnifiers at the sun and set it upon
locusts, grasshoppers or praying-martin – and after a while, the creatures will
catch fire. I was always particularly excited when those poor harmless creatures were roasted. Not because I wanted to
eat them but because my childish mind was just catching fun.
When I became somehow matured; that
feat taught me a great lesson about the power of focus. It made me realise that
if I keep my focus on my focus, I will
soon become the focus.
To get ahead; your life must be
pointed towards something and be subjected to someone or principles that will
serve as a guide.
To break a barrier or pull down a
fence; you have to keep hitting at the wall until it falls flat. I once worked
as a labourer in a construction site and we would have certain walls to pull
down for re-construction. No matter how strong those walls were; by the time we
began to hit them with sledge hammers, they gradually weakened and fell flat,
became plain for new construction to be made instead.
If your barrier is going
back to college for example; you don’t expect yourself to become a graduate in
weeks. You need several years of rigorous studies and plan. You need to count
your cost, save towards college, seek scholarship if there is any and work out
modalities with your dependants (if there is any).
There used to be a lady
working in a complex where my office was formerly located. After watching this
vibrant lady for close to two years; her humility and versatility got me
interested in her. She would resume for
work at 8:00am and sometimes when I would be leaving by 6:00pm, she might still
be in the office. One day, I asked her, “Is
this what you will be doing all your life?”
She was astonished and
curtly replied, “No sir!” Then I
pestered further, “Why is it you are wasting your life here in anticipation of
a better tomorrow – or don’t you know that he that wastes time wastes his
life?”
Chioma (not real name) opened up to me; she
wanted to be a medical doctor but couldn’t get enough grades in JAMB to be
admitted into her university of choice – and beside, her parents did not have
enough money to train her, so she had to work hard to achieve her dream. I
laughed and said to her, “You cannot be working twelve hours, five days a week
and study medicine. The course is not for loafers.”
I now asked Chioma a
profound question. “If you want to travel to Abia (her hometown) and you
keep telling people I am going to Abia but not really moving, what would the
people say about you?”
“I will be called an
unserious fellow!” She replied.
I looked at her and
said, “You are not serious!” She was surprised. Then I began my therapy on her.
“If a man plans to go to
Abia and he doesn’t have enough money for a direct bus, he might take a bus to
somewhere (like Shagamu, Ijebu-Ode or Ore)
where his money could take him, work for a while in the place and raise more
money to continue his journey. The people would know he had left Lagos and the
people in Abia would know, he is on his way. The journey might originally be
scheduled for two days but it might take him a month.”
I counselled Chioma to
take shorter courses and keep her focus on Medicine. I told her she could get
married and raise a family along the line but one day, she would become a
medical doctor. She was so happy with the advice, she left the establishment in
about six months time and started a course in a health technology school and
after about three years, she had qualified as an Inspector.
Many people are like
Chioma, they wanted to break barriers and live beyond all limitations but do
not know how to go about it. Maybe, you also need to talk to a counsellor. A
properly roasted steak is palatable, but what would you be feeding on while it
is been prepared. You either fail to plan or plan to fail.
To break barrier; answer
the following question:
·
What do
you really want?
·
How bad
do you want it?
·
What
resources are at your disposal to get it?
·
If you
don’t have enough resources, how do you get the remaining to fulfil your
dreams?
·
What
can you be doing while gathering your resources?
·
What are
the sacrifices you need to make to get on track?
Don’t forget this fact: As the
longest day will have its night, so the longest night will have its morning. Morning is not necessarily the time when the clock
turns 12:00 am. It is not necessarily when the day breaks. It is when you wake
up.
So, wake-up!
To break your limitations;
you should be able to say how far you have come, and categorically state your present spot to confirm how far you ought to have gone. Break forth! Endure the stretches and its marks!
Happy expansion!
