By Tolulope A. Adegoke

When you make choices and stick to them, you will get the greatest outcomes from your ideas. Winning is achieved through perseverance. To be successful, you must start doing something today and stick with it. – Tolulope A. Adegoke

People often have varied reactions to the ideas they receive or create. Some people prefer to hibernate their ideas because they are afraid they will fail or that they will have to spend their last dollars putting them into action.

Some folks put things off. They keep putting off acting on their ideas until they get stale or until someone else beats them to the punch. Fortunately, there are a select few that follow through on their ideas until the final objective is met. I hope you are one of these select few.

Never wait until you are completely “ready” to make a choice about your ideas; else, you may never be able to achieve even a fraction of what you thought you could. The distinction between high achievers and poor achievers is that high achievers nearly always make choices before they are ready to act — and they stick to those decisions.

At every level or stage of life, your dedication is critical to realizing your intended goals. Be astute enough to be committed. Do not squander the most valuable thing in the world-a brilliant idea; furthermore, do not waste time. Good times and chances must be cherished and completely used.

Begin by harnessing your empowered zero right now. Don’t wait for a certain “inspiration.” Open your eyes, think with your mind, and your heart will follow. Do not wait until you “feel” like it; otherwise, you will be behaving based on emotion rather than logic. Winning begins with the first step, and the first step is to DO.

Your life now is the sum total of the steps you took in the past and the decisions you made. Keeping this in mind, you must plan your future wisely because you must enjoy it to the maximum. Make certain that you begin; never accept a loss (do not quit). Continue to push yourself until the hero inside you is completely awakened and tamed-until you become a living legend!

Capsules for Effective Harnessing

Remember these capsules at every point of harnessing your potentials:

• Always affirm
• Be Alert
• Applaud

Anybody can amount to something if he will affirm himself and his potentials. Affirm that you can do anything. You can solve that challenge! Yes! You can seal that multi-billion deal. You can get that job! You can be great! You must strongly affirm that you deserve to succeed as much as anyone else. You are an embodiment of God-given potentials which naturally gives you the privilege of deserving to succeed. If you do not believe in your abilities, you may not be able to fully maximise them.

I once could not write the letter ‘g’ correctly. I usually wrote it in the shape of a dumbbell. My mind was not really clear, but through God’s intervention and the help of a very few people that believed in me, I was able to overcome this challenge, as well as developing my latent abilities. I rapidly gained the stamina to believe in my God-given potentials. However, as should be expected, while a few people were helping me to improve, some others were far less considerate, including those who were downright nasty. “Don’t waste your time on him,” they said. But as I continued to strive for the best, I ended up graduating as the overall best student in my department at the first degree level – and becoming even more confident that I was born to deliver solutions and possibilities to peoples, organisations and nations.

I urge you to keep believing strongly that somehow, through God’s intervention and the help of people, you can always reach the peak of your heart desires and fulfil your dreams. You can always make it, even if your approach is different from that of others.

Today, choose to transit from being a zero to a hero, by upgrading yourself intellectually and professionally with a new skill or new trade. No matter the level of your challenges, there is always someone who has the key to wisdom to set you free. This is why you must choose the right mentors and associates.

Understand that you were created in the image of God; you have latent abilities that you must harness. Dr. Robert Schuller said: “When you are inspired with a dream, God has hit the ball into your court. Now you have to hit it back with a commitment.” You cannot fully harness your empowered zero without commitment. Many people harnessed their potentials, but couldn’t stay focused and ended up being devastated.

Bear in mind therefore that, being an embodiment of God’s treasures, you must not fail your generation, and you must not fail God. Cancel negative thoughts, and then count your blessings. Be committed to your decisions. And, more importantly, be ready to take risks because without taking risks, you will never be able to solve problems.

Watch out for the Book titled: “The Power of an Empowered Zero” (Awakening the Giant Within You) by Tolulope A. Adegoke. Foreword by Dr Yomi Garnett (CEO/Chancellor, Royal Biographical Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.A., U.K., Abuja, Nigeria.) Edited by Ola Aboderin.