CHALLENGES REPOSITON US FOR SUCCESS

Suppose you don’t feel pains when you dip your hands in fire? How do you think we would all be looking like today if the human body doesn’t feel the pain that prompts us to move out of a danger zone? The answer is simple: We’d all be deformed, handicapped or probably dead! That is how challenges work on us. It provides us with the signal that screams, ‘Hey, you are drifting out of place’. It’s about the most effective alarm that signals to us that we are positioned in a wrong territory. And then it forces us to respond in a way that repositions us into the ‘success’ zone or drifts us away from the wrong zone.

For example, just yesterday, I was discussing with a family friend while riding together in his expensive automobile. In the course of the discussion, he was sharing with me how he got to where he is today. Just two years ago, he was taking his ‘last attempt’ to overcome the challenge of joblessness and homelessness. He had just invested his entire life savings into applying and processing his visa abroad in search of greener pastures (although he never had any ‘pastures’ to feed on, whether green or not). Not only was he homeless, his young wife was pregnant with their first baby. And to make matters worse he didn’t have his wife to himself because he couldn’t afford the cheapest home that would house the family. Therefore she had to put up in her father’s house. He had prepared, fasted and prayed knowing fully well that it is either he got his visa this time or he’ll commit suicide. The visa was his last hope.

He eventually went for the visa interview. And the result was: VISA REJECTED. It was as if the whole world had crumbled on him. Let me spare you the details but the good news today is that he is a millionaire and he didn’t have to go abroad. He made his money right here in Nigeria. Imagine if he had not faced the major challenge of visa rejection, he probably would have just managed to live from hand to mouth in a foreign country with no evidence of progress.

This is one example out of the millions of those that have been repositioned by challenge to remain in the place where their success in life is most assured. You will never succeed outside the place where your right opportunities are. God has a way of bringing challenges our way that stops us from moving out of our rightful place of opportunities. Just as every one has peculiar gifts, experiences, talents and personalities, we all have peculiar places perfect for us to succeed. It is our ability to recognize this that motivates us to make right choices and face the challenges that come our way. Never try to avoid challenges in a bid to maintain convenience. Strive to overcome them and you will enjoy the victory that all champions enjoy.

Challenges can also force you out of your comfort zone into where you ought to be. A young man once struggled to make it in the Badagry suburb of Lagos for about five years after his completion of NYSC. Eventually he faced the challenge of being ejected from a flat he shared with his friends because he wasn’t contributing to the house rent any more. He had no option but to move out of Lagos, back to his place of origin in Delta state. Coincidentally, it was the year that two major GSM operators (MTN and Glo) were making their debut in Delta state. And because he had some knowledge of the GSM business, he took advantage of this new opportunity and in less than 12 months he bought his first car. In less than three years, he was living in his exotic mansion. All from the money he makes from a couple of small GSM shops as a retailer.

For some people, challenges confine them to where they ought to be. While for others, challenges will make them leave the wrong place and embark on a destiny journey to their place of opportunities. Be sensitive enough to know which one it is for you. The key is thinking your way through challenges and not avoiding them.
(excerpt from my book Developing your capacity to succeed)