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Don’t rush, prepare fully

Opinion & Analysis
Every right-thinking person wants to be successful in life. It is common knowledge that we all differ on what we call success. Some steal and cheat in an effort to attain a higher level of lifestyle and in a bid to be called successful.

Every right-thinking person wants to be successful in life. It is common knowledge that we all differ on what we call success. Some steal and cheat in an effort to attain a higher level of lifestyle and in a bid to be called successful. Report by Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi

Today I will deal with the often overlooked ingredient to success, which is preparation.

I will address success in another instalment. Many people rush to parade unfinished products and services dreaming of getting society’s recognition and accolades on the backdrop of non-existent foundation.

Don’t rush, prepare fully, the world’s rewarding system will not ignore your hard work.

God is so faithful that He guarantees all of us an opportunity to make it in life.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 puts it thus: “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

Whoever you are, you can utilise your time and chance. The line between success and failure is so thin.

Prepare yourself and wait for your chance with open eyes and ears. You need to be ready so that your opportunity doesn’t catch you unawares.

Success does not come accidentally, but by systematic preparation and right positioning. Success depends on the backbone of hard work and preparation, not the wishbone of global stardom.

Many people have lived to regret unplanned and unprepared entry into the market. Once you enter, make sure you have the staying power.

The Bible forbids rush decisions which will result in you being mocked. Luke 14:28-30 reads: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish.”

In case you are humble and return to the drawing board to re-enter the market after enough research, you may never be able to regain some of the potential customers and clients that you would have lost.

There are many ways you can prepare such as going to school, college or university.

Study the Bible, meditate on the Word, pray, fast and be under the mentorship of those you look up to in your field. The market is sick and tired of half-baked products and services. Package your products and services well.

Maybe you are a musician, don’t rush to the studio. Don’t use a phone camera and record an armature video and release it onto the market; get a proper camera.

Do your homework well. The market will have a negative perception of you if you have not prepared thoroughly. If you return after enough preparation, it will be easier to win the heart of the market.

You may have an excuse that you don’t have the money to go to school. If you have access to books, read them, use the Internet on your mobile phone to research.

Even if you will not get a certificate or degree; the laws of nature will not deny knowledge and you will be placed where you can advance your studies fully paid for by God’s justice system.

I have heard preachers who would go to the bush and preach to the trees and today they are some of the most sought-after globally.

Doctors had to operate on rats before operating on a human being.

Footballers had to prepare in the streets with plastic balls. With enough preparation and hard work behind the scenes, the level that would have taken you years to attain after launching may take you a split second.

Relax, work hard, prepare fully and don’t rush for recognition. You have heard that the reason for the difference between coal and diamond is that coal was lazy and didn’t want the stress and rushed to the surface, while diamond waited for full processing. Hang on, let God introduce you as opposed to you introducing yourself.

When you are filled with enough knowledge, God will market you and the world will embrace you without you forcing it to like you.

Be patient, stir yourself up and hang on in the field of your calling with open eyes and ears. When you finally launch, launch out as a rocket. Nothing and no one will deny you. You are going somewhere.

All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

  • Feedback: [email protected]. Follow Pastor Makarimayi on www.twitter.com/PEMAKARIMAYI and Facebook

 

Imagine yourself being successful. Albert Einstein said that the imagination is more important than knowledge. The more vividly and accurately you imagine your success, the easier it will be for you to follow through. The same way engineers first imagine a bridge and then build it, you can be the engineer of your success by dedicating a few minutes every day for the mental movies of your success.

Surround yourself with other people who are successful When you’re surrounded with people who are highly-driven, it’s encouraging. Start with the basics: Willpower, effort, goals and determination. Whatever you want to accomplish requires all of these.

Define the meaning of success as you see it You cannot have success if you do not know what it means for you. Everyone views success differently. Set clear goals and be realistic.

How will you know when you’ve achieved your goals? Your standards should be quantifiable, or else you could spend your entire life chasing after a vague goal. For example, let’s say you want to be good at your job.

You get a promotion, you get a raise, but you still haven’t reached your goal because you could always do better, right? You could always get promoted even further, or make even more money.

Whatever you have will never be enough. Instead, create benchmarks: “My goal is to increase my productivity by 30% and only be late for work five times per year, at the most.”

These are quantifiable goals that when achieved, give you a sense of satisfaction and completion, making you feel successful and confident.

Stay away from distractions  There are so many distractions in this world that you really don’t know about. Whenever you are attracted to doing something which is totally not useful or productive, set the least possible time which you can give to that work.

Finding the purpose or goal of your life Identify the things you love to do, the things that give you satisfaction. Once you identify what you love to do, use this information to find the purpose of your life or the objective of your life. It is equally important to target what you love.

Imagine yourself participating in a marathon race despite the fact that your true passion is swimming. What will happen? You might have success in something you dislike, but you wont get satisfaction.

Set a time line on when you want to achieve your objective If you don’t know when you will achieve your objective, then you will never know when you will achieve it.

Identify the things/skills/material needed to achieve your objectives For example, If you want to be a famous speaker, you need a broad vocabulary, subject knowledge, speech writing, voice clarity and presentation skills. This is identifying short-term objectives to achieve long-term goals.

Identify the skills you need to sharpen and the skills you can outsource In the last example, in order to become a great speaker, you need to improve voice and presentation skills as these are the basic skills needed for a speaker, but if you are lacking speech writing or subject knowledge, you can outsource them to some expert.—http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Successful