Oprah Winfrey says, “There is no such thing as luck. It’s just a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”
I agree with the first part to a certain extent but I strongly believe in the second part of this quote. Here is my encouragement to myself today and to everyone out there who is working towards something and sometimes days feel like a drag because nothing is coming forth.
As long as you are bettering yourself everyday, being a better version of yourself, hanging onto your dream and vision of your future, don’t give up hope. I recently watched a video of a lady in London who had been singing doing gigs here and there for 15years but she was only known in small circles. One morning, on her way to meet a friend, a random content maker meets her and asks her to complete the lyric and offered her a microphone to sing Shallow. She didn’t just sing it, she down straight nailed it! Needless to say she went viral and that’s how people like me in Africa get to know about her story. She was ready !
Yours and mine may not be about the singing but about your business venture, a career path that you’ve set yourself on, a desire for a healthy loving relationship/ family, a dream house/home, name it.
The issue is preparation takes different lengths of time and distance for different people. You ought to be fashioning yourself into the best version of yourself always. Usain Bolt trained for years to run for just a few seconds and yes the world will forever remember that moment of a still unbroken 100meter sprint record. When we saw Barrack Obama stand on that podium some people may have thought to themselves, “Man, this guy is so lucky.” Some TV commentators said “he came out of nowhere and swept the crowds”. Well, that’s not as literal as it sounds. People go through years of formation into the wholesome beings that we see and admire. When it rains, let the water find a ready ground. Many organisations fund small startups but might not as easily move to a place and simply make money rain. Many times I have seen people offer help to a running cause but rarely or never to something non-existent.
My duty and yours is to be intentionally, actively consistently and persistently working on ourselves, forming ourselves and training for that which we hope to be. We’ve heard of eating the elephant one piece at a time? Well yeah. If something aligns with your dream/goal or simply makes you a better version of yourself and of better service to others; small as the act may appear to you, simply do it. It is part of the preparation process. And yes, when opportunities come our way, they’ll find us ready or at least on that path.
Blessings.
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