Harland Sanders and his Kentucky Fried Chickens.

Have you got a dream, natural gift or ambition that you wish to transform into reality and instead of success or breakthrough, all you keep seeing are stumbling blocks? You are definitely not alone. Go ask Steve Harvey, Oprah Winfrey, Bill gates and many other successful or accomplished individuals out there and you’ll get an era-full about the initial frustrations that came their ways. Therefore, the very first thing you’ve got to accept is that if it was so easy to achieve success in any endeavor or enterprise, everyone in this world would have been successful.

This reminds me of the story of Harland Sanders. The man loved to cook and kept dreaming of the day he would to set up a restaurant solely to fry and sell chickens. But not just the typical chickens that others were selling. Sanders had a special recipe close to his heart. It contained some herbs, salt and pepper. His target audience was the many Americans who he expected to have gotten tired of the same old, regular fried chickens.

Alas, tried as much as he did, no one was impressed with or attracted to his brand of fried chickens. Most times, he felt like abandoning the dream to pursue a regular job that would pay his bills. And each time, he rejected the negative, defeatist thought. It would take several years before people started to believe in and love Sanders’ brand of spicy, tasty chickens. And that was how he got the much needed and sought-after recognition in the restaurant business.

In appreciation of his tenacious spirit as an entrepreneur and his contribution to the economy of the state of Kentucky, Harland Sanders was, in 1936, given the title of Kentucky honorary Colonel by Governor Ruby Laffoon. A restaurant that started as a humble enterprise has since become Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), a large corporation with several franchises all over the United States and the world.

The bottom line here is to never give up on yourself in spite of whatever odds fate and naysayers may stack against you as you trudge up the long, thorny path that will lead to the realization of your dream, natural gift or ambition.

An Advice from Michelle Obama to her Younger Self.

“Understand that no one (especially folks who are truly successful) simply coasts from achievement to achievement. The most accomplished people in the world fail and fail big. That’s how they learn so much and grow so quickly and become so interesting and wise. In short, stop trying to be someone who will impress everyone else, and just focus on being and becoming fully, sincerely and passionately yourself.”

– Michelle Obama (Excerpt from People Magazine).

Who Says Something is Impossible in Your Life?

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a child when his father took him along while visiting President Grover Cleveland in the White House. While having a small banter with the kid, the president stared at him and remarked: “I have one wish for you, little man…and the wish is that you will never be the president of the United States.”

The child shrugged his shoulders as any child of that age would likely react under the circumstance.

As fate would have it though, Franklin D. Roosevelt went on to become the President of the United States. And he got re-elected as president three more times.



There is a saying that “man proposes but God disposes.” This adage applies to people in two ways. On the one hand, a person’s yearnings or aspirations may be thwarted by fate through circumstances beyond his or her control. And this twist of fate may turn out to be for the good of the person concerned. This is because sometimes, a disappointment may be a blessing in disguise after all.

On the other hand, a person’s yearnings or aspirations may suffer at the hands of pessimists, naysayers and those who will stop at nothing to discourage or create obstacles on the paths of other people. Yet, with a strong faith in God, determination and persistence, anyone can achieve an objective, no matter how difficult it may seem or be portrayed.

 

 

 

Taking Responsibility for our Image.

Whether we like it or not, certain people in our neighborhoods, at our jobs, among our friends and even within our families, will insist on seeing the worst in us. But it is our individual duty to take responsibility for our image, do right by others and project positive image to make a majority of people see the best in us.

There is a natural mechanism in every individual that sieves the positive character in our nature from the bad. Therefore, no matter the extent by which other people try to dent our image either out of ignorance or by sheer mischief, if the positive character in our nature is greater, it will always outshine whatever smear campaign is launched against us.

 

 

Getting Rid of the Bad to Give Room for the Good.

I love the Steve Harvey Morning Show on radio.

And this is easy to achieve because, apart from Bill Cosby, this man is the only other comedian that I'll really devote my time to listening to on radio or watching on TV. I have always agreed with Bill Cosby that a real comedian does not need profanity to be funny if he knows what he is doing. While I'm no prude, the idea of sitting down to listen to a man or woman lace every sentence of their speech with crude profane language turns me off.

According to Steve Harvey, he actually started his career with a large amount of profanity until he realized that his mother was never interested in his show. He then decided that he would no longer do a show that his own mother would not be able to listen to.  

As usual, I listened to the Steve Harvey Morning Show on radio this morning while paying much more attention to my most favorite segment where he gives a pep talk.

The pep talk was in fulfillment of the vow he made to God a long time ago before he became a successful comedian/radio host. He vowed that if God could grant his wish for a radio show, he would dedicate the first few minutes of each show to give thanks and adoration to God and follow it up with a pep talk on why it's important to have faith in God.

And, as it is often the case with the show, I was highly impressed with his opening pep talk today. But as I'm always at work each time the show comes up, this morning was no different. I could not take the speech verbatim in my head. So, I could only present here a snipet of what I could remember, using my own words:

I often wonder why people make plans about their careers or life on the premise of their intellect. What they don't seem to understand is that whenever we, as humans, make plans on the basis of our mortal wisdom as we often are tempted to do, God can only laugh at us. This is because God already has a plan for every one of us. All we can do is pray to God to reveal his plans to us one way or the other. And when the plans are finally revealed to us, we can then go on to work for their manifestations and even this is done with God's guidance and assistance. So, when someone makes a plan, does she or he know whether the plan is in line with God's plan for them? The plan may look good on paper but if it's different from God's plan for that individual, it's a sheer waste of time.

Another thing I have learned a long time ago is that when we ask God for something, do we take the time to give room or space for that thing to materialize or manifest itself?  Here is an example:

As a young man, I once had a car that was no longer in good working condition. I parked the car in front of the house and everyday, I would say something like an affirmation that soon, I would buy another car. But each time I made this statement, my mother would ask "...and what about your old car in front of the house?" 

One day, I could not take her question anymore and therefore asked her why she always asked me that question? Instead of an answer however, my mom walked away as she often did whenever she wanted me to ponder over something she said. So, I sat back to meditate over her statement. It was only then that it occurred to me that unless I got rid of the old car that was parked in front of the house, there was no way I would really be determined to execute my plan to get another car. In fact, I did realize that even if I had gone ahead to get another car, there would have been no space to put the new car anyway. That day, I decided to get rid of the old car. I got a friend to assist me and at the end of the day, I got the car cleaned up and towed away from where it had been
parked for so long. Suddenly, my procrastination about getting a new car disappeared. I got it the following week!

The lesson here is that when we plan to do something or ask God for an event  to take place in our lives while we keep holding on to whatever in our lives we are planning to replace, it will always remain just a plan. We just have to first get rid of whatever we are planning to replace so as to give room or space to the new thing or event we plan to have. 

For instance, if you are a woman in a bad relationship and plan to have a better man in your life, you first have to get rid of the useless guy that is currently in your life before you can have the physical and emotional room for a better guy. A lot of times, women and men find themselves languishing in some bad relationships and praying for some better human materials to come along. But many of them continue to hold on to the same worthless individuals they are planning to replace. How then can there ever be a space or room for another person to come in? This is like you planning to replace your old brand TV with a flat screen type. But if you continue to watch programs everyday on the old TV brand, you will never get the inspiration or emotional strength to go for the desired flat screen brand!