It’s in Your Hand

PROLOGUE Each one of us has the power, strength and courage to conquer anything, anywhere, anytime. Though born with this power, it slowly gets restrained by the habits we form as we age. With time we evolve into creatures of habit. The suite of habits we developed then becomes the hallmark of our personality. They direct our thought process and influence our behaviour. If not purposefully managed and restrained, they make us go through life imprisoned to a vicious cycle of misery and pain. Without due diligence, man has a high probability to adopt habits which gravitate towards poverty. Such habits cause man to go through life controlled by fear. He lives tormented by his fear to fail. Without a fight, he resigns his fate to be determined by the flow of the events of life. This is why the pursuit of excellence and wealth is deemed to be a journey of solitude through the terrains of controversy and pain. Success at anything requires qualities of determination, purpose and resilience, which not many people possess. It is attained by a few people who have developed a thick skin against the shame of failure acquired by persevering, having direction and never giving up. Through the interplay of these three qualities a few people are able to achieve greater heights of self-awareness and achievement. Unlike the majority that fails, these people have plugged their ears from the charismatic chants of poets who enjoy preying on other people’s failures. The circuit of failure and pain has numbed their organs from the sensation of fear. Through their repetitive encounter with failure, they learnt that a fearful person goes through life as a shadow of himself. Fear alone has made talented people to miss on their opportunities. Today they walk through life reminiscing over their poor existence, wondering where they missed the path to righteousness. Old age has caught them without a stable means of sustenance. When night falls, their minds wanders all over the place, pondering over lost opportunities of their youth. Tears roll down their cheeks as they stare into a future without means of sustenance. The frustration of failure causes them to resent everyone around them. They are quick to blame almost everyone and everything for their failure but themselves. During conversations they fail to hide their emotions of anger and hate towards their peers who are successful. At the end of their wits, desperation then pushes them to seek solace from formal education. Once they acquire new academic credentials they push hard for a promotion to elevate their social status. When they secure the promotion, they demand that their friends revere them like a god. They start to walk on the streets with their shoulders lifted high, displaying a gait of pomp and arrogance. Everything about them changes instantly in an attempt to find a niche among the wealthy of their society. The old friends, wardrobe and places of leisure are shed off for new exotic types that resonate with their new position. What they cannot afford they acquire it through credit. Before long they find themselves subdued by a mountain of debt, which makes them disgruntled with their new position. Only a few individuals who are determined, purpose driven and resilient ever soar above the mundane existence of those around them and achieve greatness. Those without a backbone to redeem the situation watch helplessly as the quality of their life deteriorates to pathetic levels. They wish for a change but lack the resilience to endure through adversity to make it happen. Fear holds them captive and stagnated to their current state. It has not dawn on them that success hides behind the shame of failure and reproach. It finds comfort in the laps of a person who does not easily give up on their dreams. Such a man may fall many times, but he always bounces back with their head held high. Life rewards their persistence with a right to dine with the elite at their tables. When that happens, friends become green with envy as they watch in disbelief from a distance. The feeling of jealousy ignites them to orchestrate stories of malice against them for no reason. Society is tricked into believing that they acquired their wealth through foul play. If not accused of becoming rich by exploiting the poor, their hard work is ridiculed for a mere act of coincidence and luck. Fortunately, at this stage a rich person would have developed a thick skin against baseless criticism and a strong mental state to stand against the strife of man. Personal experiences have taught them that life is a jigsaw puzzle whose mysteries need to be uncovered one day at a time. Its contours are neither stable nor straight. No one who walks through them should expect to cruise to their destination. A walk through them is always a struggle that revolves between pain and happiness. Nothing but persistence ushers a person into the resort of their dreams. Those who walk through it guided by their formal education never go far. These are people who are often counted among the blind without proper foresight to build their own empire of wealth. Education has moulded them into a dedicated workforce that will do anything to please their masters. They do not have the knack to stand against challenges. Therefore, it counts as naivety to lean on academic certificates to usher you into the resort of the wealthy. Throughout the world, no education system can be credited to be a production line for wealthy people. The world’s education system has won itself prestigious honours for turning humble men into slaves of their own desires. Without the exception of geographic region, education has left man struggling with large appetite for beauty and luxury that parallel their income. Formal education alone is neither a guarantee of being wealthy nor a precursor for acquiring material success. Success has high affinity for a focused person with a defined purpose for their existence. A person who understands that to one who desires much the struggles will always be abound. Such a person considers challenges as a litmus test used by life to separate winners from losers. They understand that life only allows those who conquer tribulation to eventually realise their dreams. Problems never scare them because they have come to appreciate that life hides promotion, breakthrough and happiness behind a mountain of debt, debilitating pain of divorce and a valley of sickness. Success-conscious people never stop because the odds are stacked against them. They strive on until they win.