“Start where you are… Use what you have… Do what you can” is a quote by Arthur Ashe. A tennis champion who spent his years in sport fighting discrimination, Ashe spent the final year of his life seeking to broaden public awareness on the subject of AIDS. He died of AIDS but made sure he devoted himself to becoming a human billboard in the fight against the disease. His statement above is one of my favorite quotes and I thought to share it with you today.
We all have dreams and things we want to accomplish in life. If you don’t know were to start from, remember that a baby has to crawl before walking. I get messages from fans that tell me they want to act or they want to be like Omotola or Genevieve. But success does not happen overnight and passion is just not enough. It takes commitment, sacrifice and loads of hard work day and night in making sure you achieve your dream.
I remember when I relocated to Nigeria; my upmost priority was to attend auditions. Travelling from VGC to FESTAC (a place I had never been before) was a journey worth embarking on. Some people automatically think things will fall in front of them. Yes, God can decide to make that happen for one person, but rest assured it won’t happen for everyone.
“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation,” is another statement from Ashe
Not having self-confidence is like walking down the path of self-destruction. In whatever it is you want to achieve in life, if you don’t believe in yourself anyone else will. Imagine going market a product in front of a group of people. First, you must go prepared, knowing how to present yourself and the product. You need to believe in the product so that the customer will believe it enough to buy the product.
So, you don’t have that capital to start that business or project? Look around you, be creative and start from where you are. You might consider getting a job and work for three to four years to save up and start your business. Well guess what, within those years of you working for another company, someone else will start that business you dreamed about.
I believe in the power of education. Not being financially stable to get a degree is not an excuse. Signing up for short courses or a diploma is also part of the circle. Sometimes you might look at a celebrity who did not finish from college or the university who is rich and you want to be like him and not finish school also. In today’s society you might not make it unless God decides to sign on you.
You don’t want a degree but you want to be an actor, taking an acting course is also part of the educational system.
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him,” said David Brinkley
Growing up, I would mention to some friends in school I wanted to be an actress and of course some laughed at me and said that wasn’t a profession. But I believed in me and prayed constantly and God directed my steps. My advice to anyone out there waiting for that big capital or the right opportunity to come is “don’t wait anymore, start from where you are and use what you have.”
I will share some motivational quotes that I read and have helped me.
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it” –Bruce Lee.
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life- think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body, be full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success” –Swami Vivekananda.
“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another” -Napoleon Hill
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” –Winston Churchill.
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge but rather a lack of will” –Vince Lombardi.
“Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in and it will come naturally” –David Frost.
“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome” –Booker T. Washington.
“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure” –George Edward Woodberry.
“Action is the foundational key to success” –Pablo Picasso
“Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success” –Bo Bennett
“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds” –Orison Swett Marden
“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get” –Dale Carnegie
“All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure” –Mark Twain
“Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture” –Lydia M. Chid
“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people” –Theodore Roosevelt
What are your goals? Share them with me by sending a message to kcejelonu@gmail.com. Have a productive week ahead.
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