There was a young boy in ancient Israel whose occupation was to take care of sheep. He encountered wild animals on the way every day as he leads sheep across the forest. He was a man who had been used to a stone and a sling (catapult); this he uses as a weapon against flying animals and other little animals in the forest.
A war was about to break-forth in the land and a new country has seized the borders of Israel (the country of this little boy). A giant had come forth every day from this new country to terrorize the people and instill fear inside of them. The king of Israel was perplexed and didn’t know what to do. None of the trained soldiers was ready to fight this giant and the king made a decree that whoever goes to fight the giant and win will be enriched and also be given the king’s daughter to marry.
The young boy having heard the promises decided to step out to fight this giant – everybody thought he was insane and I agree with them because it is only a boy who is not in his right senses that would go out to fight a giant whose height and width is ten times more than himself. It is a known fact that he would be broken just by the tip of the giant’s finger.
Nevertheless, this young boy stepped out with his sling and a bag full of stone. He stood close enough to use his sling and far enough to be harmed by the giant; the giant was angry. He couldn’t believe that Israel would send out a little boy to fight him – he was pissed. This young man prepared his sling (catapult) and took a stone from his bag; he positioned himself with the intention of hitting a target (the giant’s forehead). He took a shot and like a miracle, the stone hit the forehead of the giant and he fell down. Before the giant could regain consciousness, this young man ran to where he fell, took the giant’s sword and cut off his head. He won the battle for his country and that made him a national treasure – he eventually became the king of the land.
I looked at this story and I did not see the things that everyone else saw – I saw a courageous young man who succeeded because he made a decision to dare – until YOU are ready to dare and make a mistake, you are not ready to succeed. Success does not come to those who wait but to those who dare to do something. See what you need to be successful at as a giant that must be defeated.
The young boy knew he was dead if he failed – it is time for you to try WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO without considering options and alternatives. The day you know that it is either you succeed at a thing or you die trying, that is the day you will begin to count success. That is the point where you no longer see failure as an option – until you get to this point you are still a learner on the road to success.
Lastly, the young man has a skill – he knew how to use a sling (catapult) and a stone well and this became useful when all the wisdom in the book failed. I have always said this and I will say it again, “if you are not skillful you will never be useful”. The reason why you have not been called upon by the World Bank to help them solve a problem is because you do not have a skill that is useful to them – the day you do is the day you become a World Bank consultant. This applies to every area of life.
This is all I am saying, if you truly want to achieve success in a thing, do these three things;
- DARE – Start out! Don’t wait for perfect conditions – dare – those who dare are the ones that win – those who don’t dare are worse than those who dared and failed. Do not forget that until you are ready to dare and make a mistake, you are not ready for success.
- SUCCEED or DIE TRYING – Decide to do this one thing and make a success out of it – do not have an alternative plan if possible so as to set your mind on the goal. If you know in your heart of heart that if you fail at this thing then you are doomed for life; that knowledge will propel you to succeed.
- BUILD A SKILL SET – Those who have skills determine the fate of those who don’t. Your mechanic determine the fate of your car while your hair stylist determine the state of your hair, whether you like it or not – that is a law I have discovered. You are not likely to fail with adequate skills.
I have run out of points but if you think there are more lessons in the story, feel free to include them in the comment section.
Gabriel Olatunji Legend is an inspirational writer, speaker and blogger. Follow him on Twitter; @OLATUNJISPEAKS and also read inspirational articles on his blog, www.olatunjispeaks.com
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of OLATUNJISPEAKS.com.
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