ACT OR BE ACTED UPON - SOLA LEGEND

So, I pressed the exit button and left the WhatsApp group.

Some of the people on the group came to private chat me to see if I knew what I was doing. "Sola, are you out of your mind? That group was created by pastor...it's meant for... Didn't you read the group info?"

It was about 4 years ago... I just woke up one day to find myself in a WhatsApp group that had been created for one of those leadership trainings organized for people like me in the church. Meaning I was to be part of the training... A training that would require 2 night vigils per month...

Truly, that kind of training was, no doubt, something I should want to be a part of, but it came at the wrong time. It came after I had just set some new goals for myself and was sold out to crushing those goals.

If the training had simply been announced for those interested to join, I wouldn't have joined based on the goals on my priority list as of that period...

So, I reminded myself that it's my life; it should be about achieving my vision, not about trying to please anybody.

Therefore, I asked myself, "which of these moves do I think is more important to my vision right now? To be part of the training at the expense of some of my goals? Or to skip the training for the sake of my dream. After asking myself a series of important questions and weighing the options.

The answer came to me in a 3D cinema mode. It was vividly clear "You have to skip the training."

So, I simply notified my pastor and, exit the group, I did. I have learned from one of those wise men that you have to give up some things if you must grow up.

A lot of people were not pleased with me, but I could always live with that. What I cannot live with, is to abandon my dream because I am trying to please somebody else.

It is normal for some elders to think they know what you should be doing with your life or what skills you should be acquiring at some certain period; especially when you don't seem to know what you are doing. But the truth is, it is my life. I don't think God will ask anyone else but me about how I lived my life when it's time to stand before him.

One thing I have come to realize about living a purposeful life is that you must learn how to say "No" to a lot of things, people or causes. Many of them may be very good and relevant, but what's the point if they are going to slow down your progress towards fulfilling your purpose?

Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of the university in order to go after his dream does not mean school is bad or irrelevant, but it would have worked against his dream and slow him down instead of helping him at that particular point in time. It takes someone who really knows what he wants and is intentional about getting it, to make that kind of move.

Many of us in this part of the world cannot even dare to say "NO" to a friend's birthday party talk less of dropping out of college... if somebody drops out of college around here, "maybe na problem cause am". Some of us don't even have any dream! Lol.

We now live in a world where the majority are simply waiting to see where everyone else is going and then follow the crowd; waiting to see the new trend; the new MMM or Yahoo format so that they can join the band wagon. What a way to live!

That shouldn't be you and me. We need to be intentional. It is necessary that we are disciplined enough to live life on purpose; to live a life filled with purposeful actions.

Purposeful actions start with knowing what you want, knowing why you want it and taking disciplined and committed actions towards getting it.

It is necessary that we always have some goals lined up that we are constantly working towards in the direction of our dreams. Day in, day out.

Being purposeful means being in control of our lives; creating experiences for our selves instead of simply waiting for life to happen to us and then reacting to whatever experiences life has handed to us. Taking purposeful actions means being proactive; taking initiatives.

It means making decisions about whatever we want to be, do and have and going for it against all odds.

I have been taught that there are 3 types of people:
The ones who make things happen
The ones who watch things happen
The ones who wonder what happened

People who take purposeful actions are the ones who make things happen; the ones who create their own worlds. Those are the people you and I should emulate; people who are unstoppable. People like Nelson Mandela, people like Obama, people like Mr Honda, people like Sylvester Stallone. In short, let me share the Sylvester Stallone success story with you:

He wanted to be a movie star. That was his dream and he was so intentional about it. He kept moving from one agent/studio to another; trying to get a role. He was on it for a very long time; day after days, month after months, he kept trying but the result was always the same.

His future in the industry he coveted so much was looking impossible but this man wouldn't give up on his mission.

Left by his wife because he couldn't take care of her anymore and he wouldn't give up on chasing a dream that looked like a pipedream; he wouldn't throw in the towel and go get some other jobs that would pay the bills and put food on the table.

Things got so worse that he could no longer afford to feed himself, talkless of his dog that he loved so much. He had to sell the dog cheaply to a stranger; so that the dog wouldn't die of hunger.

Broke. Frustrated. Finished!—like some people would have concluded already.

Then, one day, in the middle of his very hungry life, he got inspired... He put together a very brilliant movie script that some people were willing to buy for $125,000 dollars.

One would have expected him to start jumping up and down. I mean, $125,000 for somebody who could no longer afford to feed an ordinary dog?

And this happened many years ago, which implies that $125,000 in those days will have the power of $1.25m or more today.

But guess what? Sylvester Stallone walked away from the money. Yes! He walked away simply because he wanted to be the actor of his own movie and the guys with the money disagreed; they said he didn't look like an actor —they wanted a real actor.

So, instead of just giving them the script and walk away with the money like most of us would have done, Sylvester Stallone chose to walk away with his script; he walked back into his pitiable, broke situation.

Why? His dream was to become a movie star; not just to be rich. That means to become a movie star was his first, money was just some pieces of icing on the cake. Where is the sense in having the icing without the cake?

Ok, the story didn't end there. The guys with the money came back for the script a few weeks later. They increased the offer to $250,000 if he would agree not to act in the movie. Rambo turned them down still.

They increased the offer to $350,000 dollars, he still refused!

Eventually, they said they could only pay him $35,000 if he must star in the movie and Sylvester Stallone said "Yes!"

That movie was "Rocky". It became very successful; it did not only make Sylvester Stallone a superstar but also made him and is still making him a lot of money.

All because he decided what he wanted, kept taking purposeful actions towards his dream against all odds and refused to settle for less.

I don't know whatever it is that you have been waiting for… But one thing I know is that "going for it" is always sweeter than "waiting for it". Now is the time to get up and be highly intentional about your life.

Remember the story of Nehemiah and the wall of Jerusalem? (Nehemiah 1:1-7:3)
Nehemiah was a man of action. He took purposeful actions from beginning to the end; until the wall was completed against all odds.

And yes, like Nehemiah, you will encounter some "Sanballats and Tobiahs" in the pursuit of your dream, but that has been said to go with the territory… Difficult situations will show up, but you are unstoppable. If you believe it's possible for you and you don't stop moving forward… then it's possible.

I believe it is necessary that you get lazy people and energy drainers out of your life and start hanging with people who challenge you and inspire you to be more.

If you don't get intentional about chasing your dreams, somebody else will simply act upon you and use you to pursue their own dreams…

ACT... OR BE ACTED UPON

PS:
Taking action does not just mean "open shop and start selling…" Taking action for somebody might be to start becoming; to start building capacity... An aspiring musician who started taking piano lessons is taking action too.

Taking action does not mean "launch"... It is necessary that you evaluate your current situation, determine the next step for you and take that step.

Taking action simply means; taking the next step and then the next one, and then the next one... Until you get what you want.