This old age cliché depicts a situation in which success comes after numerous trials or attempts. And that if you are keen on keeping on, you will surely reach your destiny. To a great extend I agree with it. But there comes those who want to exploit you and keep on asking you to try again, probably because you did not pull the right strings (assuming there are strings attached to the agreement), that you did not buy lunch, or that you were born from the other side of the country, or that your political ideology is against the majority view. Simply put, to frustrate your efforts no matter what. Am sure you have heard it, and most probably experienced the impact of its abuse.

I like reading motivational articles from real people who struggled and overcame major obstacles in whatever they were doing, be it in their private lives or in their careers. See, everyone has at least one story to tell. And when you read and appreciate what others have gone through in their lives, you tend to get encouragement when faced with similar experience. What goes through our minds during those times is: If he/she did it, why not me? And that is, really, the spirit. That spirit which tells us to climb the next step on the ladder, to push harder, to rest a bit but never to give up. The world we live today is not for the faint-hearted apparently, neither is it for the lazy. We have to wake up early and get our hands dirty in doing what we do to provide bread to the table. And with time, we become masters in our different fields; we achieve near-perfection status because hey, practice makes perfect.

Sometimes, we have to learn that what we do today may not necessarily benefit us in the short run – in fact we may never see the fruits in our lifetime. It may take generations. But we have to do it now anyway, we have to bite the bullet, surge forward, and do the impossible in order to achieve positive results. The future generations would curse us for not seizing the opportunity while it presented itself; and that, I guess, would make our souls not rest in peace. So the time is now, to practice and polish our talents and conquer whatever challenge is placed on our paths lest we regret in the future (or our future generations). Those who fought for our independence fall into this category. Indeed many lost their lives in order that the foreign masters would stop their cruel oppressions on the African people, for freedom – that freedom we so enjoy today.

And what joy do you feel when you achieve your desired results. It’s like winning a gold medal in the Olympics, or standing atop Mt. Everest. That moment when tears of joy stream freely down your cheeks because your efforts have paid (and for most of us, those tears are never seen, more so in the public domain). Take an example: you want to lose excess weight (or should we call it fat, without necessarily being rude). You engage consultants – one to check on your diet and the other to ensure you do the right exercises (I remember reading somewhere that sit-ups and crunches do not help in reducing your tummy [beer belly]). Sorry, did I say you engage consultants? Apologies. Google comes to your aid; you search for the correct diets tried and tested by many a person in the world plus the exercises to accelerate the calories lose. And then the following day you hit the road, running like you have never done in your life, and then engage in eating right (that is what they say nowadays – eat right). While some give up after a couple of days, those who continue see the benefits slowly. That’s what am talking about; never giving up until the desired results are achieved.

While there are those who follow this practice-making-perfect approach to the letter, others trash it. They want to achieve the perfection without the practice. They want to get the gold medal without a sweat. They want to be famous no matter what. Mostly through dubious means – illegal means. Others want to plant a ‘seed’ and then wake up the following day to riches, to fame. Like in the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (read it?) where you only said your wish, rubbed the lamp and then voila!, you would instantly get what you wanted. And that is where the abuse to this cliché (as alluded in the opening section above) comes in. If it’s possible to get all what you want to achieve in the shortest time period through transparent and genuine means then for all intents and purposes go for it. Illegal and immoral short-cuts become the order of the day. Because I have a godfather in a certain office, I rise faster than the most qualified (and experienced) person in the department, or I get the lucrative tender and then do below standard work. Or because my friend has worked hard and has seen to it that his family is comfortable, I decide to rob him of his property and even kill him.

To those who do not have godfathers, it becomes difficult to get through some certain doors without putting some oil on the hinges. And frustration will be well written on their faces – they are qualified yet they must bribe their way into getting what they deserve. And on the same note, those who cannot afford the seed money do not receive the ‘miracles’. And if you ask why the situation is like it is, you get the answer: money begets money, you’ve got money in order that more money follows you. Seriously? And then we mourn when we see structures falling apart. We create excellent plans but the will and energy to implement them seems to have left us to our neighbors. Then we marvel when our neighbors borrow our blueprints, implement them and sooner than later shift from struggling to growing economies. Then we go back to create more plans which will accumulate dust in the shelves.

All is not lost though, ladies and gentlemen, because with the belief that practice makes perfect, you shall forge forward. You shall fully utilize your talents because whether the person causing disappointments to you likes it or not, nobody will ever snatch your talent from you no matter what. And above all, God has the best plans for you, for us. Amen.