Pay Attention: Experiences are Opportunities

My wonderful friend, it’s such a delight for me to share my thoughts with you in this year of unique progress. We started off the year with a write up “Value of Gratitude” which focused on recounting and appreciating God for the blessings of the year 2020. The next focused “Projection for Progress” which talked about drawings strategies to make continuous progress. Today, we will be taking a look at “Paying attention because your experiences are opportunities”

Paying attention talks about Focus and giving serious attention to a particular desire of your heart. In paying attention, you don’t look at things that have happened to you in the past but things that you expect to happen for you. For you to make progress a conditioning of the mind is very vital. Your mind is the birth place and burial ground of greatness depending on how you utilise the that resource. You will agree with me that what is behind you is memory of loss while what is ahead of you is aspiration for greatness. Focus will work best when there is a target in view. This means for you to have a year of progress, draw up your plans and attach your mind, body and spirit to ensure the targets are hit and even surpassed.

The beginning part of focus involves an understanding of areas that need close attention. While at the university, I had struggled with getting better grades and making improvementsUntil I found out how to channel my mind to produce maximally. I then began to isolate the courses that gave me tough time and dedicated more efforts to ensure I started passing. I sat with myself and took responsibility for my low grades which gave the opportunity to find creative ways to make improvements. Accepting responsibility is a vital concept that will ensure you pay attention to certain areas of life that will lead to growth.

I was once part of the bandwagon of blaming situations or people for my shortcomings. The moment I realised my irresponsibility and started taking ownership of my flaws, things began to change for me. The key to taking personal responsibility for your actions is having a periodic “self-assessment”. This involves having a meeting with yourself where you have an honest performance appraisal over a period of time. Every experience you pay attention to today will lead to a great opportunity for you to enjoy and benefit from tomorrow.

I have counselled several young people to pay attention to their task because in it is greatness.

Proverbs 22:29

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

Staying at your duty post and paying close attention to your own assignment will ensure mastery which will naturally make you a solution provider. Don’t pay so much attention to what people have to say or what other people are doing. The beginning will always look like nothing will come out of it but it you are patient enough to nurture the seed, you will for sure enjoy its fruits.

Job 8:7

Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

Appreciate small beginnings because it’s a foundation for a masterpiece. Focus on making small, consistent and continuous improvement. Anything that will last long and stand out, will take time to develop or grow. Take the Chinese bamboo as an example. The mystery of this Chinese bamboo tree is that for 4 years it takes time to understand the soil and also spreads its roots to obtain enough momentum for exceeding high flight which takes place in the 5th year. 

Every explosive growth is as a result of building a strong foundation and learning from the various experiences that come your way. I listened to an interview of the late Kobe Bryant and learnt that I should never get bored with the basics. The key to making improvements is to identify those basic areas of your skill sets and perform them with relentless consistency. That’s hard because the basics are usually boring but falling in love with the basics will make you stand out. You can’t stop people from speaking against and limiting your dreams but you can stop them from limiting your reality.

I have discovered that great ability or potential without relevant experience will most times result in trial and errors. Ability plus experience equals great outputs. In the world of sports, every potential superstar will benefit from the wealth of experiences obtained from those that have gone ahead. It’s the same reason why we have mentors and coaches, especially in several professions. If you neglect the experiences of others (especially those that have gone ahead of you), you will suffer the same challenges that limited them. Learning from experiences will give you the opportunity to attain greater heights in a shorter period. 

What I mean here is that you should utilise the lessons you obtained from the success and not so good moments of last year as great opportunities to make improvements this year. A few years ago, I taught myself not to regret negative experiences that come my way but instead appreciate the opportunity to learn how to make improvements and prevent future negative experiences.

Finally, my wonderful friend, I urge you to pay attention to your business because your experiences in the past will help you utilise new opportunities when they come your way. I’m sure you have great potential so please remember Potential + Relevant Experiences = Great outputs.