One Step Ahead

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There is something called seizing the moment, and in order for you to seize the moment, you need to be prepared, and you need to be ready. In fact, you need to be intellectually diligent as hard work alone is not enough.

I mean, you could be working hard year in and year out, under the rain, under the sun, and someone else exerting lesser energy than you are will be excelling more. Such situations hurt especially if you are the one struggling.

Personally, I would not want to attribute the above phenomenon to luck because several times we might want to tag someone's good fortune or success story as luck; it's basically because we didn't get the full story.

Taking a trip down momory lane, I remember this friend of mine who worked in a building and construction site. He layed bricks and carried concrete mixtures with a headpan to where it will be utilized on site. This he did, and he was able to see himself through the university.

Remember that in our open statement, we talked about intellectual diligence - Don't worry you will soon see it display.

Moving on, even with his degree, quite unfortunately that he was still working at various sites as a menial laborer.

Well, one day, everything changed as the owner of the site came unannounced. By now, my friend had already gathered enough experience on the site, as he was now filling in for the site manager while he was away to inspect other of his building jobs.

Meanwhile, the house owner didn't reveal his identity, as he claimed to be a passerby just admiring the structure being put in place. He requested the site engineer, and my friend, trying to be careful, told the man that the site engineer just stepped out for lunch.

My friend lied, as the site engineer hadn't been with them on site for days. Unknowingly to my friend the disguised house owner was already aware of the engineer’s absence, and he just came to confirm.

Having confirmed his suspicions, the man went furthter to engage my friend a little more. Upon their conversation, he got to realize that my friend is a graduate of social welfare administration. Coincidentally, the man was looking to kick start an NGO so everything just sync.

After their conversation, the man was certain that my friend was qualified for the job so he gave him his business card to forward his CV to his mail.

The rest was history as my friend left the hardlife behind.. While hard work gave my friend the opportunity to success, what would have been his story if he hadn't gone to acquire a degree?

How would such a man have found him worthy to elevate his current state if he hadn't made conscious efforts for self improvements?.

You see, if just hardwork guarantees success then labourers would have been the most successful people alive but they are not as you see them do all the dirty jobs for someone who utilizes lesser energy to succeed.

The last time that I spoke with my friend, he was in East Africa on a collaboration project of a poverty alleviation scheme aimed at reducing poverty to the barest minimum in Africa.

It's amazing how one's life can change within a twinkle of an eye. Sometimes it feels like magic, or probably like a dream but in the grand scheme of things the question to be answered while trying to succeed remains how determined are you?

Why your luck might shine, do you have all it takes to seize the moment like my friend did? Because really luck without preparation is just missed opportunity.