Parable of the Blessing: THE BEGINNING

First he took my rights as the first born, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me? – Enoch (speaking of Jacob, his brother)

      So you could sing, you were a great writer, you dressed exceptionally, had the best looks, was educated in elite schools, was loved by the ladies and lots more. You seemed set to being the ideal person – the role model for your generation – and yet you wonder what happened that you didn’t amount to much.

This is not a far-fetched scenario. Several people – men and women alike – have fallen into this. They look back at their lives and realize they have not succeeded though they were the most-likely to succeed.

Potential does not always translate to productivity. In fact, potential in every area of life, more often than not, lead to poor productivity. This happens because of the laxity that accompanies overconfidence in potential. A lot is then taken for granted because it does not seem logical that you would “fail in every area”. This is easily and clearly evidenced in countries. There are more natural resources in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, than the whole of Europe combined, but figures and estimates from the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database, April 2013, pins DRC as the poorest nation in the world.

At the end of the day it does not really matter how much potential you have. What matters is how much you can make of it. To convert your potential to productivity, some things must be in place. First, you must have vision. Nobody becomes what he does not see. You can only progress as far as you see.

Second, you must learn to set goals. Goals are to the human mind what the steering wheel is to a car. Goals guide you to a destination.

Third, you should develop a habit of planning and working with strategy. Goals are achieved by proper planning. Without a plan a goal becomes a wish.

Forth, you should learn to diversify. This is the proverbial not “putting all your eggs in one basket”. The law of chances states that, “you stand better chances of succeeding when you have more things working for you at the same time.”

Fifth, you have need for focus on the purpose, call, ministry, or vision. You must have your eyes set on the final (which was in fact the initial too) goal.

In the next few articles I will be expounding on these principles.