On The
Path Of Winners
BY BAYO
OGUNMUPE
How To
Fulfill Your Dream
THIS period
of the 21st century is a wonderful time to be alive. This is because
there have never been more opportunities for more people to accomplish more of
their dreams than exist today. And indeed, if anything, our situation is
getting better and better with each passing day.
The simplest
answer these happenings is that we know more today on how to achieve better
results in more areas of life than we have ever known before. And this knowledge
of the ages, these insights are flowing everywhere, available to anyone willing
to use them.
The wonderful
thing about information is that it is ever effective in enriching anyone who
applied it to his use. Moreover, knowledge is cumulative. Once you have it, it
does not leave you. Each breakthrough in knowledge creates new opportunities
for expanding and multiplying the knowledge so exploited.
The driving
force behind the expansion of knowledge and creativity is competition. The
winning edge in your effort to fulfill your dream must be created from your
personal repertoire of wisdom and skills leading you to high achievement. Your
aim in life should be to acquire and develop the winning edge in your goals.
Today, strategies and techniques for fulfilling your dream are more widely
available than at any other time in human history. All you need is acquire and
apply them to your condition.
The ability to
make decisions and stand by them in the face of all terror, is the key to
success in life. Sir Winston Churchill, the British War hero once said:
“Courage is rightly considered the greatest of the virtues, for upon it all
others depend.” You must muster the courage to take decisions in the face of
doubt and uncertainty. You develop courage by acting courageously. Never back away from decisions for
fear, because if you do not do the thing you fear, then fear controls you.
The two
obstacles to achieving your dream are the fear of failure and the fear of
criticism. However, great success is often preceded by many failures. It is the
lessons you learn from failures and your ability to rise above criticism that
pave the way for your triumph in life. Thomas Watson, the founder of
International Business Machine (IBM) once said, “If you want to be successful
faster, you must double your rate of failure. Success lies in the far side of
failure.”
Make a habit
of confronting your fears. Treat every anxiety as a personal challenge. Do the
thing you fear and fear will disappear. The leader in a group is the person not
afraid to take responsibility for his actions. Audacity is the best form of
action. Audacity may get you into trouble on occasion but even more audacity
will get you out. When you are faced with dangers, one in front and the other
at the back, it is always better to go forward.
Resolve today
to move out of your comfort zone. Great success comes from taking risks, from
trekking where others fear to tread. Set big, hairy audacious goals for
yourself. Never be satisfied with the status quo. Whenever you see a great
business success, it means someone once took a big chance. Remember, no matter
how well you plan, life is a continuous succession of problems. The mark of
leadership is never to allow yourself the luxury of discouragement and
self-pity. The leader does not complain or make excuses. Failure is merely an
opportunity to begin again. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is the
control and mastery of fear.
As a way of
realizing your dream, one, imagine that you could wave a magic wand and achieve
any goal you set yourself. Then, begin from today, acting as though your
success were guaranteed. Two, identify a specific fear in your life and
confront it. Always act as if it were impossible for you to fail, and it shall
be. You are successful in life to the extent to which you internalize what
works and then apply the principle that is appropriate to gain your goals.
Our champion
for this week is Buzz Aldrin, born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on 20 January, 1930.
He is a former American astronaut, the second man to walk on the moon. He was
the lunar module pilot on Apollo II, the first manned lunar landing in history.
He set foot on the Moon on July 21, 1969 following mission commander Neil
Armstrong. Aldrin is also a retired United States Air Force pilot.
Born in Glen
Ridge, New Jersey, USA, to Edwin Eugene Aldrin, a career soldier and his wife
Marion (nee Moon). He is of Scottish-German ancestry. After High School, Buzz
Aldrin turned down a full scholarship offer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
His name Buzz originated from the younger of his two elder sisters
mispronouncing brother as buzzer. Aldrin shortened it to Buzz, making it his
legal first name in 1988.
Buzz Aldrin
graduated third in his class at West Point in 1951, with B.S. in mechanical
engineering. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and
served as a fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and
shot down two Mikoyan MiG-15 aircraft.
After the war,
Aldrin was assigned as an instructor at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Next
he became an aide to the dean of the United States Air Force Academy. Then he
joined the Bitburg Air Base, Germany as a flight commander. He was in the 22nd
Fighter Squadron. After a PhD in astronautics in MIT in 1963, he applied for
and was selected as an astronaut – by the National Aeronautics and Spare
Administration (NASA). In July 1969, Aldrin became the second person to walk on
the Moon following Commander Neil Armstrong.
After leaving
NASA, he was assigned as the Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School
in California. In March 1972, Aldrin retired from active duty after 21 years of
service. His autobiographies, Return to Earth, published in 1973 and
Magnificent Desolation published in 2009, and he is married to Lois Driggs
Cannon. In 2009, Aldrin said he was skeptical humans caused the current global
climate change. He thinks climate has been changing for billions of years.