A lot of people blame their restricted or limited or unfavorable background for their failure or inability to rise to their potential in life. Such restricted or limited or unfavorable background could be their ethnicity, location or abode, family, poor parentage, misfortune (such as the death of a parent early in life or a handicap arising from an accident), lack of or bad education, and so on. Many turn those obstacles into excuses instead of challenges to be taken head on and overcome. Excuses never helped anyone to success anywhere. You will fail woefully if all you have to give to life are excuses. Only he who takes on those obstacles in the arena of life and demystify them through enthusiastic enterprise and dogged drive will eventually run the victory lap, singing the victory song. The world can stand up for you as the champion, regardless your background.
One man who overcame such limited or restricted background, making no excuses, and became a huge success in his day was Will Rogers (1879 – 1935). We will study his life with the intention of discovering some clues as to how he made it.
Will Rogers was an American comedic actor, nationally syndicated columnist, and radio personality. During his day, he became one of the best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s. But he was not born into fortune or fame, nor was he born into a big or influential ethnicity. Though he was born into a leading Cherokee Nation Family in Indian Territory in the state of Oklahoma, USA, his birth was considered ordinary since the Cherokee Nation were a minority people, faced with discrimination and other uncommon odds.
Will Rogers overcame his restricted and limited background and travelled the world 3 times, made 71 movies, wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns, and became a world-famous figure. He became the public face of the Cherokee Nation. He died, at the height of his popularity, in a plane crash in 1935 at the age of 55.
Will Rogers beat the odds. How did he do it? He made a statement that gives us a clue into how his mind works and the reasons behind his success. In this famous statement, he listed two ways by which a man can learn and improve himself. He said:
“A man only learns in two ways, one by reading and the other by association with smarter people” – Will Rogers.
He points out two ways to self-improvement:
1. Reading.
2. Association with smarter people.
Let us now consider these two factors of self-improvement, as listed by Will Rogers, a little more closely with a view to learning how to move our lives forward from a hard place to a place of success.
1. Reading.
Let me point out, from the word go, that the best and most effective way any one can develop and improve their mind, and with it improve their personality and chances for success in life, which is the primary function of education, is through reading. All the information you need to become a better person and succeed in life is already in a book somewhere. If you are not willing to read and dig it out, you will struggle in the avenue of average and below, all your life.
Additionally, reading can do the following things for you:
- Reading increases your knowledge of the world and the various subjects that relate to it and the human experience.
- Reading opens you up to new ideas and experiences that make you a better person.
- Reading stretches and expands your mind, thus increasing your mental capacities and abilities.
Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719), makes the following famous observation about reading:
“Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body”
Marcus Garvey (1887 – 1940), agrees with that observation when he said:
“A reading man and woman, is a ready man and woman…”
Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012), makes the following on how lack of reading can destroy an entire culture, talk less an individual! He said:
“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them (books)”
So, if you must learn and grow and rise up to your potential, and be successful in life, you must:
- Read always.
- Read widely.
- Read relevantly (i. e. in connection with any particular project or pursuit before you).
- Go for relevant courses and study for relevant degrees and certification.
All these will improve your personality and provide you with better chances to lead a successful life.
2. Association with smarter people.
This is an underlining fact of life: the people you associate with rub off on you, negatively or positively, depending on what type of persons they are and, hence, go a long way in determining how far you go in life. If you associate with criminals, for instance, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, may be driven to criminality. If you associate with negative and bitter people, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, may be driven to negativism and bitterness. If you associate with failures and non-achievers and people with low self-esteem and lack of drive for success, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, ending up exactly like them. If you associate with successful and smarter people than you, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, becoming a smart and successful person.
This fact of life is as real as the ground you walk on and the air you breathe: if you want to go far in any field in life, you must humble yourself and associate with people who are smarter and more successful than you in that field.
John Chow puts it this way:
“You are who you associate with”
General Collin Powell, former chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State, agrees and added:
“The friends we keep define who we are as a person… if you run with wolves, you will learn to howl, but if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights…The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate – for the good and the bad” – Collin Powell.
There you have it. If you plan to rise high and go far in your profession or chosen field in life, my advice is that you seek out people who are smarter, more experienced, and more successful than you are in that field and associate with them. Approach them with a humble and open mind. Learn their success ways and methods. Put to practice all that you learn, and watch how quickly you will begin to rise and grow in your profession and life. Keep moving forwards and upwards.
It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.
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