Dear Destiny Friends,

Let me begin this article with a disclosure; I’m not an ordained Minister of God. I am a trained Human Capacity coach. I therefore, speak and write on whatever affects the optimum performance of human beings. One may be wondering why I decided to write about the spirituality of success. Before you conclude, just spare me a minute and you will see reasons you need to pay attention to this wonderful article.

Did you know that all success is spiritual?

Here is the reason. Before anything happens physically, it has taken shape spiritually. This is because success starts from the mind. Is that not spiritual? Before a blogger publishes an article on a website, he or she would have done some background work before the article is published. That’s spiritual success. Before a politician wins an election, he/she must have campaigned; before a student passes an exam, wins a scholarship or an award, he/she must have distinguished himself and herself; before someone gets an appointment, he/she must have developed himself/herself. These are all examples of spiritual success.

To show you how spiritual success works, the work must be done in the closet before it gets public attention. That’s why it’s always said, you must work hard in success and allow your success to make the noise.

Let’s spend a minute on sacrifice. Sacrifice comes in several ways. You must know the kind of sacrifice you want to engage in. As a progressive being, you must be intentional the way you live your life. You must know what you want in life. This entails knowing who you want as a life partner, business partner, the kind of business you would like to engage in, the kind of friend, mentor, parent, child you would love to have. When you have been able to decide on these salient issues, you will know the kind of sacrifice you will have to engage in to get what you want.

As a student, the sacrifice you engage in to pass your exams is different from the sacrifice an entrepreneur will engage in to grow his/her business. The same is applicable to a parent who wants to give his children a decent education. As a mentee, you must know the kind of person you would like to adopt as a mentor, and then know what works for the person and see how you can use your gift, value or time to get the attention of the person. As a man interested in a lady, you must sacrifice your time and resources to get her attention. These are all spiritual sacrifices because you must have done the work before the result comes out.

Did you know that sacrifice can make things happen? There’s a level of sacrifice you will engage in, that can provoke someone to do what they never intended to do. In the corporate world, you will get promoted by the extra work they do.

Sacrifice can be spiritual, occultic or covenanted. Sacrifice can be given to a god/God, it can also be given to a human being. The question you need to ask yourself is who am I sacrificing to and for what purpose? This is because every sacrifice has a goal and purpose.

Your sacrifice shows how serious, passionate, and intentional you are in getting what you want. I have personally sacrificed a lot to get to where I am today. I invest my time and resources in causes I am passionate about. I invest in my mentors, mentees, business, late parents, family, and friends just to mention a few.

The right sacrifice can open doors of opportunities for you. It’s sad to note that many people don’t know how to offer the right sacrifice. Do you know where your prayers, academics, works and connections cannot reach? Did you know that your sacrifice can speak for you? Your sacrifice can serve as a communication link for you.

It’s also sad to note that most people sacrifice with vested interest. If you sacrifice your money and time due to an interest you have in somebody, it’s only a matter of time for the true intention of the person to be known. Your sacrifice must come from your heart.

The level of sacrifice you engage in determines the kind of result you will get. When most people sleep late at night doing productive work and waking up quite early like an early worm to do some productive work, they don’t do it because it’s fun. They do it because they have a project they are working on. It’s sad to note that many people don’t know how to sacrifice for the right cause. They misplace the time and money they are supposed to use for a worthy cause for an unworthy cause, thereby spending major time on minor things and spend minor time on major things.

According to a veteran celebrity journalist Dr. Dele Momodu, ‘many people are chasing what they should have left for God and ignore what should lead them to God’. If you know what you want in life, no amount of sacrifice is too much to attain it. It’s instructive to note that people become successful by virtue of the work they do based on the sacrifice they have invested with the work they do.

In conclusion, if you want to go far in life, you must sacrifice something. If you want anything in life, you must sacrifice.

Question: what are you using as an exchange for your sacrifice?

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny.  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com