Greetings Destiny Friends,

Life can be incredibly challenging and frustrating, especially when you are not getting desired results in your investments and craft. You may have been working on a product for a while and your dream is to introduce it to the market but it’s unfortunate if it doesn’t turn out as expected.

As an entrepreneur, writer, producer, marketer, student, devoted Christian and many more, you may have experienced that secret frustration which nobody knows. It is hard to feel that way, but being consistent and believing in your craft can turn the tides around even when no one believes in you and your product. Remember, you have to believe in yourself even if no one believes in you.

As human beings, once in a while we have the feeling that makes us feel we can’t do it, that we have completely lost it, as result of background, environment, or academic qualification. Yes, these factors can influence our nature of productivity, but they are not the conclusive factors that can decide our faith.

You may have felt disappointed because a friend didn’t keep his word, a bank loan didn’t come through or an investment deal didn’t work out. All these might be legitimate reasons to back out, but the biggest question you have to ask yourself is, who defines my success or failure? Is it me or someone else? It is important to know that you have the key to your success, the universe only comes to facilitate the process for you.

 As an entrepreneur and productive minded being, you don’t need a perfect performance to succeed, all that is necessary is for you to try; even if you fail, just know that you have tried your possible best, and learnt from your mistakes. Sometimes all that is needed is for you to show up.

One of the reasons most businesses fail is because they don’t have a clear-cut vision of what they want to accomplish. If you have a well-structured business and know what you really want to do, you won’t have to engage in several businesses; you’ll be concerned about a specific area.  As you plan to develop your craft, you must know the vision you have at the back of your mind. It is your vision that matters and not your mistakes and failures. Your mistakes and failures don’t define you, rather what defines you is what you have been able to achieve and accomplish.

No doubt, we all face challenges in our personal life, business, professional work environment and even in financial life. The big question is how do we manage these challenges? The first step in managing these life challenges is to have peace of mind. Once you have peace of mind despite the obvious problems, you’ll overcome any storm of life.

It is instructive to note that many people may not see your vision not feel what you feel. it’s not really up to them to see or feel it; it’s completely up to you to see and feel it.

Developing your craft entails a lot, especially when the odds don’t add up. As an advice, don’t be hard on yourself; learn to enjoy the moment; learn to appreciate every experience whether negative or positive because they are all part of the building process.

You never know the next big opportunity waiting for you. You may be at the brink of success without knowing it. There was a story of two men who were on an exploration looking for gold, Mr. A was on the brink of hitting a milestone of gold, but he didn’t know, but because Mr. B was able to strike gold and quietly left. Mr. A left his spot and re-routed to Mr. B’s position not knowing he was not far from hitting gold. If only he knew he was few strikes from hitting a goldmine, he would have remained on his position without moving to Mr. A’s position. The story had it that, assuming he had not left, he would have hit goldmine.

The story is not different from everyone of us. At different stages in our life, we all experience the feeling of giving up, especially when you must have given your best by trying to pitch your idea or business plan but it gets rejected on a continuous basis.

As mentioned earlier, don’t be hard on yourself, just be steadfast, you may be close to hitting a jackpot. As a word of advice, don’t feel bad if your work is not being accepted or a potential mentor didn’t acknowledge your work. Remember, people only identify or support projects they are passionate about.

Just continue to give your best, if anyone is destined or inspired to support your work, they’ll definitely engage or communicate with you with little or no effort from you. Trust me, if you are consistent in your craft/work, and do what is needed, you’ll succeed.

Furthermore, it is important to note that who you are is different from what you are. Who you are is what you are created or destined to do, what you are is the work you do. Maintaining steadfastness in your craft really entails a lot. It’s a process. It’s just like in mathematics, it is not your answers that matter but your steps, formulas and analysis that made you arrive at the answer.

In conclusion, it is pertinent to note that there are many stories littered on the internet of many great men who failed many times before they succeed, so don’t get strained when your plans don’t work. Stay strong and positive.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com