RE-STRATEGIZE

"It is never too late to be what you might have been"(George Eliot).

     Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn't know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, he placed eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans on the third pot. He then let them sit and boil without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the boiled eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and poured them into a cup. Turning to her he asked "daughter, what do you see?" "Potatoes, eggs and coffee" she hastily replied. "Look closer" he said "and touch the potatoes". She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally he asked her to sip the coffee. It's rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

"Father, what does this mean" she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and the coffee beans had each faced the same adversity - the boiling water. However, each reacted differently.

The potatoes went in hard strong and unrelenting, but in boiling water it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile with the thin outer shell protecting it's liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

"Which are you" he asked his daughter . When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee beans?

     "Which are you"? Do you react or respond to criticism, setbacks and failure? Have you a fight or flight mentality? Do you sit, cry and watch as hardship, challenges and real life tragedies tear your world apart or do you stand on your feet and speak positive vibes into your future? Do you have a strategy? What if it fails? Do you re-strategize or do you bow to failure? What is a plan without a plan B? Ok, what if the B fails, do you have a C, a D, and an E? Our plans can always fail but how we react to it's failing will determine if truly we really want what we need. There's no substitute for strategy. Strategy is what allows nations to act with purpose in a chaotic world; it is vital to out-thinking and out-playing their foes. Without strategy, action is random and devoid of direction, power and advantage are squandered rather than deployed to good effect. The greatest empires may survive for a while if they lack good strategy, but none can thrive for long without it.

Strategy is very complex, and it is also very simple. Even the savviest leaders have struggled to conquer strategy's dilemmas. Yet the essence of strategy is straight forward: it is the craft of using power to achieve one's central purpose amid the friction of global events, wars, challenges, setbacks, adversity and the resistance of enemies.

Strategy is the indispensable art of getting what we want. It is the undisputable fact of realizing our dreams. And then this strategy fails. Napoleon was defeated in Russia because he didn't have another strategy when the one he had already mapped out failed him. His strategy failed and he didn't re-strategize, instead he bowed. Life's real tragedies will always beat us if we do not have a strategy; and we are better off dead if the ones we had failed and we did not re-strategize, if we did not re-plan, if we cannot hang on, if we give in to failure and bow to pressure. Please re-strategize.

     Do not give up on your dreams and do not give in to failure, adversity and poverty. What doesn't kill you strengthens you and what doesn't break you makes you. Re-strategize, re-plan, re-design, re-model, re-style, re-make, bounce back, wake up, come to life. Most of the things we anticipate never comes to fruition, especially when we were kids, growing up with our magic wands and wishful dreams. I know you believed in magic cuz I did, and here we are, all grown up, beautiful and handsome still believing in our dreams but they never happened. When life knocks you down don't stay down and cry, get up and re-strategize. Like soldiers in the battle field whose strategy have failed them, in other to survive, in other to win, in other to live, they've got no choice but to re-strategize. Remember, don't stay down. There's always another way to your destination. If the road is blocked, don't go back, don't even look back, just hang on and re-plan. You can win. Yes you can. You can still become that Governor, that Billionaire, that Doctor, that Musician, that great Writer. There is always a way and if not, another way to your dream life. Don't quit now. Keep writing, keep singing, keep reading, keep fighting, keep working, keep on keeping on cuz you can. Just re-strategize. Think of a lion running after a big game, hunting a meal for his cubs, does he give up? He doesn't. He keeps on and on and on and if his strategy doesn't work, he re-strategizes, he doesn't give up not until he has his game locked in between his mouth. Don't give up now. Don't quit. It is not late until you are late. Don't cry, just sit down and re-strategize. Seeing is believing so you better change your stakes. Life gives back what you gave to it; invest wisely. Most times we don't know how close we are to success when we give up. Nearly can never kill a bird. You almost won can't win you the trophy, you have to win.

     What wise and intentional decisions did you make this year?  What plans did you make in the beginning? Maybe it failed; did it? If the processes and strategies are not producing the desired results, don't give up now, think of how you think. Just relax, reinforce your will power, re-strategize.

Re-strategize with neither fear nor tear because your current station in life is not your final destination. Do not allow failure and procrastination delay your bright future. Pick yourself up from the seat of your pants, dust off cobwebs, emulate the diligent ants which no adversity can sway from their mission. Go back to your drawing board and re-strategize your failed strategy. Quitting is never an option. Learn to ride the waves. The devil whispered in my ears "Grant you can't withstand the storm" I replied "I am the storm".