Remember the children’s story of “The Little Red Hen?” The Hen found a grain of wheat (opportunity) and decided to make bread (success). She then proceeded to take the proper steps to plan and prepare for her desired result. She planted the grain, tended, watered, and harvested it. This is nothing but action on display. She took the wheat to the mill to be ground into flour. She made the dough, let it rise, and, finally, put it in the oven to bake.

At each step in the process, she asked her neighbours, “Who would like to help me . . . ?” And each time they responded, “Not I!” Finally, the bread was ready. She set it on the window sill to cool and its sweet scent floated up and down the street. “And now,” she said, “who will help me eat the bread?” All her neighbors responded enthusiastically, “I will!” “No,” said the little red hen, “I will eat it myself.” And she did.

I used to think that the hen was rather harsh in not sharing the bread with her friends. But I have since found out that, in reality, no one can give you success. So many a times, we depend on some other people (our parents, the uncle who is the Managing Director of a company, our aunties who have been in overseas since we were in Primary School, friends among other) to be successful. We have conditioned our mind to always be at the mercy of others. We want people to decide on a destination, design the map to the destination and probably set the ladder for us to the destination. We only want to join them at the destination. We do not want to do anything. We want to enjoy the good things of life without giving anything in return. We only want to find ourselves successful with no concrete action steps from our side.

No one can do the preparation, planning, and the work for you. If we are to achieve true excellence, we must take responsibility for our own success and do the work to make it happen. We must dream our dreams, believe in the dream, make the plans, and act the plans. Nobody can help you to do this. Everybody has got to create the kind of future he or she desires. Your parents, pastor, relatives or even friends can only help you on the way. They can not do everything for you. So, decide today to take responsibility for your action. Stop blaming people for what happens to you. Remember, “You are not a failure until you start blaming people for what happens to you”. DREAM, PLAN, PREPARE, PERFORM, PERSIST… then, the sky will be just the beginning.