 Some years ago, I remember picking up a book by a popular minister in our country, Sam Adeyemi. The title of the book was Start With What You Have. At the time I read the book, I didn't even understand it. I knew what he was talking about, but I saw no reason why I should practice it. Years later, when I was in my third year at the university, struggling to love the course I was studying, which I doubly hated. I started reading some articles online. I would go to the cyber cafe outside school hours and would spend so much time just reading stuff online. It was in reading some of that stuff that I discovered an article by a popular motivational speaker, Bert Dubbin. In it, he encouraged readers who wanted to become writers to start with what they had. That was when a light bulb hit in my head. Here I was, frustrated, day in, day out, and terribly afraid of the future, because I was studying a course I hated and I couldn't give up on it. But I had been writing poems and short stories for a while. Since I loved reading and I discovered I loved to write, I started writing. Those writings were in the perfect things back then. Looking through some of those writings recently, I almost mocked myself in the face, just imagining I had written all those. But in retrospect, those were the very same writing practices that built my career. Today, I make over 60% of my earnings from writing alone. And it all began with me starting with what I had, a singular decision to start writing sulky poems anyway. Start with what you have. It may have been overstated but successful people understand this truth more than most people do. If you want to live the life of your dream, if you want to achieve a goal of purpose, start with what you have, right where you are. I remember when I was little, I used to know a little boy in our neighborhood who would gather tin cans and discarded cartons and with them, he would make some wonderful inventions like moving cars. We used to enjoy watching that voice creativity that we always figured he would grow up to become a great inventor. This was a poor neighborhood. He didn't have everything he needed but he started with what little he had. We are often what we are because of the choices we make and the choices we make are predicated on the way we see ourselves and the way we see things. If we aren't achieving the life of our dreams, it isn't because we can't. It is because we have chosen not to rise to the occasion to live that kind of life. Popular American motivational speaker, Les Brown, didn't have everything he needed to succeed when he started out. He was a poor young man whose only dream was to become a popular DJ and a radio show host. With this singular focus, he started to practice these jockeying and bettering his voice at night after working odd jobs during the day. It would seem like it was a waste of time starting with what little time he had until one night when his chance came. At the radio station where he worked as a janitor, the official DJ was unavailable and so the director asked Les if he could replace him. Les excitedly said yes. His years of preparation were about to be tested. He delivered a spell binding radio show and this jockeying that night and from then on there was no stopping him. You never know when your time will come. You never know when your opportunity will show up. You never know who will recognize your talent and so help launch you into stardom. Your responsibility is to get up and keep pushing the borders of your strength. Keep doing the best you can with what you have and someday your time will come. Failure is never the end. Some years ago I was making the most money I had ever made in my life. I woke up as early as 4am and by 7.30am I was done with my job for the day. Seriously. By the month's end, tons of money was rolling in from different angles just from writing a few hours a day. For different clients, what did I do with all that money I earned? You guessed it. I blew it all away. For two years after, the financial struggle was so tough I couldn't even feed myself. Of course this gave me the impression that it was over that I had missed my chance to ever hit it big again. I stopped believing in myself because I was too focused on the mistake I had made. Listen to this. You are not defeated because you made some mistake. You are defeated because you stopped believing in yourself. You stopped rising from your state of feeling to make something good out of yourself. When I did get my chance again, when I did choose to start over with the little I had, things got better and you can be sure I never made the same mistake. Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean you can't start over. Part of starting with what you have is picking up the pieces of all that's left and going for it again to pursue your dreams. You may have messed things up in the past, yet you can start over with the little you have left. In his book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill told the story of fire-raising buildings of some businesses in a particular district in the US. The following day, all the business owners decided to move their businesses elsewhere. On the other hand, a successful businessman stood with a son over the debris and told the boy, here's where we're going to start over. He started his business right there and succeeded. You don't have to give up just because you failed or made some mistakes. You only need one opportunity. Someone recently said that it takes just one breakthrough to break you through to success. That means it takes just one opportunity to launch you into success. You don't need two. You don't need three. Just one opportunity will keep the door of success open to you. But this opportunity will not go to waste if you have been preparing for it, if you had started with what you have. If it keeps showing up day and night, never mind that no one is paying attention to you while you're doing it. For most people, this would mean showing up at 8am at your store, even though you aren't making as much as you think you should be making. Or as an employee, being punctual at work and always giving your best at your tasks, even though it appears no one is paying attention to you. Your efforts may not be recognized now, but it takes just one announcement to launch you into success. Stephen King spent the bulk of his young life writing stories and sending them to magazines for publication. His works were always rejected. He received over 1500 rejection letters until he got married. He became a college teacher and gave up temporarily on writing. His chance came when, after dumping a manuscript he was working on, his wife picked it up and encouraged him to finish it. That same novel, titled Carrie, launched him into stardom. You never know what you will do today that will launch you into success tomorrow. You never know the work that will bring you success. Start with what you have, start with the little you have right where you are. You may not have all you want to get started, but providence is always faithful to give you all you need to get started. When you have been faithful in using that little, you will be given the next one that you require to achieve your goal. Because if you're faithful and little, it is considered that you will be faithful in much. Start with what you have right where you are, with what little you have. You only need one breakthrough to break you through to success. If this video inspired you, like the video, we love you.