@Methion 8 December 2021

When The Odds Are Stacked Against You

I'm sure you must have an idea what the article is going to be about looking at the title. As humans in a world where people are constantly achieving things and having breakthroughs, with the the usual need of validation, acceptance and recognition, we can sometimes feel left behind in this fast moving world. It is inherently human to desire and seek validation, acceptance and recognition, it's just the way we are built. This makes us feel important, it's good for our ego and self-esteem. This usually causes us to pursue some certain goal with the intent that achieving it will help position us in that place where we can have all of these things. It is with this yardstick that we measure success, whether that's okay or flawed will be a conversation for another day altogether. But in a world with limited resources and unlimited human wants, there is an unprecendented level of competition for these limited resources by individuals who want to satisfy their wants, note wants but need and that's a sad thing in itself, another topic for another day too. The most interesting part is those who have been able to satisfy some of their basic wants are better positioned to capture more of the scarce resources to satisfy their secondary and luxurious wants. This makes the competition really hard for those at the lower rungs of the food chain. A situation like this causes those at the end of the food chain to continually remain unsatisfied, even with their basic needs not to mention their secondary wants. This is accompanied by more struggle and striving and constant failing as well. At some point, if you're at the lower rung, it just seems everything is stacked against you. With every failure, a determined person will try again and in this world we are building, probably fail again, no matter what he tries. This leaves us in a situation where the only way out of the mess is to find a breakthrough, and if you believe resources are scarce, breakthroughs are even more scares. **What Is The Way Then?** Well, I can't really say I know, but a few suggestions can be found in the mainstream social and media space, but first here's a story for you. There was a young man whom went digging for gold in a field with his friend. He had been digging for so long and yet he hadn't gotten anything, but his friend on the other hand, having dug not so much found a small chick of gold. The friend was happy and ran home jubilating. The man felt bad and decided that there was nothing for h where he was digging and left to start digging where his friend had dug, unbeknownst to him, there was a mountain of gold just beneath a thin layer of soil where he had been digging. **1. Be purposeful**: There are those who believe that the struggles we face in our everyday lives can be greatly reduced if we can find our purpose and stick with it. This is because, when we find our purpose in life, we feel more passionate about pursuing it and in spite of all, this will keep us motivated towards reaching that finish line. A situation when one doesn't know his purpose will lead to constantly jumping on the next available train and there's every chance you'll be late for each one. Even when the odds seems stack against you, you won't be so demotivated easily. **2. Be consistent**: One key element for success or progress in any human venture is consistency. It will not be easy, never will be, nobody promised you that. Why would you even expect that in this world of limited resources? But if you remain consistent in what you do, over time you will find that you are gradually positioning yourself to be able to milk some of these scarce resources to satisfy your basic and luxurious wants, needs and goals. It's often said ' consistency pays'. **3.Patience**: This is a virtue that goes hand in hand with consistency. Like I said, it won't be easy and for this reason, you need to have the patience and perseverance to keep going and hoping for the best. This is really needed as there are people who have lost their chance by giving up just when they were almost at the end of the tunnel. **Closing Thoughts** There are other qualities needed such as diligence, humility, a grateful heart, a positive attitude etc. From the story of the young man above, you can see that if he had these qualities, he would not have left what could have been his mountain of gold to start digging where his friend had already exhausted the ground. ***Thanks for reading. Special thanks to all who read my articles, my subscribers commmenters, upvoters, and sponsors. You guy are the real MVP and I appreciate all your support.***