SUCCESS TONIC,: "Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. You have to get up and make them for yourself!” -Madam C.J. Walker

SUCCESS TONIC

"Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. You have to get up and make them for yourself!” -Madam C.J. Walker(1867-1919)

By Charles Segun Adegbite

Everyday opportunities come to everyone on earth, in different ways and in different forms. It may be an opportunity to start a new business or relationship, venture into a new career or develop a new skill. It may be an opportunity to read a new book or learn a new thing. It may even be an opportunity to sow into the life of another person, which may open door of favour later in life. It can also be an opportunity to travel to new places or meet new people. Opportunities abound everywhere, everyday.

It is important to add to it that, while some opportunities present themselves directly, some come in a camouflage. They appear in form of a serious problem or some obstacles, disappointment, delay or frustration.

However, while some people have the ability to see opportunities in a chaotic or hopeless situation, others will just be seeing the obstacles and problem.

Late American President, Abraham Lincoln(1809-1865) said, "I will study and wait and the opportunity will come". But another American, a black woman, who was born by slave parents about five years after Lincoln declared slaves freed in America(and two years after he was assassinated), had a different view on how to handle opportunities. 

Contrary to Lincoln's belief in studying and waiting for opportunity, she had no access to education at that time when racial discrimination against black American in US was unprecedented. Rather than waiting for opportunities to come, she decided to create many for herself. Through hard work, sleepless nights and determination, she changed her life from being a laundry woman and kitchen worker to a millionaire manufacturer and philanthropist. By thinking, planning, setting goals, working hard to achieve those goals, we can open doors of opportunities for ourselves, rather than just sitting down and waiting for opportunities to come. To confirm this, she said, “I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South,” summarized Walker in a speech to the National Negro Business League Convention a few years before her death. “From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing. . . . I have built my own factory on my own ground.” Today American history would not be complete without mentioning the contributions of African-American, and great women. And you don't mention African-American or great women in America history without mentioning Sarah Breedlove widely known as Madam C.J. Walker because she was the first African-American millionaire. She was inducted into the National Women Hall of Fame in New York in 1993 (74 years after death) (1993), and had also been inducted into The Philanthropy Hall of Fame.