Stop wishing, start acting
One of the main reasons most people don’t achieve success is failure or a refusal to put their dreams into action. This book entitled “Stop Wishing, Start Acting”, co-written by Olushola Alabi and Olanike Alabi, could not have come at a better time to help such people. Olushola, teacher, preacher, counselor and motivational speaker is the CEO of Roll the Gold Konsult. Olanike has a first degree in Forest Resource Management and an MS in Information Science from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
According to Olushola and Olanike, many people only have dreams, but they never leave their realm of thought to act and succeed. These authors say that this book is full of nuggets that will motivate, inspire, teach, challenge, and encourage people to discard their desires and embrace action in order to achieve their goals in life.
Olushola and Olanike say that you are welcome to the world of celebrities, emphasizing that you are the next celebrity that the world is waiting for. They claim that this book has come to announce that your time to shine has come. You are not inferior to anyone on earth and your due time will definitely come, explains Olushola and Olanike.
These authors advise you to tap into your latent potential because this is the way for people to celebrate you. They say you should worry less about what’s going on around you. Olushola and Olanike emphasize that the world does not have a positive message to offer anyone, so anyone who wants to succeed must offer themselves positive messages declaring their enthronement.
This text is segmented into six chapters. Chapter one is titled “If Wishes Were Horses.” These authors ask the number of business ideas that one has lost this year. Olushola and Olanike add that most people’s business ideas have not gone beyond the realm of dreams and desires. In his words, “How many financial plans have you drawn this year? They never left your planning table. What about the creativity strategies you read about in the papers or the ones a friend sold you?”
They ask if you could imagine where you would have been today if you had followed that intuition that told you to fill that need in the neighborhood. According to these authors, desire is a strong desire to do something but not reinforced by action.
Many people have great business ideas that will be beneficial to humanity and the youth of this jet age are blessed with outstanding talents that can transform their generations and the generations to come, present Olushola and Olanike.
They educate that the richest place on earth is the cemetery since many people die and are buried there without achieving their purpose in life. In his words, “Great doctors, leading politicians, savvy legal luminaries, savvy businessmen, seasoned academics, professionals, talented celebrities… die without acting on their God-given vision and talent. Every true potential of God has a future. It must be pursued spiritually, physically, financially, and with everything at our disposal.”
Olushola and Olanike explain that action is a positive step taken to make a vision or dream come true. They go by way of literary allusion quoting Mike Murdock like this: “The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep scratching.”
The authors say that no one succeeds in the school of success without pursuing their dream with passion, vigor, and spirituality. Your acting on that vision, dream and talent is evidence that you believe in them, emphasize Olushola and Olanike. They reveal that your helpers of fate may be around you patiently waiting to see you pursue your dreams and they will rise up to support you.
These authors educate that this is not the season for wishing or daydreaming. Rather, they say it is the season to act on dreams, work on dreams, and face dreams boldly. You will be surprised how you will be celebrated and honored, say Olushola and Olanike.
Chapter two builds on the theme of the mysterious mind. Here, the authors teach that your mind will always act on whatever you feed it. They say that the mind is mysterious because it is the center of creativity. The authors affirm that the mind is the gift that God has given to humanity to trade. The positive mind attracts positive results and the negative mind attracts negative results, they expand.
According to Olushola and Olanike, the dominant image in one’s mind yesterday is the raw material through which one’s destiny is built today. They add that no one will change their mind for you, as it is the choice you make. Change your mind so that your destiny changes, these authors advise.
Olushola and Olanike say that once one’s mind is dominated by thoughts of failure, fear, stagnation, backwardness and hopelessness, the end result will be failure. They say that when one’s mind is controlled by the thought of hope, joy, prosperity, increase, enlargement and promotion, the end result will be prosperity. The authors add that the dominant thought of greatness produces great people while that of failure produces frustrated people. These authors reveal that the mind can travel far and near, breaking down barriers, making appointments out of disappointments.
Olushola and Olanike teach that it is not one’s title or qualification that determines one’s success. They highlight that they have seen illiterates rise to stardom due to their positive mindset, while rich men fail miserably. Olushola and Olanike say that it is a battle of the mind, so they advise to engage the mind in a positive way as the sky is not the limit for one.
In chapters three to five, these authors x-ray the concepts of a problem as a need; believing that you can start; and the present moment being the right moment.
Chapter six, the last chapter is christened “Take a Bold Step”. Olushola and Olanike say that many great talents are being wasted today, as is much potential that is seriously underutilized. They add that big dreams are thrown into the trash can.
As for the style, this text is fine. The language is simple while the presentation is brilliant. The layout of the text is unique in that it is a mixture of prose and poetic structures. The outer cover design is non-verbal communicative as it reinforces the overall theme. Even the textual visual distinction of “Stop” and “Start” on the cover amplifies the theme. There is the use of graphics to visually reinforce readers’ understanding, for example, the use of the image of the horse in chapter one entitled “If Wishes Were Horses.”
Biblical and literary/classical allusions are used to achieve conceptual amplification and lend credibility to the text.
However, some errors are noted in the book that need to be corrected. One of them is “Acknowledgment” (pages iv and vii), instead of “Acknowledgments.” Another is “Potentials” (page vi) instead of “Potential”. On page 10, we have “I wish I could…” instead of “I wish I could…”
Despite these errors, the book is intellectually and conceptually valuable. It is a must read for anyone who is ready to take action and achieve their life goal(s).