Setting High Expectations

           
Today is certainly a day of joy for every one of us here from the parents who shed blood, tears and sweat to make sure their wards go to school in order to guarantee a great future out there; to the teachers who worked tirelessly in moulding the students into this wonderful graduands we see today; but equally importantly, the students, who pull through excruciating pain to study, inculcate the good morals passed on to them and now, we are all celebrating. Congratulations to you all.

I am here to talk on the topic – Setting High Expectations. I am going to share true life stories with you, each with its pointed lessons for everyone here and I will keep each short and simple. There was a man to whom three religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) today accord fatherhood, he was Abraham. One day on a walk with God, God told him to look up and asked, “What do you see?”

This talks about vision. Someone said, “Eyes that look are common, eyes that see are rare.” Are you limited by the relative distance your sight can give or you are blazing into the future by vision? What do you see from your heart? What do you desire from life? What is your expectation from your own life? What level do you intend to play your life? How do you intend to use the great resources God has given you? To feed mediocrity or stand out? To blend with the crowd or make a difference? What is your big dream? Are you thinking big?

Look around and you’ll see that every invention that makes life interesting to live were all from people who thought differently, had crazy ideas and expected the impossible to happen. They worked with all their hearts, failed miserably at many points, almost quit but finally broke through and today, their legacy lives on forever. You cannot think like the crowd and expect to live above them. Eagles don’t consult chickens neither do they think alike.

A bishop visited a professor of physics and chemistry who was also a college president. After dinner, the bishop declared that the millennium could not be far off because just about everything about the nature has been discovered. The young college president politely disagreed and said he felt there would be many more discoveries and inventions. When the angry bishop challenged the professor to name just one such invention, the professor replied that he was certain that within 50 years, men would be able to fly. “Nonsense! Only angels are intended to fly,” shouted the visibly angry bishop. The bishop’s name was Wright and he had two boys at home who would prove to have a greater vision, insight and extra determination to conquer their father. Their names were Orville and Wilbur Wright and they both invented the first aeroplane that ever flew successfully.

That was how someone thought that by connecting wires together he could transmit voices of people staying at different locations. He worked tirelessly at it and today, the telephone is a phenomenal tool of everyday life. The richest man in the world who is also regarded as the most successful school dropout, Bill Gates saw the future where software will be more powerful and in greater demand than the hardware. Because of this, he couldn’t afford to ‘finish’ school to kick-start his idea with the clear vision of a computer on the desk of every house in the world. Today, that vision is more than sixty per cent fulfilled.

The list of these phenomenal thinkers is just endless. These people thought crazy. They saw the future when many people were blinded by the luxury of the present or the problem inherited from the past. These people fought to reach the mountain top where others were content to live in the valley and while others were falling off the climb. Yet they didn’t stop there. They chose to fly. They expected the impossible to happen where many were afraid for them and in the end, the impossible became possible. So I ask you: What do you expect from life? What do you see yourself doing?

For the students, where do you see yourself in two years’ time? Five years? Ten? Twenty? Some of you will get admissions this year, many will be rejected. Some of you will study your desired courses, many won’t. Yet there are those among you who will travel out while some will be at home to write exams the next year. Will you envy those who are shining or you will double up your effort to beat them? I want to charge you to focus on building what you have while you focus on the big dream. If they reject you, let your great achievement make them regret not picking you. That was what Brian Acton did. As a gifted computer programmer he went to Twitter headquarters in May 2009 to get a job, he was rejected. He went to Facebook headquarters in August 2009 for job interview yet he was turned down. Then he went back home and built what he had. He worked hard for months and finally cofounded an invention that grew in popularity. Guess what, Facebook founder and CEO started looking for him. Mark Zuckerberg called him up, invited this rejected guy to his office and offered to buy his invention. This guy decided and sold the invention for a total of $19bn. This guy’s name is not popular like his invention but he was the one who built Whatsapp Messenger. He made the big guys regret not giving him a job. So if you are rejected, go back and build on what you have, beat the best to make them regret rejecting you. Don’t be content with low living, there is unlimited space up there to fly; sadly, only few get there. Be among those few.

Once upon a time, when God finished making the world, he wanted to leave behind a piece of His divinity, a spark of His essence, a promise to man of what he would become with effort. He looked for a place to hide this precious gift because, He explained, “What man could find too easily will never be valued by him.” “Then you must hide this gift on the highest mountain peak on earth,” said one of His counsellors. God shook His head, “No, for man is an adventurous creature and he will soon enough learn to climb the highest mountain peak on earth.” “Hide it then, O Great One, in the depths of the earth.” “I think not,” said God, “for man will one day discover that he can dig into the deepest parts of the earth.” “In the middle of the ocean then Master!” God shook His head. “I’ve given man a brain, you see, one day he’ll learn to build ships and cross the mightiest oceans.” “Where then Master?” cried His counsellors. God smiled, “I’ll hide it where every man and woman will be able to find it if they look sincerely and deeply enough. I’ll hide it in their heart.”

Go out there and unearth yourself. If you are young you’ve got an advantage of starting early. BOBBY FISCHER became world chess champion at age 14. COLIN MCCLAURIN was 19 years when he was elected Professor of Mathematics. PROF (SIR) LAWRENCE BRAGG was 25 years old when he won the Nobel Prize for Physics. At 14, MARK ANDERSON had made 80 million by designing and creating Computer Programs. AGBANI DAREGO became Miss World at age 18. MIKE MURDOCK preached his first public message at 8. KIRK FRANKLIN was director of his church choir at 11. DAVID was appointed National Harpist at age 18. You are uniquely gifted and specially created for what no other person can do like you. Achieve that. Don’t stop working. Don’t stop dreaming big because dreams still come true.

And for the adults here, it is never too late to dream anew or to set high expectations no matter your age, even if you are retired. Kenya’s NGAGA MARUGE was 84 when he became the world’s oldest pupil by Guiness Book of World Records, the oldest primary school student ever. OSCAR SWAHN won an Olympic silver medal in shooting at 72. At 90, MICHELANGELO was still painting his mind-blowing masterpieces. ISAAC WALTON still wrote fiction when he was 90. SIDNEY SHELDON didn’t write his first novel till he was 53 and wasn’t celebrated as a novelist until he clocked 60. BILLY GRAHAM still travelled around the world preaching in his 80s. At 85, JOHN WESLEY lamented in his diary that he couldn’t write for more than five hours a day because of weakening eyesight and strength.

You may say you are retired, but I want to charge you with this story to set a new and high expectation. Have you heard of Colonel Sanders? Just like Brian Acton, his name is not as popular as his business. Here is the story of Col. Sanders:

Ø  At 5 years old: he lost his father

Ø  At 16: he dropped out of school

Ø  At 17: he was fired from 4 jobs

Ø  At 18: he got married and became a railroad conductor

Ø  At 19: He became a father to a little girl

Ø  At 20: His wife left him and took their 1 year old baby daughter with her

Ø  At 22: He joined the army, applied to law school, and faced rejection after rejection from  school and the jobs he was at

Ø  He then became an insurance salesman, another failure to be added to his already messy résumé

Ø  He decided to be a cook and a dishwasher at a small café

Ø  At 65 years old: He retired

Ø  On the first day of his retirement, he received a check from the government for $105. What a slap on the face. How can he survive on a $105 monthly budget, he thought, at such an old age?

Ø  Feeling like a total failure, he decided to commit suicide. He sat under a tree writing his suicide letter and will. Then all of a sudden, he thought of writing instead, what he would have accomplished had he the choice to start his life all over. He realized that there was so much he hadn’t done yet!

Ø  One thing he realized that he could do like no one else; actually, he could do it better than everyone else: that was cooking, cooking the best chicken anyone had ever tasted

Ø  He borrowed $87 to buy a fryer and his recipe’s ingredients. He lived on his unique fried chicken recipe, trying to sell it door to door to his neighbours in Kentucky, as well as to license it to restaurants.

Ø  He was rejected yet again 1,009 times from the restaurants he tried to license his recipe to

Ø  The 1,010th restaurant gave him his yes moment. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was born

Ø  At 88: Colonel Sanders became a multi-billionaire and KFC the second biggest food empire

Ø  Now KFC has over 20,000 locations in 123 countries

Bible says in Habakkuk 2:2, “Write the vision down, make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that reads it.” You have what it takes to be successful. Don’t give up. Set high expectations. It is never too old to dream. Dream big and go after your wildest dreams. Believe in what you do and in yourself no matter how many times you get rejected. Make them regret rejecting you by making a difference in people’s life and enhancing them. You can. You will. I would love to wish you all the best in life but I won’t. I prefer to charge you to beat the best out there. As for me, check me out tomorrow, my tomorrow will surely be great because I’m working towards it. Check me out tomorrow, I long to see you too and hear your story. Congratulations. God bless.