#DearMentee,

Oh had I Known!

Several years ago, while working on a particular project, I ran into a top official who could have facilitated my work and made it a whole lot easier, IF ONLY I APPROACHED HIM!!! The one thought that came to my mind when I saw him was “what if he snubs me?”, “what if he embarrasses me?”, what if his security embarrasses me, what will people say?” How will people look at me? What if they laugh at me? What if…what if…what if…?! I did not have enough confidence in me to simply walk up to the man and ‘sell my market’! The consequence? I did not achieve as much as I should have! Oh had I known! I would simply have followed my heart and did what I should have done.

Dear mentee, Listen and listen carefully, there is no statement worse than “Oh had I known!” of all the pains in life, there is none more painful than the pain of regret! It was Rafael Sabatini who said that “Regret of neglected opportunity is the worst hell a living soul can inhabit”! Simply put, regret is the worst thing that can happen to a human in this life or in the afterlife! Need I expatiate further on this topic? I think not… surely, we all have experiences that when we think about, makes us cringe about our (in)actions!

A research was carried out on 100 elderly people on their death beds, they were asked to reflect on their life’s biggest regret, nearly all of them said they regretted, not the things that they did, but the things that they didn’t do…the risks they never took…the dreams they didn’t pursue…the businesses they never started… What would your last words be? OH HAD I KNOWN?

My dear mentee, life is not meant to just work, earn money and spend on whatsoever you so desire…listen and listen carefully, every person, no matter how poor/rich/wise/stupid they maybe, has a gift, a talent(s) with which (s)he is meant to positively advance humanity IF ONLY THEY ACT ON IT! You need to realize that that dream that you have actually chose you, you did not choose to have that dream and it chose you because you are the BEST PERSON to achieve that dream and affect humanity! DUMP YOUR FEAR AND ACT ON IT! I recently came to understand that airplanes are safer in the air than on the ground because that is where it was built to perform…the longer it stays on the ground, the more it begins to rust and wear out! Every person was built to live out the dream they have inside!
Would there be struggles…of course! Struggles and criticisms are prerequisites for greatness! Nobody was ever given a trophy because they struggled and quit…but because they struggled and won! Imagine if Beyonce had decided to give up singing because the critics told her she couldn’t sing… or Steven Spielberg gave up because he was rejected from film school 3 times …. Or Oprah Winfrey who was fired and told she wasn’t fit for television, but today, who knows or even cares about the names of those television executives?

My Dear Mentee, the journey of life is riddled with pain, but you can choose between the pain of success or the pain of regret. What will your story be? One of fulfillment or one that begins with ‘Oh had I known’? George Halas said that, “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it!” always remember that it is better to look back on life and say: “I can’t believe I did that” than to look back and say “Oh had I known!

Until we talk again next week, be the best you can be…

Live…Laugh…Love

Your mentor


George Natural Onuorah