Fola Daniel Adelesi: Right Size, Right Location

As I prepared to inspire you today and help you see things from a different and positive perspective in life, I remembered two great and short stories that I have summed up as right size and right location. If you have the right size and the right location then you will succeed and nothing will stop you.

When I wrote about ‘closer to the dream’ I made reference to ‘Acres of Diamond’ written by James Allen and I hope you will still make out the time to read this very small book of less than 40 pages – just in case you haven’t read it. My reference point was about how a man went out in search of diamonds and what he was looking for was right under his nose. He had squandered resources and wasted energy and time but he had all he was looking for around him.

That takes me to my first story. Someone very famous in this country had a meeting with his protégé and was trying to explain success to him. This protégé had tried very many things but was finding it difficult to succeed. He had also tried to travel abroad very many times. Each time he went to be embassy he was denied visa. At some point he even organised special prayers meetings and then went to the embassy but was still denied that visa.

After this time he went to his mentor and his mentor said to him ‘promotion does not come from ABROAD it comes from ABOVE. That was a profound statement. I have always believed that sometimes your location will not count if you don’t get help from God. You will just be struggling on your own.

Let me give you the second story and then link this up. Incidentally it was another great mentor who once lived in this country that shared this before he died. He tried to encourage some of his protégés who were just keen on changing location and hoping to make it really big because of the new location.

He started by saying, ‘if you are a LIZARD on the inside you will not become a CROCODILE when you get to another country.’ Now that’s something you should never forget. This simply means it is not your location that will make you big or transform your life. you must have it inside you. if you are a lizard the location will not change your size. You must have something on the inside of you that the right location can give an expression to. If you are a crocodile on the inside, changing your location will only make sense because you need space for your size and crocodiles cannot live everywhere!

Now let’s tie this up. The right size talks about what is on the inside of you. Are you the right size on the inside? The right size is what you have trained yourself to do. Do you have any solid training? The right size is a skill that you have mastered so much that you can close your eyes and do it. For me, speaking is a skill that I have mastered so much that I can close my eyes and deliver a speech within the shortest possible notice and you would think that I have been preparing for that speech. So what is yours? Think about that.

When you have settled the right size then you can begin to look for the right location. Let me drive this home by the story of a fish, I think it’s the whale, that I heard years ago. It has the capacity to grow into several feets. Interestingly, this creature that can grow into about 15 feet or even more will remain small if thrown into a small aquarium. It will never outgrow the size of that aquarium. But if by a miracle someone takes it out of that aquarium and it gets into the ocean, you will argue that it’s not the same fish when next you see it.

So on the inside you can have the right size but you still need to get the right location to be who you were designed to be. Unfortunately what some people try to do is the other way round. They want the location first and then the size. Things may work out that way but its best you have the right size before getting to the right location or identifying it. Remember, you don’t put the yeast into the bread after setting it in a container. You put the yeast first then you put the dough in a container. It is then that the bread swells to the size of that container and also takes it shape.

Here’s my call to action for you. What exactly is the size that you need to work on inside you? Write it down in your notepad, on your phone and every visible place. Begin to work on it now if you haven’t started.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Xiao Cai