Discover Your Greatness: It's a new season!

"With the new day comes new strength and new thought" -Eleanor Roosevelt. Seasons are the Creator’s way of drawing the curtain on our past to usher us into our destined future.

It is also a period in life which introduces us into new moments and possibilities. The previous season may have been successful or thrilling, agonizing or fruitless but you've been given the opportunity to make a new start.

A season can also be a psychological resolution to start afresh or make a turnaround in life. Life may have been rough and tough last season but a new day has come, a day of equal opportunity, clean slate and triumph.

Farmers -- regardless of their harvest the previous season -- always hope for a better harvest in the subsequent one. Likewise as we’ve commenced a new season, hope for the best in spite of your experiences in the previous season.

You may have failed miserably, been disappointed painfully, or even succeeded greatly but a new season is here and the past failures or successes will not be the prerequisites for your triumph in this new season.

In other words, whatever happened to you last season wouldn’t have any direct effect on this season because you’ve been given the chance to start a new day. Hence, do not remember the former things.

It is sad to say, most times we subconsciously link our past experiences with our present situations thereby disqualifying or discouraging ourselves based on what we’ve been through.

Bear in mind that your ability to outlast the seasons of life would determine your success in life.

Not everyone is able to outlast their season in life. Some people do give in too soon; others throw in the towel not knowing how close they are to a new day in life.

The story of Mallory demonstrates the persistence required to outlast the seasons of life even in the face of failures and disappointments.

In the 1920?s, a group of mountaineers and explorers led by a man named Mallory sought repeatedly to scale the highest mountain on earth, Mt. Everest. On the first attempt they failed, so was their second. A third attempt was made with a team of experts and experienced crew.

In spite of careful planning and extensive safety precautions, on the third attempt an avalanche hit and Mallory and most of his party were killed. When the crew who survived returned to England, they were given an ovation and saluted in a great banquet held to honor the adventurous souls of Mallory’s final expedition.

As the leader of the survived crew stood to acknowledge the applause, he looked around the banquet hall at framed pictures of those who had died. Then he turned his back to the crowd to face a huge picture of Mt. Everest which stood like a silent, unconquerable giant behind the head banquet table.

With tears streaming down his face, he addressed the mountain on behalf of Mallory and his dead companions and declared: “I speak to you, Mt. Everest, in the name of all brave men living and those yet unborn. Mt. Everest, you defeated us once; you defeated us twice; you defeated us three times. But Mt. Everest, we shall someday defeat you, because you can’t get any bigger, and we can.”

This declaration initiated the mountain climbers into a new season, a season of enormous belief to conquer the unconquerable and achieve the impossible. It was in the spirit of this assertion that Sir Edmund Hillary made his stern statement to a friend just before World War II, “Someday I’m going to climb Everest.” See, last season may have been bitter but expect a better season this time because it is a new day.

It is a season of scaling any “Mount Everest” in your life, family, job, calling, relationship, etc.

A former Scottish football player and a BBC television football pundit, Alan Hansen analyzing the performance of a Football club said, “Even though they won’t finish in the top four this season, they will still be of the contenders next season.”

Though last season wasn’t as successful and promising as you had anticipated, you are still a viable contender for success, breakthrough, open-doors, and extraordinary exploits this season. It is not enough to expect a new day without taking the necessary measures and preparations.

The following are few preparatory measures to assist you in outlasting the seasons of life:

PERSISTENCE – It is the ability to keep on keeping on regardless of the challenges staring at you. “Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in,” William Eardley IV. Someone once said “The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.” Sowing in the season of failure takes persistence.

SEIZE THE MOMENTS – In other words, take your chances. Most people always show up too late in life. They are either too late for an appointment, too late for church, too late for work, too late to accept a proposal or contract and would most likely be too late in taking their chances in life. Carpe diem! Seize the day!

FOCUS ON THE PRESENT – One of the contributing factors to failure and unfruitfulness is the attitude of leaving in the past. There are people who are always blaming yesterday and wishing for tomorrow but never wake up to roll up their sleeves to do what is required of them today to secure tomorrow. When the present is properly managed, it ushers you into a successful future. May you scale insurmountable mountains, leap over impossible walls, and run through indomitable troops because it is a new day; a day of achieving the impossible.

Dr. Ignatius Otchere-Asamoah is an Inspirational Speaker, Psychotherapist, Author and Entrepreneur.