The Winning Mindset 2: The Victory of Perception

 The Winning Mindset 2: The Victory of Perception

We continue our discussion on the winning mindset. This article would be treating the subject of perception. The title for this article under this series is specifically called The Victory of Perception because true victory starts from the mind. If you can win the war in your mind, you can physically play out the victory.

Let me start with a Bible story of a young man called Gideon. There was a war in Israel,the Midianites were warring against Israel and Gideon took wheat to thresh at the winepress,due to fear of the Midianites. Winepress is for making wine from grapes not for threshing wheat but because of fear, Gideon,a young man,hid at the winepress and was threshing wheat when he had a divinely orchestrated appearance. The angel of God appeared to him and the angel's opening remark to Gideon was interesting,he said "God is with you,oh mighty man of valour". I'm sure Gideon might have searched around to see who the angel was addressing as a mighty man of valour. Definitely not me, Gideon would have thought. And Gideon asked the angel,that if truly God was with us,why are the Midianites killing us and we are victims of war. The angel told him a very important statement. It gets interesting here,just follow me. The angel told Gideon, "Go in this your might, because you will be the one to save Israel from the Midianites". But Gideon said my family is the least in our clan and even I am the least in my family, so Gideon was saying, I'm the most unqualified for this work.

What exactly am I driving at? It's the Victory of Perception. God saw Gideon as a mighty man of valour,but he saw himself as the least and that was the reason for that divinely granted appearance of the angel to him. The potential of any product is best described by the manufacturer,you will agree with me. Have you ever been bored and just scrolling through your phone's settings and you then see amazing features, you didn't even know the phone could perform? That's because we don't read the manual,not like I also do, but you get the point. The manufacturer built the device with possibilities and potential that the product might not experience till it damages or destroys,but the manufacturer can reveal the potential of the products because he made it. 

If we want to truly know ourselves,then we must know God and allow him reveal our true identity to us. Many of us are functioning below par,below potential,we are under utilising the possibilities that we carry because of ignorance. We don't know how much we can do. The Victory of Perception is simply seeing yourself as the manufacturer has made you. It means identifying with the mind of the creator about you. 

Until we realise that we are actually built to succeed in life(which of course includes our academics),we might never achieve anything worthwhile. I assure you that your academic story would change the moment you realise you were designed and built with what it takes to be the best at your academics. There's much more that you can do than what you are seeing. If only you would realise who you truly are. One of my mentors,a lecturer, told us about his academic prowess and as the class clapped for him. He told us not to bother, he was only giving expression to who he was. You don't clap for a goat for bleating, you don't thank a lion for roaring, you don't send an appreciation email to Apple because your iPhone took a really nice picture, it was made to do that.

TO BE CONTINUED...