Welcome to this Week’s capsules. Three weeks back, we started looking at the second category; those who have discovered their talent but are too scared to take the bold step because of the fear of the unknown. Last week. Last week, I started talking about taking risks. Today we are going to be looking at taking major risks.

I will tell you an interesting story today, to drive home my point of taking major risks. There existed a rich king who had just a daughter. He wanted to give her out in marriage but wanted a very brave son-in-law as his successor. He prepared a fortune as a gift for whoever it was that was going to marry his daughter but there was a price to it, the person had to swim through a pool with hungry crocodiles, sharks, snakes and other dangerous water creatures. Whoever came through this challenge to the other side of the pool was going to have his daughter’s hand in marriage and eventually succeed him.

Several suitors came for the beautiful damsel, but when they saw the risk involved, they all stepped aside as each feared for his own life. One of the suitors who also stepped aside suddenly found himself in the pool but rigorously and swiftly swam through the pool, navigating through the ugly and dangerous sea creatures. While everyone was still applauding and congratulating the young man who had just made it through to the other side, he angrily turned back and asked ‘who pushed me in?’

You can imagine, he was actually pushed into his glorious future. He obviously didn’t know he had the capacity to navigate through hungry sharks and crocodiles until he found himself in the pool….. Think about that for a while. There is something I always say to people; we don’t know how powerful we truly are until we have no other choice but to fight our way through seemingly impossible situations.

In the pursuit of our talents, some of us would have to take major risks. By this, I mean ignoring all the pros and cons and just going ahead to begin to do those things we are passionate about because we are more powerful than we think. Most times, we don’t know our true potential until we are kicked out of our comfort zones. We are powerful beyond measure. We are gods for crying out loud!

A wise saying goes thus, he who waits for all the traffic lights on his route to turn green before pulling into the driveway, will never head out for his journey. I heard a young man say some time ago that he got fired to be fired. He got fired off his job before he got fired up to face his dreams. A few years later, he was a huge success. Sometimes, until you get to that point where your talent has no plan B, nothing really happens.

I round up this week’s capsules with a short note from Toyosi Akerele story, gathered from the horse’s mouth. You might do well to Google her, if you don’t already know her. After finding her passion and of impacting youths and had already set up Rise Youths Network, Toyosi had graduated and as usual there was pressure from family members to get a job.

She took up a job with Oando when the pressure got too much. For most Nigerian youths, that was a dream come through but after a week on the job, Toyota got really frustrated by the number of protégé s that were calling her during work hours. Calls she couldn’t take because of the job. After about a week on the job she resigned to face her passion. It seemed like the most crazy thing to have done at the time, but a few years later she was CEO RISE GROUP! Only a few years later, she was managing a group of her own companies! Do whatever it takes to go after your talent, even if it means taking major risks .

Punch line, for you who already knows what you are supposed to be doing but are too scared to get off your comfort zone, my advice is push yourself into the pool of life!