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Principle One

Picture, Venture, and Capture (PVC)

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

—Napoleon Hill

The questions what do I really want in life, who do I want to be, what on earth am here to accomplish, why was I born at a particular time like this, etc. are some of the most fundamental questions that has been asked by some of the greatest philosophers and scientist over the years. Which has led to many theories and discoveries that has continually advance the course of humanity and will continue to be the guiding light to future inventions and discoveries. That is why I believe that problem and challenges are very vital in the prosperity of humankind. What this means is that we cannot have a problem-free life, we are either running toward something or something is running toward us.

Therefore facing and overcoming your challenges on a daily basis is a proof that you are still worthy to be here. Hence anyone who will tell you that he has never experience pain or failure in their life, may have not really tried anything worthwhile in his or her life before. So the problem of humanity is never going to be exhaustive, it is a continual working process. This book, however, is a way to give or recommend some proven principles on how to thrive successfully through this challenges and limitations on a one-at-a-time basis. In other words while the search for how, what, when, and the why of human problems possess a limitation to the progress of humankind, it is also a necessary ingredient in the advancement of ideas and imaginations that will lead to more and more simplified ways on how to solve future challenges that lies ahead. It is never exhaustive.

Hence on this chapter, we will be looking at the concept of PVC, which simply means picture, venture, and capture, as one the key ways to give answers to this dilemma. Firstly, what is a picture? I simply define a picture as a visual representation of an object past, present, or future. In other words, it matters what kind of mental representation you have in your mind, that is negative or positive. All worthwhile achievement begins from your mental representations of things whether past, present, or future. That is why the Bible teaches in the Book of Romans 12:2 saying, “Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind.” This means an active participation in changing your thoughts and mental representation of things in your heart. In other words, fill your heart with positive thoughts because whatever you see in your heart is what you will eventually have in material reality. One of my favorite English quotes says, “If you can change a man’s thought pattern, you have unconsciously change his entire approach to life” (Anonymous).

So many of us are stuck and stagnated in life not because of our location, past experiences, or economic policies of the government of our countries but because of our mental representation of what is possible for us. We have limited ourselves with what I may call self-impose limitation, a feeling of unworthiness, negative presuppositions, and lack of courage to venture into our dreams.

I write this book to submit to you that you have greatness within you. There is literally nothing you cannot accomplish if you put your potentials, energy, and focus on it, but you must begin to develop and create the right mental picture for your preferable future. I may not know the level of your challenges or uncertainties that you are facing right now in your life, but one thing I’m certain about is that you can stop focusing your mind on what is wrong and who is wrong and start looking ahead with a positive mind-set coupled with taking courageous decisions toward your objectives with the help of the supreme being who is the creator of the universe, God.

You will begin to accomplish more with less effort, and soon your lost happiness will be restored. Time and time again we fail in life because we make poor evaluation of the challenges that we face on daily basis. In other words, poor evaluation leads to a poor life, thoughtful and proper evaluation leads to a rich life; learn to look at any challenge facing you right now with a possibility mind-set because if you can see beyond it, you can leave above it. It all starts in your mind; a positive mental state of mind is the beginning of all worthwhile achievements.

You have to wake up every morning with the mind-set of positivity, say to yourself that it’s possible. Rephrase words like, it’s possible that I can leave my dreams, it’s possible that I can start my own business, it’s possible that I can get to the top of my field, and before long your heart will be obsessed with the positive vibes required to pull you beyond limits. It was Napoleon Hill that said, “There are no limitations to the mind except those that we acknowledge.”

Now here is my point. Begin to develop the mental pictures of what you want to be, do, have, and accomplish in the years to come because if you can picture it and venture in to it, you will capture it. Put in another way, conceive it, believe it, and you will accomplish it. It makes no difference how big or impossible your dreams and objective are, it depends in your ability to believe in yourself. The fact is that you are smarter, more powerful, and intelligent than you are currently expressing right now. All you need to do is to push beyond limits, step out of your comfort zone.

It was William J. H. Boetcker, who said, “You can succeed if nobody else believes it, but you will never succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.” All worthwhile achievements spring up from self-belief, a belief that I can make it happen for me. We live in a very fast-paced and competitive world. There are a lot of discoveries and inventions coming up. The world as we have it today has become a global village, people are learning and developing new skills in order to remain relevant in their various field of endeavors.

If we must, therefore, compete favorably with our peers today, we must consciously begin to develop some kind of attitude, goals, visions, and the needed courage required to venture in to the pictures in our heart. The term picture, venture, and capture (PVC) was a concept I developed so many years ago in one of my quiet moments, and over the years I have practiced and applied this principle in my own personal life. The more I understand and apply this principle, the more I accomplish greater things with great rewards. Author and writer, John C. Mason, opined visualize success and you will succeed, visualize failure and you will fail.

The fact is that whatever you see in our world today was once a picture in someone’s heart, but the distinguishing factor was that they had the courage to venture into those pictures in their heart to be able to make them to what we’ll call inventions today—the cars, computers, airplanes etc.—that we are all enjoying today. We’re all at one point a mere pictures or ideas in the inventor’s mind. Here is my point, we must begin to develop the required courage needed to turn our ideas and dreams into reality. We all want to achieve greater things in life, we all have some ideas or pictures of what we want to accomplish in life. But the challenge for most people has always been clarity and the ability to focus on one thing until it is accomplished. The fact is that there is nothing you cannot accomplish if you decide to.

A writer once said that nothing can stop a human will which will stake even its existence for what he wants in life. Where do you see yourself in two years from now, five years from now, ten years from now? Many of us cannot give satisfactory answers to this question. In other words, the picture in your heart is like a road map to your preferred destination in life. The Bible teaches us that God has promised to give us the desires of our heart.

The problem with many of us believers today is that we don’t even have clear desires or some specific set goals of what we want to achieve. We are just living every day wishing and experimenting our lives on different things. This, therefore, becomes a challenge to our Creator because he cannot even figure out any clear cut, specific desire in our heart to work with. There is power in picture; the fact is that whatever you see in our world today was once a picture at one point in someone’s mind.

It is of utmost important, therefore, that you begin to develop a beautiful picture for your future because if you can see it in your spirit, you can bring it to material reality. Best-selling author and speaker, Les Brown, said in one of his numerous quotes that the worst thing that can happen to an individual is not being able to achieve his goals, but the worse thing is not having any goal to pursue. Imagine a soccer team playing a competition without a goalpost.

They will just be running around in a vicious circle without anything to show for their effort. Author Anthon St. Maarten made a powerful statement when he said, and I quote, “Dare to dream! If you did not have the capability to make your wildest wishes come true, your mind would not have the capacity to conjure such ideas in the first place.”

There is no limitation on what you can potentially achieve, except for the limitations you choose to impose on your own imagination. My point, therefore, in PVC simply means that you should visualize a picture of your preferable future, capture it with precision, focus on it and make it specific enough to be able to interpret it to someone else, then develop the courage to venture into it. And consistently act on it until it is accomplished.

One of my favorite verse in the Bible that has changed my mind-set over the years is Philippians 4.13. It says, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” I want to submit to you that you have the skills, potentials, ideas, and the ability to turn your dreams into reality; all you need is to venture in to whatever you want with courage because where there is a will there is way.

If you can see yourself becoming that engineer, doctor, actor, musician, lawyer, etc., you can be it. The three basic steps is to picture it, venture in to it, and capture it with courage. The Book of Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. In other words, if you can think it, you can be it.

Hence I understand that many of us has not been able to act on our dreams because of what I call the “what-if factor.” Oftentimes we are faced with the negative questions like what if it doesn’t work out, what if no one support me, what if my friends laugh at me. But the fact is that you can never know what you can do until you try. Author and writer Robert M. Pirsig confirmed this when he said, and I quote, “It’s so hard when contemplated in advance, and so easy when you do it.” The fact to note here is that beginning is half done; the moment you develop the courage to take the first step, all other things will begin to fall in place to support its realization. Act on that idea, work on that skill, venture into that project. There is no limit to want what you can achieve if only you can see beyond your limitation. You can leave beyond your limitation.

Author and motivational speaker Les Brown made a powerful statement when he said, “If you can look up you can stand up.” I challenge you today to take a bold step toward that goal or task that you have set for yourself because you have been equipped with the ideas, skills, and ability to accomplish it even before you conceptualize the dream. You have what it takes to go for it. You have to realize that no one else is going to sing your own music, no one is going to make your own invention that was given to you, or write your own book. It was given to you by God, and only you can bring it to reality.

The moment you take the first bold step toward it, the resources, materials, personnel, and all other connections that will support its realization will begin to show up. It was Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century that said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” What this means, therefore, is that while your knowledge can take you from point A to point B, imagination can take you to wherever you want to go in life. In fact the determining factor between your now and your next two years, five years, ten years, etc. is largely depended on the imagination and pictures in your heart. The Bible in the Book of Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinketh his heart so is he.” In other words, if you can imagine it, you can bring it in to reality. There is no limit.

Key Important Points to Note from the Foregoing Chapter

1 All worthwhile accomplishments begin with a positive, clear mental picture.

2 You can have, do, and become anything you want to be by venturing into your dreams without fear, doubt, or hesitancy

3 You have all the skills, power, and ability to turn your dreams into reality if only you can believe in yourself.

4 Whatever idea you can conceptualize in your mind and consistently act and believe in it, with the help of the supreme being, God, you will eventually bring it to materialization.