There is joy in breaking your own record

Overcome by the frustration of a job hunt on the internet, I started clicking on any link that says, no experience required, opportunities for amateurs, your background does not matter and happen to find myself deep in the web of the internet (My wealth of experience in technical and non-technical fields had to be humbled). Somehow I was reading about the Berlin Marathon. Initiated in 1974, the race normally happens in the last weekend of September, enrolling both professional and amateur runners in the city –wide road race.  

Since its inception 41 years ago, the Berlin Marathon world record has been broken only seven times, the first record being broken 25 years after it was initiated. If the Berlin Marathon is anything to go by, this may be an indication of how challenging it is not just to be a champion, but a world record champion.  

A lot of patience, perseverance, and hard work are required to attain that status. And for the case of Dennis Kimetto, who until four years ago was a full time farmer, a lot of skills must have been acquired and applied really fast. In one of the interviews, the new world record holder says he was declared fit only two weeks to the event, following an injury he was sustaining from his training sessions. And my highlight of the interview was when he said he did not go to the race with any plan of breaking the world record but just to race and run his personal best (Yes, I had to look for his interview. I tend to enjoy the Kale athletes’ interviews more than the race).

For most subsistence rural farmers, their main aim wouldn’t be competing on whose farm yields more produce than the other, but doing a little more extra to ensure that they surpass their previous season’s produce. Simply, this is what I call breaking your own record and it makes your whole body smile.

Do not get stuck in the good old days and lose sight of the better new ones. Stretch yourself, never get contented with past success when there is room for improvement. How many times in your conversations do you tell people what you used to do or who you used to be? Both individuals and organizations speak this language, not realizing they are limiting their way of what and who they need to be.

Life is a marathon race. It is not for the swift, but for those who endures its tests. Like a marathon, life signs up everyone, the skilled and the not-skilled as its participants. Through a funnel like course, we are meant to race with only a few expected to cross the finish line. Similarly, life gives you a chance to improve on your performance, to break your own record because life is full of abundance and all you need is to believe you can better your best.

Never give up.  

©Olegamba 2014.

The Courage to Continue

In one of the interviews in Kenya, Dr. Myles Munroe shared the fundamental questions that every human being on earth is motivated by and that they always should try to answer.

1. Who am I?
2. Where am I from? 
3. Why am I here?
4. What can I do?
5. Where am I going?

Who am I?

The first question we need to answer in our quest to success is who we really are. Not what you do but what you are worth, what you stand for and what drives you. Once we are in a position to answer this question, then the confidence and the courage to continue becomes even stronger.

‘Tell us about yourself.’ A common, yet one of the challenging inquiries encountered at the interviews. How well do you know yourself? This question deals with identity; it is a revelation of your essence. If you do not know who you really are you end up dying as someone else.

Where am I from?

The approach Dr. Munroe gives this question is not from the ethnic or geographical location one is coming from. This question does not ask you about your background. This question tends to find out how much worth or value you tag on yourself as a person. If we do not know where we are from we cannot know our abilities, our strengths and our potential. We are always as strong as where we come from and always valuable as the price and worth we tag on ourselves.

These two questions help us strategize and position ourselves for success right here where we are. You have to create and identify with your personal brand. This calls for digging deep into you and knowing yourself better. No one can tell your potential better than you can do.

Let us think about these fundamental questions and build our own individual brands that can be of value and worth what we really desire. It is not an easy task, but it is worth the effort.

©Olegamba 2014.

Power in your hands.

A story is told of an old wise man. His name Jabali. Who earned lots of esteem and nobility not only from his village but also from the neighboring villages. Anyone who went to him with a problem left his place happy and hopeful.  He had a solution to everyone and every problem. Whatever problem you may think of, personal problems to family problems, business problems, societal problems, name it. He had a solution.

Jabali was highly spoken of by the villagers. However, there was a young man who was really disturbed by the way the villagers went into raptures over Jabali.  He created problems of every sort he thought could never be solved and took it to this old man. To his bewilderment, the solution that was offered always convinced him.

One day, during an open air counseling session in the village, this young appeared. Interrupting the proceedings, he stood between the old wise man Jabali and the villagers, caught a butterfly in the air and folded it into his palm.

“Old man!” he shouted, “Dead or alive?” he asked, stretching his folded palm towards the wise Jabali.

The villagers looked at the situation in trepidation, imagining how tricky that situation was to the wise Jabali. If he says alive, the young man would crush the butterfly to death. If he says dead, the young man would simply open his palm and release the butterfly to freedom. Either way, the wise Jabali would fall for the trick.

 “Dead or alive, old man?” he yelled again, frightening the cloud of silence covering them. But silence crept in again, leaving everyone in awe. The old man took a sip of water, cleared his throat, looked at the young man straight in the eyes and said,

“Young man, the power is in your hands.”

Life is a journey full of diverse circumstances. We can either seek problems or seek solutions in the face circumstances. Take the walk of life positively and accept that which comes your way because you have the power to change it and/ or make it better.

There is so much to be drawn from this ancient story that can apply in our lives. In summary, I would like to share my lessons from the story by a one of my favorite quotes; “The man (woman) who thinks he (she) can and the man (woman) who thinks he (she) can’t are both right. Which one are you?” ~ Henry Ford

Whatever you want to do, the power is in your hands.

©Olegamba 2014.

Which puzzle are you solving?

In 1974, a Hungarian professor of architecture invented a toy that is considered the world’s best-selling toys. The toy is in form of a puzzle, originally called the Magic Cube, and later named it Rubik’s Cube, after his name Erno Rubik,

A Rubik’s Cube has six sides and each side is marked with one solid color: blue, green, red, orange, yellow, and white. To solve the puzzle, each side must have a single color, and it took the inventor one whole month to figure out how to solve the Rubik’s Cube. Is it because there are 42 Quintillion possibilities to solve the puzzle but only one solution?

In solving the Rubik’s Cube, you don’t get one color say white, on one side as it is required then avoid undoing it in an attempt to fix the other sides with their respective colors. You must keep on altering the completed side in order to completely solve the whole puzzle through a given pattern that must be followed to achieve this. If you are a novice, you become very reluctant to undo the completed side.

Like the Rubik’s Cube, life is a puzzle with different sides. We categorize them differently as personal life, career life, family life, social life and so on. I call them departments. I generally classify the departments as the body, mind and soul. The body is where the physical activities happen, health, appearance and posture are taken care of in this department. The mind is where decisions are made; it handles the knowledge and the intellect faculty. Creativity, relationships, consciousness reside in the soul and these three departments are interdependent.

Since living is the only thing we do full time, we need to find our purpose in life and put all these departments in order. That is the puzzle we should solve, finding our purpose, because the purpose of life is a life of purpose. Therefore, we need a wholesome approach to life and take charge with the seriousness it deserves. Some sides may seem to be working so well in our lives maybe because it is what we have come to accept as our destination and we would not wish to change what we are so used to.

As we find our purpose in life we may need to read more, workout more or socialize more to create some more meaningful relationships. This may cost us some friends, some sleep and energy. Conforming to the prevailing conditions needs no effort. However, changing our physical, mental or spiritual environment needs lots of effort and when we become in sync with our lives’ core aim we are able to focus our strengths in more meaningful ventures.

A more purposeful life means we confront our situations and start engaging to the uttermost, our unique talents and contribute positively to the lives of others. Improving the lives of others is said to be the surest way of improving your own life. That is why every great person has something to share. 

©Olegamba 2014.

Is it Enought?

Joe, a friend of mine, once invited me for lunch at his house. He keeps a fierce German shepherd as his pet named Dexter. This particular day Dexter was on his mat. Lying there, he looked so uneasy.

“What’s wrong with Dexter today? He looks disturbed” I raised my concern

“He has been acting up all morning, stuck in his couch.”  Showing little concern for Dexter, “He is nowadays mature and he knows what to do in case there is a problem.” Joe continued.

“What do you mean he knows what to do?” I was puzzled

“He is lying on a pin and he won’t move until it is painful enough.”

That incident has since made an impression on me and it kept me thinking for long.

How many times do we stick ourselves in situations that we are not yet ready to move away from because it is not painful enough? How many times do we find solace in our comfort zones because we are not hit hard enough to move into action? Must it be painful enough for us to start working on the solutions?

Sometimes we find ourselves in some sort of situations that we don’t like but are reluctant to work on it. We think we can stand the pain. We thus tend to delay our move to action. At the end of the day, we get used to it and treat it as a little problem that needs no urgent attention. Then one situation leads to another and so on until there is a total collapse of the system. A system to rescue the situation, the system to success.

Many of us have come across the Broken Windows theory. It argues that if a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. This theory applies to us too. If we fail to repair the broken windows in our lives soon enough, if we fail to move until it is painful enough, the pain will become contagious and more windows will be broken, causing significant problems. And guess what, it might never be painful enough for you to move.

The other side of the coin: if it will never be painful enough, you will remain lying there like Dexter. Opportunities will come and go, time will pass you by. You will paralyze your competence waiting for the situation to get bad enough. So,

Move! Take action in face of a problem. Confront your situations head on. Ask for help if it is a must. Don’t just sit there waiting for the impetus to engage in the confrontation to come from pain.

It might not be painful enough.

©Olegamba 2014.

Make it Count

A new month is here, the last month of the third quarter of the year. At the end of which we should look back and evaluate our performance and make proper adjustments to realize our dreams. But what on earth does it take to make these dreams come true?
Many may not have anything to show for the work they have done in the last eight months and might be under pressure as the year is almost coming to a close. Many may be under pressure because of their age, by society, or by other different circumstances to accomplish their dreams. Pressure normally comes when we start comparing ourselves to others (I wish we did not sign up to that class). As long as there is a plan of action and, or a strategy of attaining your goals that are followed consistently, then there should be little to worry about.
A lot can be construed from the story of planting a Chinese bamboo. When the bamboo is planted, it does not sprout an inch above the ground despite it being nurtured and watered for the whole growing season. Whilst the bamboo tree and the fern might have been planted at the same time in the forest and given equal measure of attention, the fern quickly grows from the earth and beautifully covers the ground of the forest.
After two years of continued care, fertilization, and irrigation, the bamboo tree still has nothing significant to show while the fern grows more vibrantly and abundantly. The third season comes and goes then the fourth. Four years of caring and hard work yet nothing to show for it.
And then on the fifth year, something so amazing and incredible happens. A tiny sprout emerges from the earth but it is nothing significant compared to the fern. Then after some time, the bamboo grows more than 80 feet tall, all in one growing season.
The bamboo tree did not just “sit” inactive for four years waiting to grow on the fifth. It was actually mounting itself underground by growing its root structure to make it tough enough to sustain its coming external growth in the fifth year and beyond.
Had the tree failed to build up a strong and able underground foundation, it would be impossible for it to keep on growing when it is time to sprout out into the outside world.
All that we do every day should always be a step or two towards our goals. We all are free to dream, however, we all also need to realize that dreams are very expensive. Patience, persistence and hard work are needed to realize our dreams. We should make all that we do count in pursuit of our dreams.
“If your dream does not make you uncomfortable, then you should change it” as one of my mentors continuously keeps reminding me.

©Olegamba 2014.

New Leaf

Into the future I looked wanting to mask;
thoughts and deeds I planted in past.
While memories most were of Friday last;
a nadir of self is lost in lust.

Questioning, I am planning to leave;
the unconscionable style that now I live.
Amazing grace I sought You give;
with wisdom You'll grant I now believe.

As I journey the valley may she be part;
In seeking your ways ain't I depart;
Believing in days may I impact;
that beaming wisdom that now is packed.

Asante I say, I now give thanks;
Your mercies abound I've no remarks;
My horizon You've stretched, I give full marks;
In Your wisdom I live, I now leave marks;