Create Your Luck. People & Chances

We all have different perspectives as far as the issue of luck is concerned. Some do not believe in luck at all whereas some believe that they were just not born lucky or as the cliché goes, not born with silver spoon in their mouth.

Research has proven that to a large extent, we make our own good and bad fortune. It is also evident, through a scientific study, that it is possible for people to increase the amount of luck they encounter in their lives. Truth be told, we all have a lucky tie in our closet, a lucky shirt or dress or a lucky something we do or wear to enhance our chances of being more fortunate. These may make us feel nice for a while, yes, but it is not the kind of formula that is being addressed by these scientific research.

In an article in Reader’s Digest, Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology, explains his findings on a research he did to find out why some people are consistently lucky while other are not. He placed advertisements in newspapers and magazines asking for people who considered themselves exceptionally lucky or unlucky to volunteer in the study that was to be done in ten years.  400 men and women responded, coming from all walks of life aging between 18-84 years. The research was done through interviewing the volunteers, asking them to complete diaries, personality questions, IQ tests, and through laboratory experiments. 

Results: Lucky people get lucky through some basic principles – seizing chance opportunities, creating self-fulfilling prophecies through positive expectations and adopting resilient attitude that turns bad luck around.

To find out why lucky people have chance opportunities while unlucky people don’t, he gave the lucky and unlucky people a newspaper and asked them to tell him how many photos were inside. On average, he reported, unlucky people spent about two minutes on the exercise while lucky people spent seconds. Why? The paper’s second page had a big typed message saying, “Stop counting: There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.” Lucky people spotted the message. Halfway through the paper, he’d put a second message: “Stop counting, tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $250.” Again, only the lucky people won.

Results: Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too busy looking for something else. This is what I call the TB pandemic; being Too Busy to spot and seize opportunities to better our situations.

Lucky people on the other hand, see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. They relish the upside of every situation. They don’t just look for the spoon in their mouth; they walk to the kitchen, I mean that’s where spoons are kept. Or better still walk into a cutlery store. 

Don’t miss the nourishment of the things around you that can help you live a better life. Have an open mind and grab the opportunities as they present themselves. Create your luck and seize the opportunity to be at the ATB Entrepreneurs and Start-up Event on 14^th November. See you there

©Olegamba 2014.

Focus Lessons from the Classics Etiquette.

About 3 years ago, I attended the Ravenna Festival-a classical music concert. This was my first live classical concert; dedicated to the youth of Nairobi, with the aim of awakening their souls through music’s universal and boundless message. This was achieved through the discipline of the classical music. And a taste of how it feels when the etiquette is observed was served- Super performance! Ravenna Festival demonstrated that super performance is certain in our careers and in our lives, if we follow these simple classical tips:

1.      Mind your time

Be early enough to find your assigned seat and stay in your seat until the end of the performance or intermissions if you have to go to the bathroom. Dedicating a substantial amount of focused time towards our work can be challenging amid a busy buzzing world. However, we should strive to achieve this and entertain no negative distraction during this time. 

2.      Be quiet 

As much as possible, avoid talking, sneezing, coughing, shuffling around or whispering during the concert. This is termed as the most important etiquette -Total Silence. In his book, As a Man THINKETH, James Allen writes, “Calmness of the mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”

3.      Stay still

Stretching your arms, cracking your knuckles, snapping your fingers, tapping your toes or chewing is improper during performances. These actions distract the viewers and performers. Sustaining attention is the key to success and it allows the brain the capacity to be productive, creative and organized as Margaret Moore-MBA, writes, Sustained focus is possible in a calm, grounded state. Keep your thinking on track, stay connected to your intention and set aside all other distractions.

4.      Alarms, Flashes Off

Wristwatches with alarms, cell phones and flash photography are not allowed during the concert. “Before you can get focused, you need to get into control, or at least have a handle on your emotional frenzy. Multiple inputs zoom at us head-on all day long, demanding all of our brain resources. This frenzy impairs and overwhelms the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s CEO region, so that we can’t ‘think straight.’” –Margaret Moore.

5.      Hold your applause

Do not rush to applaud. It is forbidden between movements. This can be hard and confusing if you are not a classical musician or unfamiliar with the piece. Racing thoughts can be confusing; they divert our focus and hinder our concentration. Be calm and demonstrate self-control.

6.      Maximize on intermissions

Classical concerts have breaks. This is the right time to leave your seat for the rest rooms and to respond to your texts or calls. “Shifting from mindful to mindless work gives the brain time to process complex problems in a relaxed state and also restores the energy necessary for the next round of mindful work.” Erin Doland-Unclutter.com

“Self-control is strength; Right thought is mastery; Calmness is power...” James Allen

©Olegamba 2014.

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.