IMPETUS TO ACHIEVE: ENJOY THE THRILL OF THE JOURNEY
IKNOW a gentleman that was once broke and unable to comfortably keep his family. It was a struggle all the time to supply his home with the necessary groceries required to feed his family.
This gentleman had to withdraw from his professional studies for lack of funds. In addition to this, there was a burden placed on his shoulders to extend care to other family members that were desperately in need of his help.
He could not turn a blind eye; he knew that they needed him more than he needed his meagre resources for himself and his immediate family.
Where the road to success begins: For those of you dear readers out there that have ever been in a crisis, in a state of a seemingly unending period of untold misery, you will agree with me that the mental and emotional feeling that you get can be rather agonising on most occasions.
I have a good friend who once was caught in a difficult financial situation, and he would often say to me that life in Zambia can make you look irresponsible.
My friend is well educated but at the time, his employer was having cash flow issues and because of the same, employees had to go months on end without pay.
His wife was in gainful employment with a useful job, but that didn’t help his mental state, the man was brought up to uphold values of responsibility and be a part of the running of his household financially.
“Life in Zambia can make you look irresponsible,” he would lament.
For some reason, I can’t seem to forget those words; perhaps it’s because I too have had my own tribulations that equally made me feel irresponsible.
My friend has since found his feet but others out there have not. They still struggle on a day to day, looking for a better way.
The first gentleman I talked about that was beset if not besieged by troubles will tell you that when you are in a crisis situation, because of this firefighting kind of mechanism that you adopt to fight your problems each morning when you get up, you never really seem to notice how bad your situation is.
Those that are comfortable and are looking at your life from a distance sometimes even feel so sorry for you.
Yet, you continue to soldier on, hitting one milestone after another climbing out from beneath until the sun is shining in your life again.
It can sometimes feel like it all happened overnight, but then you stop and look back, and all of a sudden you realise that five years have passed from the time your crisis period kicked in.
Finally, the storm is over and you hit stability.
It becomes a story of growth and success, more growth and success and a very comfortable and happy ending.
Once you cross a certain line from your difficulties, it marks the end of a troubled period. Now the irony of the end of heart-stopping moments is that it brings to a close the thrill and uncertainty that leads one to success.
In as much as it is a relief to be over and done with these tribulations, it will also leave you rather empty as you will have crossed the finish line.
Franklin D Roosevelt said, “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” He was right.
Getting from the struggle to comfort is the achievement and once it is done, there’s no more thrill.
Now ladies and gentlemen out there whose life in the Zambian economy is a seemingly unending thriller, those of you who have come to the conclusion that the Zambian economy can make you look irresponsible even when you have been a respected member of your family and community for a long time, I kid you not when I say – enjoy the thrill. It will pass and life will be comfortable but no longer exciting.
Now I come to my progressive Zambians out there – young and old – breaking a sweat living like slaves today to live like Kings and Queens tomorrow.
I come to those that want to drive the Zambian economy to higher heights tomorrow and not just standing on the sidelines cheering on all the foreign players making a killing on the Zambian market.
For this category of people, the thrill can be rather unique. It gets worse when you are well educated and choose not to take on a job in formal employment but to pursue your plans of running your own business which may one day grown into a mega player on the market.
The words of ridicule come out quick and fast from friends, relatives and strangers.
Some people view you as chasing a pipedream as only Indians, Whites and Chinese are apparently allowed to succeed in business according to Zambian belief.
Others view you simply as being lazy; that you are in business because you do not have the discipline and general constitution to get up early every day and get to the office before 08:00 hours!
What a load of cow dung which sometimes can be the thoughts of an educated person. Wherever you seek to make a sale, people rebuff you time and time again.
Nobody likes this but it’s the name of the game.
The blood, sweat and tears mean something; they add value to your journey.
As strange as this may sound, you must savour those moments for that is what makes the journey worthwhile.
The very same element that keeps millions of people from pursuing their dreams is what gives the process value.
In short, all ambitious people out there, the element of difficult in your journey is what adds value to your journey, so appreciate and love the thrill. It will make you a special person one day.
“Life in Zambia can make you look irresponsible,” he would lament. For some reason, I can’t seem to forget those words; perhaps it’s because I too have had my own tribulations that equally made me feel irresponsible.