It was the year 2009 that suddenly, everything started moving South in my family. I was completing my primary education. I had some mental struggles and by the time l fully recovered, my father who was a businessman then dealing in textiles was on his way down. He witnessed his tragic downfall and it was disheartening. It was quite hard for me to process young as l was. l started victimizing myself thinking that l was responsible for his fate. I thought he had probably overspent on my wellness and recovery. So at just 13 years, l started taking life seriously because l felt like l owed my family so much even though the truth was l had nothing to do with my father’s problems.
Later on, when l was completing secondary education, he had hit the rock bottom. His textile shop was almost empty. He was moving out of business. My mother had already given up on the business. She had relocated to our upcountry premises and started farming to keep supporting the family.
While l was with my father during one holiday in my final year in high school, l tried to be inquisitive. I asked him about his messed-up financial situation and life in general. In his explanation, he narrated to me a story of one popular city tycoon with whom they had started working at the same time, doing the same job and in the same locality. So out of curiosity, l asked him why he wasn’t equally as successful and this is what he had to respond to me; “It’s not a question of luck but my colleague had a better attitude, more creativity and he was more passionate about what he was doing. In the flea market, we both started with one jerrycan of kerosene(paraffin) and within a period of two years, my friend was selling 6 jerry cans when I and other kerosene vendors were still struggling to sell one. He could do everything possible to make sure he could sell the product. That always made him stand out amongst us and within a few years, he had accumulated enough capital to start investing in textiles from where he amassed huge sums of money to invest in real estate and kept going up the ladder.”
Today, l don’t rely much on luck because the story my father narrated to me made me realize that you have to position yourself well for luck to locate you and whatever l do, l try to fully invest myself to make sure I get results other than waiting on miracles to happen.
The majority of young people ridicule motivational speakers when they share their road to success. They say it was just luck. Some say there’s more to the story than what you’re revealing to us which is true but of course, no one is going to tell you everything. Sometimes, we have to listen with the intent to borrow ideas to better our lives. You can’t replicate another person’s story but a few ideas from people can help shape your story.
Cynicism kills dreams and you can better position yourself to get lucky by making the right decisions and being proactive.
