Life comes to us FAST!

In 1880, Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his brother, “My happiness is so great that it makes me almost afraid.” In October of that year, life was even better. As he wrote in his diary the night of his wedding, “Our intense happiness is too sacred to be written about.” He would consider it to be one of the best years of his life: he got married, wrote a book, attended law school, and won his first public office.

The streak continued. In 1883, he wrote “I can imagine nothing more happy in life than an evening spent in the cozy little sitting room, before a bright fire of soft coal, my books all around me, and playing backgammon with my own dainty mistress.” And that’s how he and Alice spent that cold winter and into the new year. He wrote in late January, that he felt he was fully coming into his own. “I feel now as though I have the reins in my hand.” On February 12th, 1884 his first daughter was born.

Two days later, his wife would be dead of Bright’s Disease. His mother died only hours earlier in the same house of Typhoid Fever. Roosevelt marked the day in his diary with a large “X.” Next to it, he wrote, “The light has gone out of my life.”

As they say, life comes at you fast. It can change in an instant. Everything you built, everyone you hold dear, can be taken from you. For absolutely no reason. Just as easily, you can be taken from them. This is why the Stoics say we need to be prepared, constantly, for the twists and turns of Fortune. It’s why Seneca said that nothing happens to the wise man contrary to his expectation, because the wise man has considered every possibility–even the cruel and heartbreaking ones.

The good news is that the light did not completely go out of Roosevelt’s life. Sure, it flickered. It looked like the flame might have been extinguished. But with time and incredible energy and force of will, he came back from those tragedies. He became a great father, a great husband, and a great leader. He came back and the world was better for it. He was better for it.

In 1880, Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his brother, “My happiness is so great that it makes me almost afraid.” In October of that year, life was even better. As he wrote in his diary the night of his wedding, “Our intense happiness is too sacred to be written about.” He would consider it to be one of the best years of his life: he got married, wrote a book, attended law school, and won his first public office.

The streak continued. In 1883, he wrote “I can imagine nothing more happy in life than an evening spent in the cozy little sitting room, before a bright fire of soft coal, my books all around me, and playing backgammon with my own dainty mistress.” And that’s how he and Alice spent that cold winter and into the new year. He wrote in late January, that he felt he was fully coming into his own. “I feel now as though I have the reins in my hand.” On February 12th, 1884 his first daughter was born.

Two days later, his wife would be dead of Bright’s Disease. His mother died only hours earlier in the same house of Typhoid Fever. Roosevelt marked the day in his diary with a large “X.” Next to it, he wrote, “The light has gone out of my life.”

As they say, life comes at you fast. It can change in an instant. Everything you built, everyone you hold dear, can be taken from you. For absolutely no reason. Just as easily, you can be taken from them. This is why the Stoics say we need to be prepared, constantly, for the twists and turns of Fortune. It’s why Seneca said that nothing happens to the wise man contrary to his expectation, because the wise man has considered every possibility–even the cruel and heartbreaking ones.

The good news is that the light did not completely go out of Roosevelt’s life. Sure, it flickered. It looked like the flame might have been extinguished. But with time and incredible energy and force of will, he came back from those tragedies. He became a great father, a great husband, and a great leader. He came back and the world was better for it. He was better for it.

Life comes at us fast. Today. Tomorrow. When we least expect it. Be ready. Be strong. Don’t be snuffed out.

Today. Tomorrow. When we least expect it. Be ready. Be strong. Don’t be snuffed out.

Ryan Holiday

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8 Things we must always remember

As we walk in this life and determine our position ……….remember

1. The past can’t be changed
2. Opinion don’t define your reality
3. Overthinking will lead to sadness
4. Happiness is found within
5. Your thoughts affect your moods which affect your actions which affect the results you get.
6. Its ok to let go – It is far much better and profitable for you to adjust to the absence in your life than to adjust your boundary to accommodate those that disrespect you.
7. What goes round comes around
8. Things will get better with time..

KILL THAT COW A Father’s thoughts to his daughters on way to impact the world

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Nuggets to live by

The truth is ………. When you tap into realistic expectations, the tide turns.

The key to this truth is to realize that when you are in a tight spot you must switch off the frequency that gives instant solutions to your situations. Though your dreams will be high like Mt. Kilimanjaro, expectations must be realistic on a daily basis to allow balance in your life. Stop listening to the perfectionists. You must allow yourself to make mistakes and fail- dust yourself and move on.

The best way to do this is to start listening to those who have been there and have overcome the situation you are in ….. just remember that the world is not ending tomorrow.

Listen to the people who know what works because they have been there , how you will stumble and fail along the way and how long your journey may take – they will obviously note be exact in their estimation but will give a sense of direction. Remember the best performance in anything has not been achieved yet!

If you search seriously you could easily get an exact blueprint of what you need to the solution you search. Read read! read! I cannot emphasize enough on the power of reading.

The truth is ………… if you have a purpose for what you do, the “bumps” in your path will be smaller and easier to pass through!

You must continuously remind yourself why you do what you do, because it is very easy to lose the big picture view when you become busy on the issues of life! This is important since it reconnects you with your purpose each time you feel like fainting and giving up.

One way to do this is to write down why you do what you do and the expected results

The truth is …………….. It’s darkest before the dawn.

Sounds like an old adage but this statement is always true!

It is been proven over and over again that when things become soo difficult in our lives, if we stick in a little longer the tide changes in every circumstance that we find ourselves in, probably because being at that low point forces us to change the way we do what we are doing.

But maybe also because life seems to have some kind of balance if we just keep going. Do not give up but keep taking action until something good happens.

The truth is ………..when you reconnect with the basics the tide changes

 One of the key lessons of life is that it is very easy to be overwhelmed by all the information available for our circumstance, especially in this age of easy connectivity and social media – and experts who are not experts around us. This of course leads to confusion on our minds. My advice to you is that ….just simplify your life!

The other thing is that when we concentrate on the now and connecting with the basics, we are also able to “course- correct” ourselves realistically if it becomes required. This by being objective and evaluating how we do things, the results we achieve and comparing the results with our expectations!

If we are not getting a headway, we change the course of our actions.

The truth is …………..our success will be an accumulation of what we do on a daily basis.

Just determine what you will do today! Yesterday is spent cash, tomorrow is a promissory note BUT today is hard cash for spending. Do the tasks that you must do today today and make a record of that.

This allows you to release the burden of the past times while save guarding you from worrying about the future.

And guess what, when tomorrow comes you will probably have a good day again with less resistance and you will most likely feel like doing the task again.

Who speaks to you?

The truth is: Everyone will have opinions on what you can do.

to move forward in life,you must stop being a people pleaser; you do not have to do what they say. You cannot live your life through the eyes of others. Remember at all times that what others say about you is normally  just an outer reflection of their lives and how they feel.

The best way to get People’s opinion is to enquire about the lessons learned by people who have been where you want to go. Base your decisions on something substantial. Then just take an action.

In the end you have to experiment, fail over and over again and discover what actually works for you.

To move forward – have a true evaluation of yourself

The truth is: There will always be someone greater than you.

It does not matter what stage of life you are – there will always be people greater than you. When you buy a car that is better than your neighbour’s, it feels great for a while; but this wears out after sometime! And then you see the other neighbour with a better one.

A more useful way of thinking is to compare yourself to your goals in life. Appreciate the progress you have made. Stick to your plan of self improvement and take a closer look at the areas where you are not improving as much as you would like and try to figure out why.

Then make a plan on how you can improve in those areas of your life.

Attitude is everything!

Here’s the thing…

You Are Born Completely Free

You are born completely free, whole, wild, and beautifully complete. But somewhere along the line an ugly lie gets embedded into your mental software. By the many messages reaching you from your teachers, friends, and all the people you relate to. You start to think that you need to become.

If you have a weakness, it is just that, a weakness. It’s not your fault. You’re not broken. There’s nothing wrong with you.

My son, you must win the battle of the mind in order to succeed in life. Allow me to suggest a few strategies for winning the battle of mind;

Have a clear picture of the battlefield

The first step is to get a clear picture of the battlefield. You have to search for the location where the enemy has hidden and where the biggest challenges will be faced.

Hannibal used to say to his soldiers: we must find a way or create one!

Continuously Train and prepare your mind

No fighter can expect to be successful without the proper training and preparation. You can’t expect to be successful at abolishing limitations with an untrained mind. In order to win the battle, you will need to engage in daily mind training- purpose to read material that challenge and build your mind-a book a month is the minimum reading that you must do to progress in life.

Learn the art of fighting without fighting

At some point in your life, you will realize that the best way to stop the war is to stop showing up. If there is nothing to fight against, there can be no fight.

Here is a story to illustrate this;

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and noticed she had only three strands of hair on her head.

 Well,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll braid my hair today?’ So she did and she had a wonderful day.

 The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two strands of hair on her head.

 ‘-M-M,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today?’ So she did and she had a grand day.

 The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one strand of hair on her head.

 ‘Well,’ she said, ‘today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.’ So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

 The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single strand of hair on her head.

 ‘YEAH!’ she exclaimed, ‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’– Anonymous.

 Attitude is everything.

Ignore them and do it anyway

My son, when you decide to act on your dream – the dream that God has placed in your heart and mind – it is generally something that has not been done before.

You must always remember that those around you can only evaluate everything on the basis of what they know, their experiences or what they have done and what they have read about other people’s actions. Hence the people around you have no ability to actual assess what you are capable of doing in this life!

Also remember that it is very difficult for the human mind to appreciate the new that we desire.

Human beings will always ask typical questions and made comments that add no value:

“You are just a young man, you know nothing.

Why do you assume that you are the only one who can think?

You are nothing!

Who are you to do what you say you want to do?

Who told you that you are more important than all of us?

Don’t you know that others have tried and failed?

What makes you think that you are better than all the others who have been before you?

Shut up! Nobody wants to hear what you have to say!

This isn’t the right place. This isn’t the right time…

Nobody’s ever done it that way before…you can’t do that – just be quiet”.

LIFE IS NOT FAIR, DEAL WITH IT!

If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it.Go out and get busy – Dale Carnegie

The reason we stay in our comfort zones – the cow that we need to kill – is because of the thought that life is meant to be fair – that we can be seated and still achieve that which we desire to achieve. We think that others are responsible for our lives and have to be fair with us.

Now remember my daughters, it does not matter what you think, and life is not fair, neither is it unfair ……..life is life; life happens despite of you, in spite of you and irrespective of you.

The actions that you take, the attitude you form determines the results you get in every situation you find yourself in.

When you wake up you can have a pity party or face your circumstances with the boldness that shakes the circumstance itself. My advice to you my daughters is to find that which you love to do, do it with your mind, heart and energies and see the results that follows

My life

I finished my form four exams at Oloitiokitok Secondary school – a school that is situated on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. This was a newly established school and by the time I did my exam, we were the fifth class to complete. The general thinking was that the school could not set you up for that you’re dreamt about.

I had two advantages: 1) My elder brother had passed through the school and had been admitted to Dagoretti High school in Nairobi for his A level studies , where he was already taking Math, Physics and Chemistry combination – considered to be the most difficult combination then. 2). I had teachers who believed in me and the possibility that I could the brightest student in Kenya!

Armed with this advantages and urging from Teachers like Deputy Headmaster Mr. Kamanja, I applied to Join Nyeri High School – a top 10 A level school in Kenya by then! When the results came for the KCE exam were released I had passed well enough, (I was the top student in the school), to be admitted in Nyeri High school for Man Power Combination – Math, Physics Chemistry. My journey to being an engineer had started.

I reported to Nyeri High School at the beginning of February, and was shocked to find that though I was the best student at Oloitiokitok Secondary school, here I was the second last student in the class. While I had 20 Points, (the grading system them meant that the best student had 6 points and the worst 44 points), six of my classmates from other prestigious schools had 6 points! In my mind I thought that there was no way I could compete with this academic giants – I really felt like a grasshopper among them!

Life was not fair at all …..How could the best student in Oloitokitok Secondary school and I believe among the top students in Kajiado district be so poor academically?

Neither was it unfair …….how could I be among this academic giants, who could make mincemeat of me?

Life was life ……. Mwathi what do you do with your circumstance? Run away and have great pity parties with yourself and the village mates at Nkama, Oloitiokitok? Or fight for your territory?

My daughters you can imagine what thoughts came to my mind, Join the army? I was not able to pass the physical test due to breathing issues! Join the Jehovah’s witnesses as a full time missionary? One of our neighbors was a serious member of the organization and we had a lot of discussions on how I could join them and they would take me for further education so that I could join the missionary work.

How could I break this news to my parents, who believed in me soo much?

When we closed school for the first term holiday, I was sure that I would not be going back to the school. But during the April Holidays, my elder brother was extremely happy that I had joined a prestigious school! He kept talking about it and congratulate ng me for the great performance and he was sure I was on my way to the future! How was I going to tell him what was going through my mind? At the same time how could I let him down?

He was an avid reader and one of the books he had acquired was Stop Worrying and Start living by Dale Carnegie. I picked up the book and start reading, and by the time I had finished reading, I was determined to give myself one shot at performing better.

I decided to concentrate on one subject and chose Chemistry. When we did our first month I came out top of class in the subject. And I knew that I was capable of performing well!

By the time we did the A Level examination I was the second student in the class overall!

That is what is called turning the offered lemons to lemonade!

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Nuggets to live by

 The truth is ………. When you tap into realistic expectations, the tide turns.

The key to this truth is to realize that when you are in a tight spot you must switch off the frequency that gives instant solutions to your situations. Though your dreams will be high like Mt. Kilimanjaro, expectations must be realistic on a daily basis to allow balance in your life. Stop listening to the perfectionists. You must allow yourself to make mistakes and fail- dust yourself and move on.

The best way to do this is to start listening to those who have been there and have overcome the situation you are in ….. just remember that the world is not ending tomorrow.

Listen to the people who know what works because they have been there , how you will stumble and fail along the way and how long your journey may take – they will obviously note be exact in their estimation but will give a sense of direction. Remember the best performance in anything has not been achieved yet!

If you search seriously you could easily get an exact blueprint of what you need to the solution you search. Read read! read! I cannot emphasize enough on the power of reading.

The truth is ………… if you have a purpose for what you do, the “bumps” in your path will be smaller and easier to pass through!

 You must continuously remind yourself why you do what you do, because it is very easy to lose the big picture view when you become busy on the issues of life! This is important since it reconnects you with your purpose each time you feel like fainting and giving up.

One way to do this is to write down why you do what you do and the expected results

The truth is …………….. It’s darkest before the dawn.

Sounds like an old adage but this statement is always true!

It is been proven over and over again that when things become soo difficult in our lives, if we stick in a little longer the tide changes in every circumstance that we find ourselves in, probably because being at that low point forces us to change the way we do what we are doing.

But maybe also because life seems to have some kind of balance if we just keep going. Do not give up but keep taking action until something good happens.

The truth is ………..when you reconnect with the basics the tide changes

 One of the key lessons of life is that it is very easy to be overwhelmed by all the information available for our circumstance, especially in this age of easy connectivity and social media – and experts who are not experts around us. This of course leads to confusion on our minds. My advice to you is that ….just simplify your life!

The other thing is that when we concentrate on the now and connecting with the basics, we are also able to “course- correct” ourselves realistically if it becomes required. This by being objective and evaluating how we do things, the results we achieve and comparing the results with our expectations!

If we are not getting a headway, we change the course of our actions.

The truth is …………..our success will be an accumulation of what we do on a daily basis.

 Just determine what you will do today! Yesterday is spent cash, tomorrow is a promissory note BUT today is hard cash for spending. Do the tasks that you must do today today and make a record of that.

This allows you to release the burden of the past times while save guarding you from worrying about the future.

And guess what, when tomorrow comes you will probably have a good day again with less resistance and you will most likely feel like doing the task again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughts from a father ( New book)

Chapter # 1

 LIFE IS NOT FAIR, DEAL WITH IT!

If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it.Go out and get busy – Dale Carnegie

It does not matter what you think, life happens despite of you, in spite of you irrespective of you.

And life is not fair neither is it unfair ……..life is life.

Therefore your attitude determines the results you get in every situation you find yourself in.

When you wake up you can have a pity party or face your circumstances with the boldness that shakes the circumstance itself. My advice to you my daughters is to find that which you love to do, do it with your mind, heart and energies and see the results that follows

My life

I finished my form four exams at Oloitiokitok Secondary school – a school that is situated on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. This was a newly established school and by the time I did my exam, we were the fifth class to complete. The general thinking was that the school could not set you up for that you’re dreamt about.

I had two advantages: 1) My elder brother had passed through the school and had been admitted to Dagoretti High school in Nairobi for his A level studies , where he was already taking Math, Physics and Chemistry combination – considered to be the most difficult combination then. 2). I had teachers who believed in me and the possibility that I could the brightest student in Kenya!

Armed with this advantages and urging from Teachers like Deputy Headmaster Mr. Kamanja, I applied to Join Nyeri High School – a top 10 A level school in Kenya by then! When the results came for the KCE exam were released I had passed well enough, (I was the top student in the school), to be admitted in Nyeri High school for Man Power Combination – Math, Physics Chemistry. My journey to being an engineer had started.

I reported to Nyeri High School at the beginning of February, and was shocked to find that though I was the best student at Oloitiokitok Secondary school, here I was the second last student in the class. While I had 20 Points, (the grading system them meant that the best student had 6 points and the worst 44 points), six of my classmates from other prestigious schools had 6 points! In my mind I thought that there was no way I could compete with this academic giants – I really felt like a grasshopper among them!

Life was not fair at all …..How could the best student in Oloitokitok Secondary school and I believe among the top students in Kajiado district be so poor academically?

Neither was it unfair …….how could I be among this academic giants, who could make mincemeat of me?

Life was life ……. Mwathi what do you do with your circumstance? Run away and have great pity parties with yourself and the village mates at Nkama, Oloitiokitok? Or fight for your territory?

My daughters you can imagine what thoughts came to my mind, Join the army? I was not able to pass the physical test due to breathing issues! Join the Jehovah’s witnesses as a fulltime missionary? One of our neighbors was a serious member of the organization and we had a lot of discussions on how I could join them and they would take me for further education so that I could join the missionary work.

How could I break this news to my parents, who believed in me soo much?

When we closed school for the first term holiday, I was sure that I would not be going back to the school. But during the April Holidays, my elder brother was extremely happy that I had joined a prestigious school! He kept talking about it and congratulate ng me for the great performance and he was sure I was on my way to the future! How was I going to tell him what was going through my mind? At the same time how could I let him down?

He was an avid leader and one of the books he had acquired was Stop Worrying and Start living by Dale Carnegie. I picked up the book and start reading, and by the time I had finished reading, I was determined to give myself one shot at performing better.

I decided to concentrate on one subject and chose Chemistry. When we did our first month I came out top of class in the subject. And I knew that I was capable of performing well!

By the time we did the A Level examination I was the second student in the class overall!

That is what is called turning the offered lemons to lemonade!

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Nuggets to live by

The truth is ………. When you tap into realistic expectations, the tide turns.

The key to this truth is to realize that when you are in a tight spot you must switch off the frequency that gives instant solutions to your situations. Though your dreams will be high like Mt. Kilimanjaro, expectations must be realistic on a daily basis to allow balance in your life. Stop listening to the perfectionists. You must allow yourself to make mistakes and fail- dust yourself and move on.

The best way to do this is to start listening to those who have been there and have overcome the situation you are in ….. just remember that the world is not ending tomorrow.

Listen to the people who know what works because they have been there , how you will stumble and fail along the way and how long your journey may take – they will obviously note be exact in their estimation but will give a sense of direction. Remember the best performance in anything has not been achieved yet!

If you search seriously you could easily get an exact blueprint of what you need to the solution you search. Read read! read! I cannot emphasize enough on the power of reading.

The truth is ………… if you have a purpose for what you do, the “bumps” in your path will be smaller and easier to pass through!

You must continuously remind yourself why you do what you do, because it is very easy to lose the big picture view when you become busy on the issues of life! This is important since it reconnects you with your purpose each time you feel like fainting and giving up.

One way to do this is to write down why you do what you do and the expected results

The truth is …………….. It’s darkest before the dawn.

Sounds like an old adage but this statement is always true!

It is been proven over and over again that when things become soo difficult in our lives, if we stick in a little longer the tide changes in every circumstance that we find ourselves in, probably because being at that low point forces us to change the way we do what we are doing.

But maybe also because life seems to have some kind of balance if we just keep going. Do not give up but keep taking action until something good happens.

The truth is ………..when you reconnect with the basics the tide changes

One of the key lessons of life is that it is very easy to be overwhelmed by all the information available for our circumstance, especially in this age of easy connectivity and social media – and experts who are not experts around us. This of course leads to confusion on our minds. My advice to you is that ….just simplify your life!

 

Thoughts on living effectively!

We sit on million Shillings talents and potential to make a Kshs. 1000 an hour in the name of having a job. We are so afraid of stepping out in faith and living out our dreams, all in the name of job security and fear of the unknown. We are paid to forget our dreams, living like slaves and prisoners to employers, then we end up dying unhappily with nothing but wasted potential and unfulfilled dreams. We have what it takes to be great, hidden potential trapped inside us, but we have become masters of excuses, procrastination and little faith, disguised as ‘waiting on the Lord’.

As a result, we are trapped for the rest of our lives in jobs that give us little satisfaction and nothing more than a payslip. In the end, we live like we will never die, but end up dying like we never lived. Time to step out in faith and follow your dream. You are only assured of one shot in life, it’s called NOW. Whatever it is you are dreaming of doing, start NOW. Its time to start that business, register that company, enroll for that course.

Start small. Start with fear. Start with no capital. Start with hands trembling. But just start. Step out in faith – Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith its impossible to please God, while James 2:20 says faith without works is dead. Time to put your faith to test. Stop talking about your ideas, and start doing them. Proverbs 16:3 says Commit to the Lord whatever you DO, and he will ESTABLISH your plans. Remember, God will ONLY establish what you DO.

Take initiative. Your success and greatness is trapped inside you. Look no further. Your success will never be determined by what people say or do; or what the government does or doesn’t do. Your success will only be determined by what you DO and the opportunities you take. You are the CEO of your own life. So, start making executive decisions today. Start NOW, tomorrow you will be grateful you started today. Its Bill Gates who said, if you are born poor its not your mistake, but if you die poor its your mistake. In other words, you have no excuse dying poor – with un-utilized potential and unfulfilled dreams. You have no reason to enrich the graveyard.

Live Effectively!

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