Necessary losses

Do you realise we are in August already? It's incredible how time flies. It seems only like yesterday when the sparks were crackling all over the city to usher in a new year. Time certainly flies faster than a space shuttle!

Which brings me to the question of progress this far. If you haven't done much of what you purposed to do at the beginning of 2016, be encouraged that you can start now and still make giant strides.

Stay moving forward no matter what

In the language of the Bible, day and night as is seed time and harvest time shall never cease as long as the earth remains. Night paints a dark image representing the things that didn't gel, and the frustrations thereafter. Thankfully, the arrival of a new day every morning is a metaphor of new opportunities; a golden chance to start all over. 

The weakness of some is to dwell on the failures forgetting that poetic justice always levels the  ground, restoring to the loser everything that 'locusts' unjustly ate. Moreover every failure is a learning opportunity. Boney Katatumba put it succinctly: "Every irritation is an invitation to grow in wisdom, understanding and wealth." 

Maybe your plan this year was to get married only for the object of your desire; the one you had poured all your love and hopes in, to drive a dagger in your heart and leave it there! Man's ability to start afresh should stir you to cut your losses and move on. Things that don't work out were not meant to be, and it's in letting go that something better will show up. 

Some of the world's most influential people suffered dismal failures and heartrending betrayals. To mention three: Oprah Winfrey was raped aged nine, Bill Gates dropped out of university, Lionel Messi served tea to meet his training expenses, but look how successful these people are today. Sigmund Freud was right afterall: "One day in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."

Mentors that need mentorship

There's a Ugandan businessman I've long admired for his glut of successful enterprises. Two years ago, I attended a business forum at which he talked about the importance of creativity, versatility and integrity in business. I left that forum not only determined to start my own business, I also sent him an email begging him to write a book detailing everything he had learned in his long business career that could serve as a light to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Fagil Mandy is an education consultant and a great mentor

He heads the boards of several high-profile government and private bodies and is a coveted speaker at inspirational events. So he's reported about a lot in the press; only colourful stuff that make him even more inspirational. But last week I learned that this highly respected business man is choking on loans amounting to billions of shillings and has joined other business men in the same quagmire, to push government to bail them out using taxpayers money. 

 I am grateful that he inspired me to start my own business but I am  not sure I still want him to be my business mentor. One of my friends would rather persuade me that no business enterprise operates completely debt-free, but I believe an entrepreneur that accumulates debts to the tune of billions of shillings and without compunction expects government from a Third-World country to come to his rescue at the expense of the taxpayer is worse than the merchant of Venice. 

This government has already lost trillions and trillions of money through corruption and other scandals, and we can't afford to worsen an already precarious situation by diverting public money to massage a clique of moguls that refuse to take responsibility for their business irresponsibility. The country is still in dire need of public services for which that bail-out money could be used for the greater good. The taxpayer is already burdened enough and the country is bigger than a few individuals whose so-called business acumen and ingenuity has turned out to be a sham with accompanying ramifications they are not willing to pay for.

Life’s box of chocolates

In the movie "Forrest Gump" (1994), Tom Hunks who acts as the eponymous Mr Gump, is a simple and slow-witted fellow who just happens to be incredibly lucky. He has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, which of course pays dividends. "My mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get," is all he says of his good fortune.

Those lines got me wondering whether our exertions in the pursuit of success all come to naught when one is not preordained to be successful. There are so many people who are talented, intelligent and hard working that never make it big. And so many others who seem not to give a care and yet things go so well with them. I used to see it in school when the book worms, even the bright ones would struggle to come on top of the class yet the stubborn ones who abhorred preps with a passion somehow would surprise everyone with stellar performances.

Recently when I watched "Forrest Gump" again, I realised its central figure is a nice, straightforward guy who life probably chooses to reward for his unpretentiousness. 

Personally I believe in what Muniini K. Mulera called the "5 P - Principles of Success" i.e. 1) Purpose, 2) Plan, 3) Priorities, 4) Practice, 5) Perseverance. These basically mean that success comes from a fusion of vision with exertion; those who set mega goals and work hard to fulfill them will not lack.

But I also remember a Biblical proverb that although man may throw the dice, it's God who determines how they may fall. For those who believe in God, it means He has the final say on our station in life. In its proper context, throwing the dice here is not just about the game of dice, but of life. Give it the best shots and you will receive something special from Mr Gump's 'box of chocolates.'

Unforgettable eyes

I was riding a Roadmaster bicycle with a huge can of milk on it when she flagged me down. "Two litres, please," she said, and I poured the milk in her red jug as the rays of the Saturday morning sun kissed our brows.

She paid me and said, "Thank you", and I shook my head and said, "No no no...I should be the one thanking you so much for buying from me."

 She smiled and our eyes met, directly. I saw that hers were beautiful. Not beautiful but unique, because they were eyes you cannot forget. I've forgotten her height and complexion and colour of the dress she was wearing but I've never forgotten the way those eyes of hers made me feel. 

They didn't make me feel butterflies in the tummy and they didn't make me weak in the knees. But they went with me that day and have stayed with me ever since. I see them in my dreams, I think about them in my solitary moments and when I meet a beautiful girl the first thing I do is look directly in her eyes to see whether her eyes are the eyes I fell in love with as a boy.

It was by the hand fate that a week after I encountered the girl with the unforgettable eyes, my father was transferred to a distant part of the country, and I went with him, never to see the girl again.

Five years ago I travelled back to that part of the country and asked everyone I met, "I'm looking for the girl with the most beautiful eyes in the world." But they gave me quizzical looks; like I was nuts or something. Only one old woman gave me a smile that revealed endless gaps in her mouth, and lifted my hopes that I would one day meet again the girl I met as a 15-year-old milk boy; the only one my heart beats after; the girl whose eyes possess the kind of beauty I've ever since failed to erase from my memories.

Nothing beats passion

The Euro 2016 comes to an end today in France. If there's anything I leant from the incredible run of matches and the surprises and shocks that caked the tournament, it's in line with what the wise king Solomon said, the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.

An average person possesses from 500 to 700 abilities and skills

Iceland is a small island in the Atlantic Ocean with a population of just 329,000 but its team pulled off such stunning wins against the giants that I couldn't help remembering the dramatic showdown between David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah. With a combination of character and amazing spirit, Iceland first drew with the 'mighty' Portugal, a result that the Portugal captain Ronaldo who's arguably the best player in the world, took badly saying Iceland players have "a small mentality" and would not go far in the tournament. They proved him wrong by going on to shock the 'almighty' England in the knockout stage and reach the quarterfinals. The elimination of England by the underdog was declared by commentators as "one of the most humiliating defeats in the country's sporting history." 

Another 'underdog', Wales, knocked out Belgium, which is ranked by Fifa as the second best footballing country in the world. Wales just like Iceland distinguished themselves with teamwork, amazing passion and a fighting character that saw every player put in 101% throughout the 90 minutes of on-field action. For me it shows that a person with unstoppable zeal and focus will always achieve big things however small the world may perceive you. 

Rick Warren said that "An average person possesses from 500 to 700 abilities and skills. Your brain can store 100 trillion facts, your mind can handle 15000 decisions a second, your nose can smell up to 10000 different odors." With such staggering abilities, no success is surely beyond attainment.