PART
1: Introduction
I came back home, Tanzania, after being away for nearly 12 years;
naturally I began to look for 'old' friends, enquired of their whereabouts and eventually
met some of them. I soon realized that some have done extremely well for
themselves, some extremely bad and a whole bunch in-between, not so good not so
bad.
I began to wonder what made the distinction
– could it be IQ, destiny (divine predestination), good/bad luck, starting off
from dis/advantaged position?
What is it that caused one colleague to become a well-off international
businessman and the other end up killed by mob justice after he was caught
stealing used clothes? We all sat
under the same classroom, same teachers, more or less similar background and
parenting? Where did we part – some to excellence and some to mediocrity,
failure and obscurity?
I
believe it has something to do with the opportunities
that we either take or don't take in life; I am not, by all means, suggesting
that we should all have same results in life but I am persuaded that we all
have the potential to become great and successful in whatever we are meant to do in life…and I don't use the
term 'meant to do' lightly.
The Most wise King of Israel said, "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle for the strong nor
riches to the brilliant but time
and chance is given to them
all…", Eccl 9:11 KJV italics and emphasis mine.
We all get 'time' and 'opportunity' given freely to us…the
difference is in how we use the time and opportunities at our disposal. It all lies in being able to discover what we are meant to
do and do it at the time
we were meant to do them. . .timing is everything.
While others wasted time and opportunities that lingered freely around
them, the group that did very well maximised every moment (time and
opportunity) that life presented. The group in-between settled for average, mediocre venture while the previous thought and
ventured big.
It is not enough to know WHAT
one is meant to do, you have to know HOW
you are meant to do it and equally important WHEN. Take time to study YOUR
What, How and When and you will do well
no matter what life present to you as setbacks and challenges.
In Tanzania grapes are grown in Dodoma – where
our sweet and proudly Tanzania produce Dodoma Wine is made, it has something to do
with geographical climate of the area, grow them anywhere else in Tanzania and
you waste your resources. But even in Dodoma, unless you want to employ more
resources for irrigation etc, you will have to know when to put the seed on the
ground, prune produce at the right time and pick them at the right moment otherwise
they will not be suitable for wine making.
If one owns a farm in Dodoma, one has the opportunity to grow grapes; when the right climate
comes another opportunity is presented, time to prune is another opportunity to
maximise produce. All these opportunities present themselves to farmer in
Dodoma for him to maximise harvest and thus success as a farmer.
I am told that Dodoma land is also suitable for peanuts farming; and here
is a kicker, one acre of grapes yields
almost 50 times in profit compared to peanuts. However, most farmers in Dodoma
ventures in peanuts, WHY?
1. This is what they know best,
2. It costs less in initial investment
and,
3. Peanuts farming has a low
risk of loss of failure should the weather fail.
If you were a humble farmer with two acres of land in Dodoma, Tanzania
with little or no financial capital…which path would you take? Peanuts or Grapes? Why?
Think
of every opportunity as a path (pathway),
footpath that takes you from one place in life to another. Every path leads to
a destination; the challenge is in knowing which path (opportunity) to take and
when to take it.
You choose a path by DECISIONS you make (or don't make) in life. Every day we make small decisions that eventually compounds to a destination. Think of something as trivial as the choice of meal, drink, smoke, friend etc they all lead DOWN to a path…but is this a path you are meant to TREAD?
You choose a path by DECISIONS you make (or don't make) in life. Every day we make small decisions that eventually compounds to a destination. Think of something as trivial as the choice of meal, drink, smoke, friend etc they all lead DOWN to a path…but is this a path you are meant to TREAD?
I know a lot of people who understand the need to know which path to
take they visit séances, witch doctors, fortune tellers, prophets, fast and
pray in order to get 'wisdom' on which
path will lead them to health, happiness, wealth and long – good life.
If you take a wrong turn into
a path not 'meant' for you, you will pay a high price to achieve the same result
as a person who took the right turn. You can grow grapes in Dodoma out of season, but you will have
to pay for irrigation likewise you could get same profit farming peanuts as
grapes in Dodoma but you will have to cultivate bigger area.
I am persuaded that the three top most critical paths that needs care
and insight on their hows and whens prior to taking them are career choice, life partner and geographical location
(where you live).
Others within these major choices are:
v
Career: self-employed, employed, entrepreneur or combination?
v
Partner: who to marry and when…timing is as important as
the choice itself!
v
Location: when, which city to live and work in, which virtual city to trade in
*Next, Part 2: WHEN are you more likely to
take wrong turn?*
¬
“I believe in prosperity for I believe in God, for He gives me power to get wealth” © TJ Kyara
In His Service
//Tim J Kyara
//Tim J Kyara
■Husband||Father||Teacher||ePastor||Engineer||Mentor■
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