GIVING UP IS NOT PART OF SUCCESS’ RECIPE

BY: MWAMBUI TSUMA AND FRANCIS WACHIRA

How many times do we pursue dreams yet give up along the way because a thing or two does not add up? It is from the many life experiences that we draw practical examples, prime lesson and an answer to that question. Moments which teach us giving up is not part of success’ recipe.

Drawn from my own experiences in campus, is the pain of missing marks. The year results had been released and there it was on my transcript- a missing mark for a common course. I was perplexed and didn’t know what to do. How did it happen? I asked myself. How was I going to resolve the problem? There was only one way-retrieving the results from the lecturer.

And so the long journey began.  First a visit to my faculty only to realize my results had not been computed. Then the strenuous process of retrieving them, finally the chase for my lecture which proved difficult almost making me to throw in the towel.

Days matured into weeks and weeks became months. All emails went unreplied so were the phone calls and short messages I sent. It was a test I couldn’t bear but the idea of not graduating if I didn’t get the mark, did not resonate well with me. I had no choice but to keep tracking the lecturer down until I finally had a moment with him.

This made me think outside the box about life and why many people fail to make it. The reason of not graduating because of a missing mark is a no take it easy to all students. What use will it be for one to go through a four year or five year course and not graduating?  No wonder we bear the strenuous process.

What if the same determination was applied in life? Perhaps people would achieve so much. Sounds good, isn’t it?

Probably the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln. Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown. He could have quit many times – but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States of America. Lincoln was a champion and he never gave up.

In the same category is an American inventor Thomas Edison. He failed more than 10,000 times (I am still amazed at that number!) before he created the light bulb. That makes him a true example of perseverance. What helped him was understanding a few things – defining success and failure, realizing the inevitable connection between them, never giving up, working hard, believing in himself and his ideas. Of course in many situations things looked so hopeless and pointless that any other in his place would have given up on his work. But not him.  Many people told him that he is wasting his time, his faith and confidence were sometimes on the verge of being gone, but he succeeded. Not once, not twice or thrice but many times indeed.

If it were not for him and other great people in the history – leaders, scientists, businessmen, inventors and so on – we wouldn’t have electricity, running water, cars, TV, computers and all the other things that make our life comfortable and easy. Imagine what the world would be like if every one of them just gave up on his ideas to try something new, to change the world and help people. Just imagine…

However the tragedy is that human mind has been conditioned to postpone things. This is regardless of the urgency. The ultimate inspiration to do something in time is the deadline. This is true for assignments and other tasks one may have.

Now, why the increasing number of people giving up in life? Is it hard to come up with personal rules and set a discipline of doing things? If there is a school we all need to enroll in is the school of personal development. This challenges one to pursue growth. As we all know, if we stop growing then we begin to die. Slowly we may be dying but dying we are.

We only have twenty four hours in a day and we must be careful how our time is spent. If we postponed doing something good till a later date, time will always catch up with us. Remember time waits for no man even the king. Therefore we should live each day as our last.

Living each day as our last? You ask. Yes, living each day as our last.

 A saying we have all heard before but very few of us have actually given it a deep thought. Living each day like it is our last, forces us to think about our priorities, it forces us to quit the things that waste time and energy and concentrate on the most important things. If you live that way, you make better choices, you treasure each moment and suck the life out of every hour. It removes the clutter and garbage that so often chokes our lives.

 Living each day like your last is not about living in gloom and fear of death. Rather it is about: living your life so that when your time comes for you to go, someone will care and say their life is different and better because you were there.

Have a never giving up life, won’t you?