THE PRINCIPLE OF TRANSITION

Being better today than yesterday!

Beautiful country music playing in the background, it has been 21 days off my daily duty as an administrator, I was perplexed how time is literally a rushing wind, a 3 weeks’ vacation felt like it was three days and at this moment my mind goes back to a quote I read in high school; “Be better today than yesterday”. I start evaluating myself, I was trying to see in what ways I’m I better now than I was before I began my vacation! It became so clear to me that what did every day of those 21 days had tremendously changed my perspective in so many dimensions. Every second of existence counts and I want to share few thoughts among the many things that adds value to our daily life.

There is great potential in the small things.   

                                                           

The story of the Wright brothers; Orville and Wilbur is told time and again and yet it never gets old. From a small bicycle workshop, this two brothers with resilience and determination build a game changer in the transportation industry. With many failed tests, they gradually improved their idea for over 10 years. They build an airplane from scratch, learning from every failure and now people can fly through the clouds. President E. Mwai Kibaki is the third president of Kenya who won the 2002 election, exactly 10 years since his first attempt. This depicts relentless commitment.

It is clear that success in any aspect is definitely a product of a process. Prof Jones Kalel when addressing the freshmen at Kabarak University would time and again use the analogy of an ugly stick that goes through a refining process to make beautiful furniture as the end product. He would say, “Every one of you has a great potential and you must have the end from the beginning” You see friends whatever we do today consciously or unconsciously add up to who we will be tomorrow. A river forms an oxbow lake over years of gradual erosion. I believe our success is not in the ultimate achievement but in the small things we do every day to make that dream a reality. Excellence is in what we do every second of our existence.

Endurance Inspired by hope.

“I have not failed 1000 times, i have just found a thousand ways that won’t work” This is a famous quote that is associated with Thomas A. Edison, a great scientist who invested a lot of time and effort in the invention of incandescent light. We celebrate and use this invention every night yet we don’t appreciate the effort that went into the invention. I read this quote for the first time a few years ago and wondered what kind of a person would say this! It certainly took patience and commitment.

Every day we face a difficulty in life that can either be as a result of our own making, or caused by factors that are beyond us. Whichever way it comes to us one fact remains-Its either we overcome the difficulty or we succumb to it; the will 100% depend on us. Perseverance is not sweet and easy, yet it is rewards are beyond measure. Paul the greatest evangelist of all times in the bible was once stoned by those who were against what he was preaching; the gospel of Jesus Christ. They drugged him out of the city and dumped him at the gate thinking he was dead, the bible however records that he got up and went back to the city (Acts 14). Many people would say he was crazy, he however was really committed to attaining his goal.

We often make prayers to God when things get difficult and would want him to change our circumstances instantly, things don’t turnout as we wish often. The greatest lesson I ever learnt in prayer was that its purpose is not often to change my circumstances, but rather change me for my circumstances. We are never assured that growth happens smoothly but I can assure you that in every desert of calamity, there will always be an Oasis of hope. Don’t give up nor give in!

End from the beginning.

It was a Thursday evening, the town was calm and beautiful lights decorated the streets. I was at the bus station waiting to begin my journey to Kigali-Rwanda from Nakuru-Kenya two years ago. This time round I was going to use a different means from my previous journey and this was exciting and scary as well. We were seated with a friend and having a chat over a cup of coffee, my friend said “Boy that’s going to be one hell of a journey! Do you know it is going to be 24 hours on the road?”, I thought through what she said and realize we had an absolute different view on this; However, I decided to create a schedule for my journey, Yeah… I made a schedule. I know that sounds crazy but I did have a time table and guess what, I was able to actualize 10% if not less! I was extremely excited about this journey and my destination, what was awaiting ahead took a better part of me and I arrived there sooner than I thought! Having the end from the beginning makes a whole difference!

At the beginning of every year many people if not everyone set out to cut weight, watch diet, save more just to mention a few goals. Very few people get to achieve what they set out to do, however I often appreciate the fact that at least someone sat down and put up a plan. That in itself is the first step to a journey of a thousand miles you know. But then it beats the logic to have a plan and not purpose to achieve it. “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” This is a famous quote by Martin Luther King Jr. When working on a goal we set normally we face many constraints that come to play, this includes time, finance, location just to mention a few. But this should not be an excuse, whatever the constraint we should push with all manner of commitment and consistency towards it, even if we get to achieve 20% or 30% it is an achievement.

Having the end from the beginning allows you to have the bigger picture, and this allows one to put the puzzle together piece by piece. This means that every day the image becomes clearer and better. See there is nothing so beautiful than getting to your final destination, however long and tiresome the journey may be you get there and feel refreshed, even fresher than you began.

Paul says in Philippians “Make the most of every opportunity.”  and so I suggest that in whatever you do today make sure it leaves you better than Yesterday.