I wake up every morning determined to succeed at one thing or the other!
Oh please all ye nay sayers and behind-hand-sniggers, be quiet for just a moment so you can get my point; then you can actually (maybe) start giggling and chuckling at me!
Back to my point, my determination every morning stems from the fact that I once got advice that should make sure that at the end of every day I have learnt something new, done something kind and all that jazz!
And let me tell you, what a hard standard to set for oneself — well, unless you are me and you abide by the not-so- popular but highly effective anagram “KISS” (and as always I will explain to you who may live under a rock) “Keep It Simple Stupid”.
I even chant it as a mantra on most days, when the murky souls roaming this earth try to turn me into a homicidal maniac.
At the end of each day, I try to review everything so as to determine if I have achieved any level of success which I had set myself earlier that day!
Try it, it is relaxing.
I mentioned the “KISS” because the items I log into my mental schedule as part of my success list for the day are very varied in range; and this is done so that I never feel like I am a loser of any sort, whenever, wherever, no matter who says what!
Bona, waking up in the morning determined to have a cartoon marathon; in bed with not a stitch on for the whole day is considered as a success in my books if it works out like that!
Well, there can be a few variations; but if I had set out to succeed at doing absolutely nothing productive the whole day and I actually do just that; YAY!! a round of applause to me, ey!
I wake up sometimes, determined to put off doing all the chores that I had written up on my to do list; create a new one, and promptly succeed at doing none of them!
Because I am so conscious of what people actually think about me I started looking around, trying to determine how other normal people considered success, how they tried to achieve it.
And I believe we all know when you dissect something you have to start from the root, then after you will weigh your pros and cons (or is that in a different subject?)
Anyway, a classic tale of success may read out like this — you are young and impressionable; everyday you see some folk in your neighbourhood who are living the “good life”.
NB the measure of this so-called “good life” is based on several factors; family social level, individual opinion about life and mostly mental capacity.
You vow that “one day is one day” you too shall be like so and so and eat a hearty warm breakfast, and not yesterday’s lek’hok’ho.
Or you make another one that you will have everything better than what your parents were able to provide for you.
You obviously do not make such a vow out of malice, but as ambition; even also (well, maybe) thinking for your aforementioned parent’s comfort in their old age.
You study hard in class, get good grades and somehow latch on to a career path which you believe will get to your destination as fast as possible.
This tale has so many versions, as life is so diverse and us human beings are such unique creatures with unique circumstances that prod us in the small of the back constantly so that we make decisions about the level of success we want to get to and, most importantly, how to get there.
Some have literally clawed themselves up from the depths of some mythical dark hole of despair; for some this just fell on their laps, and others are just maintaining the status quo as they were born into this.
Whatever the circumstances that spurred any individual into clambering onto that success bicycle and peddling like crazy – the initial driving force behind the stamina is the raw hunger; the lit matchstick to your dry tinder called life.
And no one should ever try to dissuade you from feeding that hunger.
However, you should also be careful not to let the hunger consume you; as this will make you lose sight of your goal and also it will deplete the number of the few human beings you may still call friends.
I am talking through experience here; I get so hooked on succeeding at achieving things like the already mentioned marathon, mastering infertile hypnosis (so they stop crying or they run faster when I send them) or really simple ones like finishing a 1 000 word novel before noon — that I actually sometimes lose sight of other important things in my life, family friends, food, water, etc!
So take some advice from an expert and veteran; strive to succeed at everything; including the will to live your life to the maximum.
Moleboheng Rampou is a freelance writer based in maseru
