BE CAREFUL OF THE TRAFFIC CYCLE

So many of us are now in dilemma of our makings but yet we don’t want to accept it. The oshiwambo proverb comes true which say “Ombedhi iha yi moshiti” (you can’t blame a wood but a person). Somebody should be blamed. We have so many people today who are caught up in this traffic cycle of blame and are living a miserable life due to their past bad decisions but they prefer to blame their fate on someone else or circumstances. Some are living a stressful life because they have decided not to talk to their neighbors. Now every time they see the neighbor, the blood goes high. While they are in the hospital bed, their neighbor is living his life with no problem. In fact the neighbor does not even care about them. They have move on with their life. And every time you see them getting better your blood pressure go high. Keep complaining and remain behind or work hard and become successful. This sad reality of unwanted results of our decision is visible almost everywhere. Our streets speaks volumes to us. In almost every town you go in Namibia is full of young people and majority of them did not complete their matric or failed. In almost every organization and company, you find individuals who don’t talk to each other because of the disagreement they had the other day yet they are expected to produce result for the company. Funny enough there are even business owner who don’t speak to their own employees. Crazy isn’t it? Why? Bad decisions. Prisons are filled to the brim, revolutionary groups are emerging from almost every directions and government official do not trust each other while corporate organizations are fighting for survivals. The scriptures are very clear, no bad tree can bear good fruits and no good tree can bear bad fruits. But it’s unfortunate that even churches that ought to understand this principle better are the one at the hem of bad decision making, home are falling apart, marriages are failing etc. thus why I keep on repeating and will continue to repeat that before you make any decision ask yourself this question; how will this decision affect my life, the company, other people, tomorrow? How important is the decision? Why specifically this decision?

Are you a student, Business person or politician?

In schools some have taken their studies for granted. Instead of spending more time with books discovering and exploring, they have been lazing around the campus or school ground either talking unimportant things or causing havoc. Some students sneak out of the hostel to sheebens to drink alcohol while others have chosen wrong friends because there are popular for trouble making, who, at the end of the day landed them in trouble of failure or suspended from school for misbehaving. While yet other engaged in unprotected sex hereafter becoming pregnant and drop out of school. Even though the government of Namibia have clearly indicated that education is a right hence no child should be out of school despite their situation as long as it does not endanger other learners, most of learners who fall pregnant drop out of school. The fear of being teased by other learners could not keep them in school. Don’t talk about the embarrassment of carrying the pregnancy in the school. The same fate befall the business world and political scenes. People spend more time gossiping their colleagues or boss, instead of spending more time in coming up with innovative ideas that will boost the business sale which may give them more opportunity for recognition for promotion. And the funny thing is that these same people are the one to complain how their boss trust more their colleague than the rest of you but you don’t know that your colleague comes early to work and leave late. In fact you even labeled him a workaholic. In fact you asked him if he does not have a house that he is ever in the office, and now you think your boss like him more. What do you expect? Politicians makes decision which make them unpopular and lose trust from their followers. We have seen many revolution groups emerging recently due to bad decisions made in many countries. Political leaders have grown big heads that don’t want to hear anyone telling them what to do. They handle a country as if it’s their own houses. They careless about the same people they were begging to vote them. Corruption and maladministration hits newspaper headings week in week out but yet they are untouchable. Apparently if they ask you to jump, you should not ask why but how high. We have seen civil wars emerging in Africa time and then due to such leaders.

Mistake of the past can't hold you

Mistake of the past The most difficult stage to make decisions is youthful stage. Young people are full of energy and are very ambitious. In most cases they made either major right decision which will have positive influence on their life or wrong decision which will hamper their future progress. Youthful stage is very exciting and confusing. At this stage, life is full of promising choices and almost every road looks so bright. Peer pressure becomes so heavy on us. We want to like someone else because he is popular or dress nice etc. Here, one will have to take some major decisions that will either impact your life positively or negatively. Therefore one need more guidance and proper direction to make right decisions. Decisions have to be consciously made and guidance become very crucial. There is an African proverb which say “the fly that does not listen to advice will be buried with a coffin”. One need to learn to listen to proper advice otherwise the future will be very dim. Life is all about decision making. We decide on what we want to eat, drink, who we love to associate with, what music to listen to and what field of study or line of business to take. As our ages advance, the challenge of decision making becomes even more. Who you want to marry, how many children to have, what type of house to buy, which town to live in and what type of family business to embark on. This is a clear indication that we have more opportunities to make decision that affect our life either way. Its undeniable that situation we find ourselves in and the environment have influence on our decision making but we have entire control over the decision. It’s up to us to decide what type of decision to make. The weight of our decision despite the circumstances far outweigh the circumstances. Hence wherever we find ourselves today, no doubt is the results of the decision we made yesterday.

Decide to Decide Right

DECIDE TO DECIDE RIGHT The future will depend on what we do in the present. ≈Mahatma Ghandi≈ Decision Making In its simplest sense: 'Decision Making is the act of choosing between two or more courses of action'. However, it must always be remembered that there may not always be a 'correct' decision among the available choices. There may have been a better choice that had not been considered, or the right information may not have been available at the time. Because of this, it is important to keep a record of all important decisions and the reasons why these decisions were made, so that improvements can be made in the future. This also provides justification for any decision taken when something goes wrong. Life is full of choices from which we should choose. We all have to decide what we want to do and who we want to become. The sad reality is that most of us have made decisions yesterday that are bearing fruits that we don’t like today. Even though we all know the concept of sowing and reaping, we hardly practice it. It obvious whatever you sow that is what you will reap. Who we are and what we have today is a result of the decisions we had made yester years. The regret and the pain we have today is a result of yesterday’s decisions we have made whether consciously or unconsciously. Sometimes we are influenced by circumstances in our decision making but unfortunately whatsoever the decision may be, it will affect us either way. In some instances we may even forget that whatever we are going through was our own making, hence tempted to blame the circumstance we were when we made irrational decision. We try to remember all the hardship we went through and all the people involved to find a good enough reason to satisfy us to accept our current situation. For years I have been always blaming my current state on my father’s death. I have been always tempted to say only if my father was here, I wouldn’t be who I am today. The funny thing is that it feels so good when you are not to blame. Therefore blaming someone else becomes a good option. Yes I agree that the situation we went through plays a big role in who we become but I hate to say situations don’t decide for us. It’s me who decide at the end of the day. I hear you saying, you just don’t know what I have gone through. You don’t understand my fate in life. I am very sorry, forgive me for not understanding. I really agree that you are going/went through your situations because of others and circumstance beyond your control. In my case it was my father’s death and my father’s family that took all our inheritance away because they believe children don’t belong to the man but woman. Hence the man’s properties and wealth does not belong to his children but nephews, nieces, and his biological brothers and sisters. I blamed my school teacher for failing to give me career guidance. If they could have done that, I would not end up where I AM. After my father’s death I literally have to walk, sometimes, 50 km to the secondary school I was schooling from weekends or to weekends due to lack of transport fund. I have to eat papa with salt only or drink sugar water. Most of the time the sugar is from the neighbors because there was no money to buy proper food. I have had only one trouser. I wore that trouser day in, day out. Don’t you think I had a good reason to drop out of school? We were many of us in that house and sometime we have no food in the house and I mean no food. We till the land with our own hands to produce food for us. No money to hire a tractor or someone with donkies or oxen to till land for us. We worked very hard but we couldn’t produce enough because we spend most of our food before end of the year. In fact all of us went to school, only mom who spend most of her time in the field. Mom had all reason to say kids, stay home, let’s produce food for us to survive or you go to school and die of hunger. I had a very good reason to drop out of school to look for a job to help mom raise my siblings. But what kept me in school? Mom and myself. How? Mom and I decided. She was going to do anything possible and lawful to provide for us. And I’m going to study hard and not let anything stand in my way. Mom sold fat cakes and Okapana (meat sold at open place) to raise funds for us. Do you think that was easy? No. Did I kept my promise? Yes and no. I will talk about that later. The point is, regardless of the situation we are going through, we are responsible for our decisions we make in the midst of the situation. It is sad to say, but when we dwell on our past failure and find comfort in blaming game, we are likely to remain in the same situation for years if not for life. Ifs... and it’s not my fault, gives us consolation and closed roads. Isn’t that often the case? We invest so much time in the journey of not going nowhere but keep cycling around our past hurts, disappointments and circumstances that has gone ages ago and there is nothing we can do about them. They are gone. But what about if we start asking ourselves questions like; what did I do or did not do that brought me here? What can I do to change from here to there? From point A to point B? What mechanisms should I employ to become a better person, business man or leader? What do I love doing that I can invest my time, resources and energy in to better my tomorrow? Confucius said “choose the work you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. Think about your best practice, your wows. What is giving you the peace of mind/inner satisfaction? Stop the BLAME GAME it will not help you accomplish anything.