Skip to main content

The trodden path to success

By Paul Karau
The trodden path to success: my date with Chuka Boys High.

Today, I will exchange notes with Form Four boys of Chuka High, that lion that has long refused to roar.

I take these assignments with spiritual devotion, because I know the role motivation and role-modelling has played in my life. As I sit in my study to prepare what to share with my small brothers, these are the thoughts that come to mind:

1. Be specific about what you want, and be specific about the obstacles that lie on the way. As you strive for any success, picture VIVIDLY how it will be like to achieve that goal. 

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Decide WHEN and WHERE you will take specific actions to reach your goal.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Self-evaluation takes effort and will power. In this regard, there are two forms of thinking; to-date thinking (focuses on what you've accomplished) and to-go thinking (focuses on what is left to be accomplished). For example, a marathon runner may choose to focus on the distance already covered or the one that lies ahead. Which is better?

4. Be a REALISTIC optimist. The best predictor of individual success is whether they believe or not that they will succeed. There's a difference between believing you will succeed, and believing you will succeed EASILY. The latter is known as unrealistic optimism. A realistic optimist believes they will have to make success happen through EFFORT, CAREFUL PLANNING, PERSISTENCE, RIGHT STRATEGIES. 

5. Focus on getting better than BEING good. This way, you allow space for mistakes.

6. Finally, have grit/determination. Incremental theorists believe that ability is malleable and does change with effort and persistence.

Good morning

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MOURNING THE ONLY PRINCIPAL I KNEW

By Dr.Paul Bundi Karau I arrived at Kanyakine High School on 18th February 1999 a small village boy. I had never been to a boarding school, and certainly this is the furthest from home I had ever gone. The boys who were assigned to escort me to Mungania dorm looked at my stunted height and loudly wondered how I would survive in Beast's school.  "Who is Beast?" I asked in bewilderment. "You will know." Musyoki answered curtly. It didn't take me long to know who Beast was. The following day, as the 10 o'clock tea was being served, I heard a commotion, with boys leaving their tea and running helter-skelter towards the classrooms.  I was a fresh mono, so I didn't know what was happening. I ran along the pavement, and came upon a mighty man, who appeared to be adjusting his trousers. He yanked his belt and thrust one whip towards me. I had encountered Beast himself. He was tall, imposing, burly and endowed with a thunderous voice that could re...

Political Tumbocrats

*Political Tumbocrats* A political tumbocrat is a person who hangs around elected leaders to satisfy her/his personal greed. Tumbocrats sees a leader as a demigod whom they worship. The r bootlickers and sycophants of the highest order. Their work is to defend leaders and cheat public that something is happening. A tumbocrat has no values or morals. A tumbocrat is not interested with common good but personal good. A tumbocrat has no vision but appetite for being near high table of power  and feeding on crumbs.   Tumbocrats are greatest obstacles to development in our country. They protect the corrupt and shield the bad governance in so far as they get something to fill their tumbos. They are good and articulate in arguments but they lack the moral authority because they don't value truth. Every political leader is surrounded by tumbocrats. They are the noise makers in social media and around leaders defending them. They peddle lies en create propagandas . They confuse the publ...