For Anything to Take Shape, it Takes Time and Patience.
I took time to observe how talented or even successful individuals draw or build up their art, and I noted that one needs to hold their horses before seeing the piece of art take shape. There are people who began with a simple dot that ended up becoming a beautiful portrait to my disbelief. At such a point, I realized that patience and time often leads to beautiful things.
It has almost been an entrepreneurial cliché that you have to do what you are passionate about for you to succeed. But that is not enough in itself. If you can’t muscle up enough motivation to keep you going, chances are that you will give up on the way. Higher chances though are that if you do what you are passionate about, you may not give up as quickly as such when things start getting lousy.
It was recent when light came my way about the truthfulness in being patient as the ultimate form of success. Together with my team, we had had a lot of challenges in figuring out a certain process to help us get off the ground. Everything seemed hopeless but we kept going no matter.
The waking up to work for the cause we cared for pushed us even though we didn’t see any new results day in day out. That is passion. I believed in the life of continuous learning. I mean if you figure things out yourself, chances are that you are going to be innovative in your field of endeavors for as long as you are there. It took patience and time for us to get it right and I can assure you we are not regretting the time it took us to crack it.
In this year’s Nairobi Innovation week (NIW), I got an opportunity to attend a side event organized by Strathmore University’s business school in collaboration with NIW on entrepreneurship. I listened to an interesting talk by Veronica Ogeto of Safaricom about how it collaborates and partners with startups to help them grow. One point I heard her insist was on the integrity of the startups. She said that in as much as it was Safaricom, it was still a teenager in the market.
Imagine that Safaricom is still a teenager! One thing comes to mind when I get to think about this statement. That it has taken the leading communication giant time to be where they are today and when some of us think that they have already gotten there, they tell us out-rightly that the journey is still going on. You think patience was not part of their journey? Read about part of their early journey when they started out. It was never a walk in the park.
Mpesa that has become a huge cornerstone for their success faced quite huge setbacks at the start when the government and the banks couldn’t fathom the safety of a mobile money transfer system. And in Kenya for that matter. Safaricom kept going nevertheless and that is why they are here today. It always takes time and patience to leave marks in this world.
One successful athlete was asked about how hard it must be to run the track and then win. Surprisingly, the athlete looked at the interviewer and told them that the hard work was not even about winning, it was in the training. Behind the track was a long period of time with painful and strenuous training. I can atheist to these with the serious training I have seen athletes undergo in Ngong’ hills. Most of us cannot withstand the daily exercise.
Make sure you are passionate about what you are devoted to because only then can you allow time to take its place in the build-up process. Otherwise you will give up as soon as you get started. If you are so clear about what you need and where you want to be, just get started and any road can take you there. Remember it may not be as easy a walk though.
Perhaps it is high time we approached our lives in a manner l observed in a certain joke I read about some two women conversing. The first one turns to her friend and tells her about her unending quarrels and fights with the husband that has led her to lose sixteen pounds in mass. The second ones asks why she has not left and the first one reiterates, “Not yet, I have to lose some fifteen more pounds.”
Some of us hold on slightly long enough not to see the shape but to prove something for ourselves or even convince ourselves if there is any shape after all. You can see that the first woman is so clear about why she is not leaving yet however though it gets. Until she achieves her objective of losing more of the excess fat, she is not going anywhere. She knows it will take time and patience, that even the persuasion of her friend cannot change her decision.
Such a resolve and devotion is all we need in our pursuits; be it in entrepreneurship, jobs, crafts or any cause we care for. It is only a matter of time before we can see things unfolding in an even bigger way than we expected.
Whatever your hand finds to do, like the Cubans say, do it with all your might because with time coupled with some patience you will find your true niche in this universe. Be a little patient and see things fall to place.
Remember Rome was not built in a single day.
End.
Copyright @ 2018.
Nice piece my brother!