Storms 101

In my country, we are currently having the rainy season. This was expected as the weather man had earlier forecast el nino rains. When it rains, it usually goes dark, and heavy fog makes visibility difficult. If your at home, the electricity tends to go off. The rains have been so torrent that in their wake they leave a trail of destruction. The rains may last through an entire night or through large spells of the day, but the storm ALWAYS weathers, and the sun will appear to bring respite. In life, we also face our own storms and unlike the weather, our storms are often unexpected. Suddenly, as in a natural storm, we are covered by a dark mist and the vision we had for our family, business, health and our future becomes impaired. Every move we make at the time feels like a futile exercise of groping in the dark. Just as our home, our comfort zone is usually rocked by the storm we encounter, the person or item we have come to depend on goes off like the electricity and leave us desolate. The storm we face, however, usually has a purpose  behind it. As a house starts leaking during a storm, the storm we face may expose a leak in our relationship, that business venture we thought was foolproof, may crumble. The foundation on which we have built our lives becomes tested. The storm we encounter also reveals to us the positives in our lives, it may just prove to you how strong and United your family is, it may reveal to you that hidden tenacity and persistence you never thought you had or it may bring forth an idea that propels you to greatness (necessity is the mother of invention). The good news is that the storm will ALWAYS come to pass. The sun will shine again, I believe that the light that dawns in the aftermath of a storm is the brightest. So, if your going through a storm, take heart, it will come to pass, don't be overwhelmed by the worsening situation as it's always darkest before the dawn.


You can connect with me on Facebook; andrew carlton and Twitter; @drewmboya

RESPONSE vs REACTION

Recently I had a terrible experience at the barbershop, I had gone for my usual haircut but my regular barber wasn't around. So I told the person who was filling in for him what I wanted, and after my best efforts at micromanaging the process, things were going well; in fact he was surpassing my expectations. However in a cruel twist of events, he made an error and shaved off a huge portion off one side of my head; to make things worse it was at the top of my head.I wanted to react; at the moment, all the colorful words I knew came to mind, I was entitled to tell him off, wasn't I ? However I chose to respond to the situation, as reacting to it would not make my hair grow back. I asked him; what can we do to fix the situation? Which was the best decision to make at the time. He did try to fix it and mind you if you met me you wouldn't recognize me as my hair has never been this short. Let's look at the big picture, many times we face circumstances or events we never want to tackle or worse, those that throw our lives into chaos. Usually we tend to react to these, instead of responding to the situation. Reaction is mainly emotionally driven, and though at the time our reaction may seem appropriate and justified, it seldom helps to solve the problem. So next time you face an uncomfortable situation, choose to respond to it and ask; what can I do to fix this? Complaining, whining, or choosing to bite of the head of whoever has messed up (even though they may warrant it), won't solve your problem. Just like insulting the barber and storming out of the shop wouldn't have made my hair grow back.Choose to focus on the solution, not what happened. I discovered that every time I remembered the incident, it only dampened my mood, I didn't gain magical powers to travel back in time and avert the entire event. You too also, choose not to focus on the mistake made or that unpleasant situation as this will only make you more angry and frustrated. So next time you face a challenge, ask yourself; are you going to react or respond to it?

You can connect with me on Facebook; andrew carlton and Twitter; @drew mboya

The Power Of Preparation

THE 80-20 PRINCIPLE
For the past few weeks, I have been reading various articles on productivity, one of the standout themes that resonated from the articles was the 80-20 principle. This states that the 20 percent of what you do determines the quality of the remaining 80 percent of your life. Chad Halvorson says that 20 percent of your activities account for 80 percent of your success.
When it comes to everyday activities I believe that this principle applies; our preparation (20 percent) determines the success of our projects (80 percent). Many times we ignore the 20 percent and focus on the 80 percent which leads to our projects failing. A year ago, I was working on a class presentation, and my group was determined to have the best work. So we did interviews, prepared scripts, sorted out editing and everything seemed to be on track. The day of the presentation we all arrived on time and were good to go, or so I thought. Everyone had a role to play and we assumed that each person would be able to handle what was accorded to them, and had no plan B in the event that one member dropped the ball. As the presentation began, it wasn't long before it came to a halt, as the technology let us down, both the video and audio were not working at all. The person in charge of this did not verify that morning that the equipment was good to go. We clearly focused on the 80 percent and not the important 20 percent. You see in this presentation, the human element (20) was the crucial comment, the video, scripts, interviews, research and other materials were the 80 percent. Sadly, we focused on the latter and it hampered our project. In the same way we should  not mix up these two aspects. Remember the 20 percent may even be that detail that no one notices. It may include; smart financial choices now to ensure the possibility of future investment, a regular study schedule for long term academic success or even research on a project before undertaking it to determine whether you can handle it. So ask yourself, are you really working on your preparation (20 percent) or focusing all your energy on the possible outcome (80 percent)?