Happiness is catching a butterfly.

Follow it ,
Don't stop until you have caught it,
Turn left as it does,
Turn right as it does,

Its not a bird, birds fly too high,
Its not a snake, snakes are up to no good,
Harmless and beautiful,aim for the butterfly,
Start with a butterfly, just like in your childhood,

Don't be swayed, don't be distracted,
Act smart, don't scare it away,
Your patience and determination will be tested,
Focus on the task, don't stray,

People will wonder,
People will call you mad,
People will question you,
Get angry, but don't stay sad,

Once you have caught it, embrace it,
Congrats , that's sucess,
Don't get too caught on thinking what to do next,
What you are feeling right there , that's happiness,

PS:This post could be a  inspired poem or more importantly humble show off of my budding photography skills..;). Either way  Enjoy!!

We were all once babies.

You know those people who appear to be naturally good. You could wake them up at midnight and they will know their stuff. Sometimes it seems that no matter how hard you work you'll never be good enough. You probably know that its not true, but the world we now live in subconsciously tells us otherwise . Effort seems to be underestimated these days. Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook we call him a computer nerd, Kenyans run so fast, we say its in the food they eat. Good students perform well we say they are born smart. Talent is equated to magic and if you don't have it, look elsewhere or you are doomed.


I have to admit that I have fallen to this trap sometimes, passing on opportunities because I thought I wasn't born with it. Upon reading Malcom Gladwell's Outliers you may say I'm less intimidated. Malcom speaks of the 10000 hour rule, where he emphasizes that you need at least 10000 hours to be an expert at something, anything. Almost all outliers have put in at least these hours, whether they had natural talent or not. Perhaps talent makes it easier to dedicate that much time but in many cases, dedication is enough to defeat natural talent.

Since 2008 Usain Bolt has been breaking his own record, earning the title of the fastest human alive.
He obviously trains a lot but  articles such as this have been written , coming up with contradictory facts about how much height and "twitch muscles" are the reasons for his success. This video clearly shows how much time he is dedicating to self improvement.

I understand where these claims are coming from. We humans are inherently insecure, we try to make for what we don't have by attributing it to something that is beyond our control. Its understandable but we have to be mindful of how we are belittling other people. We were all once babies, at some point we all knew nothing, the stars we have today just put in more hours to their craft.

 The secret? Shut your ears and eyes an look at your plate because in the end its what really matters, literally.  Practice a craft you are not comfortable with until it becomes second nature. Stop listening to opinions and start putting in those hours because sometimes we look up to other people so much that we forget to look into ourselves. Have a productive week ahead.

Allow yourself to be happy.

A lot of people equate happiness to laziness. That is if you are happy then you will be too content with what you have hence you won't be the ambition for more.  We have glorified self-torture so much that among others hustling has become a positive word and sleeping for less than healthy hours is praised particularly among the youth. We even go as far as diminishing our achievements, depriving ourselves so that we are not too comfortable. I don't know to what extent this will work but I know that this approach ultimately breaks in the long run. 

Success is built from effort, but effort is not the same as torture. Effort is meaningful work done for the love of it or to achieve a particular goal. Effort is not sleep deprivation so that you look busy or to please other people. Effort comes naturally.

I have to admit that I also fell into the trap, in high school the school manager , a clergy, used to give us a motivating speech every Monday about we should work hard to like him, to achieve our dreams. Recreation was considered taboo back then.What he didn't emphasize though was what motivated him, see he was making a huge difference in society and he enjoys it. He was in his zone, he was living with purpose and everything else was just a necessary evil. Getting there doesn't happen automatically, we don't all wake up knowing our talent, passion and purpose.  We have to try different things, fail at some or many to get to that zone. 

Relaxing is not laziness, it is sometimes necessary

The law of the secret states that like attracts like. Discontent attracts more discontent and  peace attracts more peace. Working for  something you love and enjoy is not self deprivation because it is rewarding in itself and it attracts more success. The vice versa is also true. This is the secret with history makers of all times. They don't just work aimlessly. 

Moral story: There is nothing wrong with being happy and content. 

The Big Lie

We have all been lied to. This lie has been deeply ingrained in us that it has become true.  Its the reason why we always feel like we are competing against each other. This lie has been perpetrated to motivate us to aim higher. Its the reason we all get surprised when a college dropout or worse a high school dropout becomes a billionaire, its the reason we'll never understand why top level CEO's resign to be family men and women. We are all victims of the Big fat lie and its difficult to see as that because the people who perpetuate it are perhaps the most important people in our lives. They are parents, teachers and well meaning mentors whom we  have given permission to guide our lives.

So  the big fat lie we are told is that there is one hierarchy, the higher up you are, the better you'll be and only hard work will get you there. Work as hard as possible to reach the top and everyone will die to be in your place. Get that dream job, dream car , dream house and dream spouse and you will be perfect. You literally won't need anything else because everything will be in your reach. People make millions selling dreams like these because they know nothing is as influential as peer pressure . 

'The hierarchy' myth starts in elementary school where there is no better system to reward students than test marks. We start defining ourselves from our position in class and then this lie is further ingrained when you're told that those grades determine what college you will go to and how successful you'll be. You grow up, get the freedom to pursue what you want and realize that it was all a lie, but its too late. A few realize this early enough and are honest with it but the rest will perpetuate this lie upon the next generation and the cycle continues.

Truth is there is no hierarchy. We are fundamentally different; for a start we have different backgrounds, not to mention our fundamental genetic difference. As much as hard work counts , a lot contributes to one's success; innate abilities, working environment among the many. Some thrive in strict conditions while others will flourish with proper support. One might define having many friends or being famous as success but for some of  us in our tiny introvert worlds, reading a book over a cup of tea means heaven. Some find satisfaction in flashy cars while others find true happiness in creative outlets. What is within your reach is probably someone else dream. There is no way one single hierarchy can capture all that. We might have interests in mutual things, and probably mini-hierarchies but one single hierarchy is just ridiculous.  

Here is a video of a 13 year old who is a bit wiser than the rest of the world.

Moral of the story: You are not half human if you don't have most of what your friends brag about on facebook. You are just different. Embrace it. Have a great week ahead!

Hello World!

Let me take this opportunity to apologize for my lack of online presence, I know it has been a long time since I posted amazing stories. This blog went to the bottom of my priority list since my course load this semester was heavier than usual (8 courses - almost double the previous semesters'). I also took the time to live (you know without having to think about the next blog post) .  So for the second time, hello world.

Honestly, I have been pondering a lot about this post but no one article can summarize how much I have learnt this semester, both mentally and technically. Today I'm  gonna talk about resilience.

 Resilience is not dismissing important things in our lives because of disappointments. Its about facing them , learning from them and being able to take it from there. Its not easy to believe in ourselves when everyone seems to have it figured it out. If there is anything I have learnt from reading the book  Never Eat Alone is that we are never alone, we all go through the same things, some of us are just better at hiding it. A good consolation would be to remember that Abraham Lincoln lost 8 elections, suffered 2 nervous breakdowns and failed twice in business but he didn't quit. Sometimes resilience makes all the difference. With that said, have a wonderful weekend and week ahead.


NB: There will be a few changes around, this blog wont be updated as often as I used to because I have a learnt rad stuff about tech and I will be  dedicating  my time to www.technofunology.blogspot.com .

Everyone has ego .. and that's good!!

You've probably ever wondered why everyone just doesn't get it? I mean why don't see life the way you do, why they don't appreciate what you do or why they won't understand how you conquer your circumstances. Its simple, they simply don't care , maybe they care a little but they also have ego and that's not a problem because you have it too.

See it doesn't matter how important or hardworking or smart you are, people will always put themselves and their interests first. Now we all know that Albert Einstein was a smart person, probably the smartest to walk on this planet, but he also spent two frustrating years upon graduation looking for a teaching post. How could the universities he applied not see that? They were simply protecting their interests and none of those interests involved hiring a recent grad without fancy recommendation letters. Little did they know they were missing out on the greatest scientist in history.

See everyone has ego and sometimes we are convinced that if we didn't have it then the world would be a better place , well, not entirely true. Imagine if everyone cared about everyone and everything else. We would be nice, but we wouldn't have any progress. We only need to care about a few things to get things done. Besides, we can't expect others to take care of us if we don't take care of ourselves.

Its an unfair request to ask others to give up their ego, because ego is natural and a healthy dose of it is good. Major contributions including discoveries and innovations were made to humanity because people put their pride in their work and their ego on the line for it. So ego is not entirely an enemy, we could however work around it. Moral of the story: Stop playing victim and start listening, maybe then the world will start to care. Once you realize this, life is a lot more amazing.

What better way is there to live?

Marie Curie was a legend, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prize in two different sciences, She together with her husband discovered radioactivity, a concept that helped study the structure of the atom, and radium which is central to cancer treatment. That was the mark she left in the world and that's the headline that will go down in history. What this introduction doesn't tell you is how many failures and adversities she had to endure before achieving the role model status. Well, lots of it, in fact following the most unconventional route possible she had to earn whatever she accomplished. (Hint: it was the 19th century, women were not allowed to study let alone in the sciences and a Pole when Russia controlled Poland).

Here are some anecdotes history won't tell you about. She couldn't afford university education, so she made an agreement with her sister where each would for the other. So, she worked to pay for her sister's education, who would return the favor once she graduated. In college, she had to work for her up keep, sometimes fainting due to hunger or the cold. She and her husband were invited to a conference in London but she wasn't allowed to speak  because she was a woman. She wasn't dominated for the Noble Prize by the committee in the first place, her husband was, it was the Swedish mathematician Goester who proposed her , after he was nominated. She had to conduct her research in her backyard because she couldn't get a lab. In short Marie suffered it all , yet she conquered all.

She could have taken the easier route, become a house wife and live happily ever after, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't her definition of happy. I quote her own words, "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that thing must be attained. That thing must be attained even if our achievements are lost to history."  This is as inspiring as it gets. When it feels like its all tumbling down, don't quit , instead,  ask yourself, what better is there to live? 

Forget balance , try focus.

 

I'm gonna talk about diamonds and waterfalls today. They may be completely different things but they both illustrate one common and very important lesson; the power of concentration. Diamond is made of Carbon, the same stuff that makes charcoal and pencils, but we don't see anyone singing about the latter and there is a reason; concentration. Diamond is made from Graphite under very intense pressure and temperature, another synonym for concentration. Same applies to waterfalls, ordinary water has nothing special, we use it without even noticing, focus it to pour a cliff and governments will make a fortune out of tourists. 

So much for just one word? Not exactly. We live in a society that upholds normal even though we can't clearly define normal is, we resonate with words like balanced, well rounded, versatile , multitasking among others. Which is a good thing if all these other things contribute to one final goal, otherwise it is of no significant value. The main and probably only reason Leonardo da Vinci is still popular is because he did it all. He did engineering, architecture, painting , biology, mathematics, physics, geology and more, probably all the professions of the 21st century. He did it all, but he didn't do it all at once. Actually , he was primarily a painter, then pursued other fields later in life. 

There is no shortcut to mastery, its focus. It is through focus that priorities are made, that willpower is efficiently used and everything falls into place. It may sound like getting lazy but it actually gives you energy to do even more. 

Have an amazing week ahead!

Moving into the unknown.

We live in a chaotic world. No matter how ordered it may seem, its almost always guaranteed the perfect plan will not work out. Its comes as no surprise, considering the entropy of the universe has been increasing ever since the BigBang. This only means one thing, we are constantly moving into the unknown and sometimes it can be scary. 

If you know Stephen Hawking, you've probably ever wondered how manages to do it all inspite of his limitations.  How he can speak without a voice, write without using his hands and write the most intelligent things in a wheelchair. Part of the answer of the answer to this question is Intel and the other half is failures ,mistakes and lessons learned through trial and error. Intel had to fail about 5 times before inventing ACAT(Assistive Contextually Aware Toolkit), a user interface that was appropriate for Hawking. It took 3 years and 5 failed attempts to come to this conclusion and to many people this may appear to be wasted time.

Problem solving has obviously many processes but the most important and unfortunately the most time consuming is that of recognising what the problem is. It took centuries for us to realise that we are not at the centre of the universe, it took Thomas Edison 1000 failures to invent the light bulb, it took  J.K Rowling 12 rejections to find the right publisher, the list goes on. Ray Kurweil speaks of the exponential growth of the universe which is just a similar idea of slow to no development at early stages and sporadic growth thereafter.  Its important to realise this because we live for problems, we are paid to solve problems, we feel validated by solving problems and when it all feels like a dead end , its good to know that it is not wasted time. All we can do is face the unknown with hope that at the end of the tunnel there will be light.

In this chaotic world, we are all working towards that 'AHA' moment , that moment when we have it all figured out. When we have realised the root cause of the problem and solved it. But we should keep in mind it takes time, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. The next time you are moving into the unknown , remember this and move forward in faith that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Afterall ..

“Every problem is a gift- without problems we would not grow.” 

--Anthony Robbins.

Just do it!

I'm not just talking about the Nike sports gear that makes you drop all excuses for procrastination , am talking about every other aspect of your life. In most cases we don't do what we want because we think about it too much that we get enough reasons to put it off. Well, the moral of this short post is to tell you to just do it, if you thought about it to the point whether you question yourself whether to do it or not, you need to do it or at least make a decision . I would mention how much this altitude has helped me or other people succeed but I won't because what you need is not more reasoning but more actions. After all, there is only one thing worse than failure and that is regret. So, have an amazing week ahead and keep doing amazing things.

Its okay to be selfish.

Give and you shall receive, play your part, charity begins at home , give, give and give .....etc . You know all these sayings that make you feel guilty for not contributing to a cause or taking the time to treat yourself? Yes, they make you feel like humanity has been restored and its time we started giving more. Well, in all good meaning they forget one thing. You know that person who you only get to see in the mirror? You mean me? Yes , you , you are also a citizen of this world and you also deserve the good life. 
Giving is good, everyone advocates for it, religious institutions, the government, family and society at large. That's a good thing, in simple terms , life is just a trade of giving and receiving. Besides, it always feels good to put someone's else needs above yours, it makes you a respectable human. See, giving is a good thing but like everything else in life, done excessively it is damaging. 

Humanitarians and philanthropists are admirable people, they contribute a lot to society, they change people's lives but what they don't do is deprive themselves for the benefit of others. In fact, they might be  the most selfish people in this world but only that they use this trait wisely. Bill Gates started philanthropy in 1994 after 20 years of Microsoft. He made himself rich before helping others. You may wonder what about Mother Theresa? and Mahatma Gandhi? and all those selfless who died completely penniless. Well, they too are selfish, I even have quotes to prove it.

“I loved my Microsoft: it prepared me for what I’m doing now. In the same way that I got to see the PC and internet revolutions, now I see child death rates coming down. I work very long hours and try to learn as much as I can about these things, but that’s because I enjoy it.” - Bill Gates

"If you do something out of duty, it will deplete you, if you do something out of love, it will energise you" - Mother Theresa

"There is greater joy than caring for someone, It is the joy of knowing you got others to care as well, come on experience it." - Mahatma Gandhi

See, these angels are not motivated by some call of duty to their country or the world. They are motivated by the selfish motive of enjoying what they do and feeling useful.

Moral of the story: its okay to be selfish , actually it is encouraged. Only when you stand with what you believe in and what you are good at will you be sane enough to put something to the table. Don't feel guilty for being selfish, embrace it.

A heterogenous universe

You are you for a reason, I don't know if this sentiment has been said enough but I'll keep saying it. Despite all we know, we normally a natural tendency  to fit in, or at least try to. Ussually , much to our disappointment, we realise that it is impossible. No matter how much you practise you'll never sing like Mariah Carey , or dance like Beyonce, or be as smart as Stephen Hawking. This is a stone cold reality yet I hear so many whine that  they are talent-less. Its admirable to look upto the best, but not to be them but the best version of yourself.

In case you haven't noticed, we live in a heterogenous universe and when you think of it, it is the force behind our existence, literally. We have rivers because of difference in altitudes, we have wind because of difference in pressure between two places, we have trade because of difference in allocation of resources. And its not just these superficial facts we can attribute. Life on earth probably began due to a heterogenous universe. Stars were not evenly distributed so some clusters had enough gravity to create galaxies, and the heterogenous nature of these galaxies led to some stars like the sun to have planets , of which the earth was in the best position to harbour life. So yeah , life itself was born of heterogeneity. Had the universe been uniform, there would be no story to write.

Point is, we are not the same and we'll never be the same. We have differences and that is a good thing, it means we should learn from each other, admire and respect each other because we have a role to play on the history of the universe. Remember this the next time you try to compare yourself with others only to realise that living someone else's life  is an impossible mission. Its better to use those talents and experiences than trade for another's life.


PS: I know its been a long time since I posted something. I took a little sabbatical to discover the secrets of the universe(kidding). I was in a dilemma whether this blog should continue, Don't worry though, life is amazing and I'll keep writing. Have an amazing week ahead.

Thank you!

   1st Jan 2015, I like the sound of it. We are officially as far away from 2030 as we were from 2000, not that it matters , just an observation. Today is a day to celebrate because not everyone got the chance to see 2015 and you did. Some of us are really celebrating because we achieved all of last years resolutions, some of us are neutral because we achieved  only some , some of us are saddened by the fact that another year has passed without accomplishing anything meaningful. If you are in the first category , congratulations and keep doing what you do. Today am addressing the rest of us, am rooting for those who are a bit disappointed to write new year's resolutions.

You did the best you could, like you always do. There are so many things we wish we did differently because we now know better,  but at that moment it was the best thing to do. The calendar is just well , a calendar, we made it up to keep track of time , but the truth is a new phase of life doesn't have to start on the 1st of January. It starts at the time you make the decision. The moment you realise what you truly want and decide to go for it at all costs. Trust me that's what makes for  new year's resolutions that actually come true.

Speaking of resolutions. How long is that list? Mine is just 3 things. I know I can do more, but I've got the rest of my life for that. I wont share them, yet, but these are the three things that will be at the back of my head for the rest of 2015. For the sake of your sanity, make that list as short as possible. Don't just write generic things like loose weight, be healthy , be happy, be rich. Everybody says so but not everybody has a specific plan. The art of writing resolutions is like the art of creating goals. They should be specific, that way the universe knows exactly what to give you. 

I had my good share of 2014. I threw myself at things I never would have thought about , took risks, learned, made friends, traveled , hustled most importantly this blog is growing faster than I expected. Thanks to all my readers ( I hope you find stories of Newton and Einstein and Physics and Math as inspiring as I do). Risk taking, that is how you grow, that's how you let go of fear. It all starts with a first step, you learned to walk by crawling, why should everything else be different? I read somewhere that to achieve anything, you don't have to be the best, you just have to start. Humble beginnings usually have a happy ending. As long as you are alive, there is something for you.

So here's to 2015, here's to 2015 for the risks that we'll take , the journeys that we'll begin and the memories that we'll take. As we sing Auld Lang Syne I would like to wish a  Happy New Year!!!! Make it matter.

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” 

― Plato