Hold on..

This is probably shortest post I have ever written. It is short not because I have nothing to say but because what I have to say today is better said in fewer words. It is simple, hold on. Life isn't always turn out what you want it to be. Sometimes it gives you what you want, sometimes it just shows you alternatives. Either way it is amazing. Hold on because it is your right. You have the right to live, the right to access to resources, the right to speak among many others. Underneath all this is simply the right to optimism; the right to hope. If you have ever missed a deadline then you know what its like to be denied that right. We all need hope , it is what moves us forward. Take risks, make mistakes, fail, start afresh because that is what living means. Pay attention but listen to no one , no one escaped failure, not even Isaac Newton, Socrates or Nelson Mandela. Hang in there, somewhere amidst the confusion lies answers.That being said have a amazing week ahead.

Hello human..

As naive as this may sound, I believe no one is evil. Yes, there is wars, deceit, manipulation, malice, ulterior motives, malice but I still believe all humans are good people, for no other reason but the fact that I'm human too. Even the world's most evil people were good people, they had good intentions , they just made decisions that had detrimental effects.

We all know that Albert Einstein played a huge role in the making of the nuclear bomb. What he did was  wrong by all standards. He used his authority to invoke the president of the United States to initiate the Manhattan project. Wrong decision but in his defence he did this because he thought the Germans had started on the project already. Even with good intentions this decision led to the death of so many innocent souls in Japan. He also admitted that that was this was the  greatest mistake in his life.

Same goes for the Robert J . Oppenheimer who was the actual  demon behind the Manhattan project. He used his abilities(of which he had plenty) for the security of his country.  If you read history you'll find that even Hitler good intentions when he put Jews in concentration camps, had it not been for the war, these camps would have been in much better conditions.

Point is , we all decide to make our lives better, whether it is to help ourselves or help others. Every decision we make is justified by a cause, or by some experience. No one is completely evil, afterall we all started as the innocent little babies once upon a time. People also like challenges. If people don't agree with you,it doesn't mean that you are a failure, it just means that you have different interests, or rather are challenged by different things, as we all know everyone likes a challenge. If people do stuff to hurt others, it doesn't mean they intend to, they are probably making decisions under stress or pressure. Remove stress, remove pressure and what you get good people. People who want the best for our planet. At least that what I believe.

We all have a common goal,we just speak it in different languages. Someone said the world's biggest problems are solvable by a 10  minute conversation. That is true and is definitely a reason to believe that life is amazing.  Now, before putting a label on people, or shutting them out or hesitating to approach them, keep that in mind. Because the way, if you carefully examine yourself you'll realise that you are just the same. With that in mind I wish you an amazing week ahead.

PS: I'm not a world peace activist, I'm just an introvert human with good intentions.

A maze...

Take this route,
Take the corner,
As you step foot to foot,
Remember tts a maze with no end,

With every corner is a new path,
A new challenge arises,
It can sometimes fill you with wrath,
For there is just no end,

Just when the storm is over,
New clouds hover,
A bigger distance to cover,
Where exactly is the end,

When its overwhelming seek out a helping hand,
Cause that's how you set the success trend,
So don't give up dear friend,
For life is a maze with no end,

You are gonna die.. soon..

You'll wake up tomorrow morning, accomplish what you planned, probably more, probably less. you'll probably give up at some point, or succeed beyond your expectations. Oh yes and you'll definitely die, somewhere in your well planned future. Yes, as harsh and far fetched as it may sound, its the truth. No one lives forever. So,whats the point? Why hold on? It doesn't matter how hard we work, how much we give, we'll all decompose to some resourceful organic matter which won't have your name on it.

Everybody dies, not even Isaac Newton , or Albert Einstein or Michael Faraday or Steve Jobs or Nelson Mandela could escape such fate. But there is something different about these individuals, their names are immortal. Its like they never died because we feel their presence in every aspect of our lives. Perhaps that's the kind of death we should strive for. Perhaps that's what will make death a little less terrifying, perhaps nothing ever goes in vain, perhaps...

We wont all be as famous or as innovative as the above names and that's the point, we are all unique. We have the opportunity to make each other's lives better. Whether that means saving lives, teaching them, engineering useful machines, or simply putting a smile on someone's face. In some way your name becomes immortal to that and perhaps that is the point, perhaps that is what really matters.

As you go through life, people will tell you not to be ambitious, perhaps because they care that you will get
hurt when you loose, perhaps because they are actually bad people and do not want you to succeed. Either way, you should realise you are stronger than what they think. You are capable of so much more than you know.

Before you reject that project or pass that opportunity or even give in to procrastination, remember that you will die, pretty soon actually,  the legacy you leave behind is literally the decisions you make and literally what you do next. So rule of thumb, do your best,and do no evil (credits to Google's motto). You probably wont be the next Mark Zucherberg, or Thomas Edison, but perhaps that's what really matters, after all ...

Everybody lies...

We have a tendency to admire successful people. They are smart, hardworking, all-rounded , all the qualities we want for ourselves. Here's one thing you don't know about them, they are liars. They lie so much that it has become part of their subconscious. Of Course, they don't lie to the world, they lie to themselves.

Lying is not good, not by any standards and I don't advocate it at all. There is a different kind of lying, lying to yourself about yourself, its totally legal and its actually encouraged. You have a bad day lie to your subconscious that its a very good day that you don't want it to end. You are feeling incapable? Lie to yourself that you are so smart that worldly standards don't have a category for you.  This t
technique has worked for so many people.

Richard Feynman was a theoretical physicist who has been named among the top ten most influential physicists of all time; his name is mentioned of the likes of Einstein and Newton. But he had an average IQ of  126 (In comparison, Albert Einstein had an IQ of 160). The interesting part is that he knew about it, he took the IQ test while in high school. But he knew better than that, that he was smarter than any test could ever reveal. He went on to excel in Physics and Mathematics, producing theories people of 130 IQ would never dream of.

Its actually a trend in the scientific community. James Watson , the co discoverer of the human DNA had an IQ of mere 124. He failed to make 130 twice. E.O Wilson, the father of sociology has an IQ of 123. At this point, am starting to think if Newton took the test, we shouldn't something abnormally high.

So what's the missing link  between low IQ's and world class research? Between success and mediocrity? A little habit called lying aliased as faking. The IQ test reads low, lie that you have a higher IQ. You have only been shortlisted, lie that you actually got the job. Everything is going downhill, lie that life is so amazing that you have never been better. What have you to loose anyway?

Fake it till you make it. The adage never gets old. Some call it believing, some call it faking, some call it lying, whatever it is that you do to counter the negative self talk. Do it, the universe responds to that, that's simply the law of attraction. On that note, I too have a confession too! Life is not always amazing but I fake it until it is, after all everybody lies. Have an amazing week (or at least lie about it).

There will be tears

Life is good, life is always good. When there is nothing to stress about, life as I said , will be good. There is a name for this situation, it is called the comfort zone. Something subtle happens when you make a commitment, the world will simply be a different place which is perhaps the reason why we fear the big C.Expect a lot when you finally make that decision, I will just mention a few.

There will be questions. People will ask questions as to why you do what you do. If thats not enough, many a times you'll find yourself questioning yourself. Whether it is necessary or not, whether it is worth it or not. Brace yourself , prepare those answers, because the answers to these questions will determine whether you quit or survive.

There will be tears, maybe literally speaking or  perhaps even real tears. The universe will try to test you if you are really serious about whatever it is that you want. You will fail a couple of times and you will feel like giving up. Well, when this happens, remember Thomas Edison had to make 1000 mistakes to make that tiny light bulb. Was this reasonable? Nope not in this fast paced world, was it worth it? Of course it was.

But there will also be rewards. The one that will always seem far fetched is the rewards. Your journey is like hiking. Walking up is not the most luxurious activity you'll want to do, you will get tired along the way, but the the view at the top simply makes you forget all the pain. In short, the future you will thank you for the tiny steps you made along the way.
There is a reason why we fear commitments; because we commit to the road less traveled. We just have a vague idea of the end result but we are never sure of what will happen next. That's a bit scary but you know what? The rewards up there are simply worth the pain. Life will not just be good, it will be amazing. So have a 'tearful' week ahead.

A healthy disregard for the impossible.

Today I wont write about Newton or Einstein or Steve Jobs or any of the other legends who been my inspiration for this blog. Today I'll write about an event that has inspired me even more, the Google Student Ambassador Summit in sub-saharan Africa that took place last week in Accra, Ghana.

There is a word for the atmosphere when 130 young and talented students meet from all over Africa, energy, anything but boring. There is a reason #gsassa has been trending for the past week. Every moment was a picture moment. The training spanned all the way from presentations to the wabble dance, factorial claps, all the way to the final competition where each group had to simulate a campus event. Presentations from Googlers and star GSA alumni were inspiring and informative. 10 factorial claps to +Aída Martínez , +Check Nyah , +Aneke Chimdindu , +Emmanuel A. Gamor , +Ryan Michael , +Freek Vermeer , +Estelle Akofio-Sowah , +Jeminatu Alabi-Isama , +Noha Salem and the other speakers I havent been able to tag, you sent the message across. It was interessting to learn Larry Page's slogan "Have a healthy disregard for the impossible".It is definitely how Google developed from a garage project. Did I mention that we got to watch the movie Guardians of the Galaxy and the whole theatre was booked just for us ? Yes, something only google would do. And finally the cultural night 

I met intersting people , really interesting from the rooms, to the dining room, to the selfie moments. I was  lucky to be the roommate +Sithe Ncube  ,the star of the day who amazed everyone with her video making skills, I got a cultural partner (who actually got me a present) +Temitope I Olorund thanx to +Joshua Josh and +June Tessy  for taking the initiative, +Awa Mbengue 's musical talents just amazed me.
Being Tanzanian myself I easily connected with GSAs from Kenya and Uganda ,  +johnstone vusena , +Jarau Moses , +DENNIS THUNGU , +Jarau Moses , +vivian omondi , +kweli mukeli , +Miss Chelle, +Tushabire Adah , +Kagimu Brian  , +Latifa Mbarak ,, +kweli mukeli , +Victoria Mbabazi  to name a few . Fellow GSA's from SouthAfrica  are loud(at least that's the impression we made),Its really hard to forget people like +Amukelani Hlabano , +Lucretia Ringane , +Alwande Tshabalala , +Avile Maja , +CHRISTELLE ATIBIA EMEBIGWINE , +Tubatsi Moloi , +Alan Kow , +Eduan Cronjé , +Dévan Coetzee , +Stan Sibiya, +Carla Wilby , +Asongtia Guilian A , +diane DIOBE . It really is hard.
The GSA's from Ghana were actually very good hosts, +Abraham Ametepey , +INSAH HAKI, +Quarshie Timothy , +Suhaib Ahmed , +irene sogli +Desmond Nketia Sarpong  , you did a good job.   (I hope I've mentioned everyone).All in all,a 2 minutes conversation with any of the GSA's is enough to prove that Africa has lots of potential.

So I am now the official Google student ambassador for the University of Capetown. Oh yes and I dont have Ebola .:).
Thank you +Jeminatu Alabi-Isama , +Olalekan Samuel , +Aída Martínez , +Noha Salem +Victor(couldn't get his G+ profile).This summit has taught me to build a healthy disregard for the impossible. Together with +Carla Wilby  I hope to do cool things that actually matter at UCT.

Whats a good summit without good food?

Alisa hotels gave us a warm 'Akwaaba' (welcome)

SSA GSA's with our "Google glasses"

Fun times.

Serious things done at the conference

GSA's at UCT

Even the cake had to be Google.

Even the bottle is googly ... :)

South Africa culture at the cultural night.

Google everywhere

I got cool sandals from my cultural partner +Temitope I Olorunda 

With +Sithe Ncube  and +Philip Onyia 

#gsassa, #gsummit2014