I was born not knowing everything. My parents only could wish that I would grow up in a safe environment, get a good education, get a job, be a responsible citizen and later in life help our family.
This is the same wish list most parents have for their children. Only through guidance, mentor-ship, coaching and good role modeling are all those aspects very possible. I’m very grateful for the fact that my parents supported my journey to the best of their ability, and that has been a great pivot to my self-mastery.
There’s nothing that comes easy. Self-mastery is the most ignored part of personal development as we are largely driven by peer pressure and living in the shadow of others. There is nothing like automatic lifestyle to any ideas that you may have, you have to work day and night to give your ideas some life and that is part of self-mastery; driving through the tunnels of dream land to living the dream.
We are made of many layers of things from experiences, skills,
values, success stories, etc. This diagram doesn't represent the full
cycle of everyone, but it acknowledges the fact in our journey's we
start from somewhere which I call the core foundation which constitutes;
- Find your voice
- Turning Points
- Inside Out Values
- Kick Starting Your Journey (Action)
My self-mastery journey started way back in primary school, having been born in a football-playing family. I came to love sport as one of the greatest vehicles to staying away from all negative distractions in my community. I have built on many opportunities from the core interest of football. For example through football I traveled to Norway and the Netherlands in 1997, 1998 and 1999 respectively.
I later join the tech world in 2000 as a designer and web developer which enabled me to work for many foundations, the latest being the Kilimanjaro Film Institute in Arusha Tanzania as a Hub in Arusha Tanzania where I was a Hub Manager for the Moving Tanzania project.
So what is the secret to Self Mastery? The first principle is doing what you love and loving what you do while referring to the core, which is what you, loved doing when there was no pressure for money. Through intrinsic values there is great purpose and passion to progress and make an impact out of the uncharted waters. Secondly, before we get to know what exactly we want in life we are always confronted by many things, despite everyone wanting good life and to be successful. The problem comes where you apply too many shortcuts that you lose who you are, and who you want to become in future.
Growing up on the Eastlands side of Nairobi, I faced many challenges that made me who I am today by shaping my destiny although my next step in life is always shaped by the choices I make. I juggled many things before knowing exactly what I wanted from playing football such as volunteering and attending youth workshops.
All this is a real sample of a young person living in Africa. Especially in the informal settlement, many young people find themselves squeezed in a box not knowing how to get out and build their brands.
We do more than one thing for survival and to find our own identity in the hidden puzzle of life because the foundation of the family structures is not stable enough to support living of your dream. This isn’t not to say there is no one who hasn’t achieved their big dreams coming from this area despite their circumstances and the painted picture of disappointment and despair.
Lastly, I have always built my foundation on the principle of dreams, dedication and determination. This foundation kick started my self-mastery journey.
All I can say is the sky is the stepping stone to my next level.
Kickstart journey
Kick starting SELF journey calls for a lot of preparedness, awareness, patience among other great values, to propel you to mastery levels in your life cycle.
Money isn’t everything in your journey, but passion and purpose are two great pivots you can’t miss.
In a situation of disappointment, burn-out and creative block I always go back to the core of my journey to refuel energy that restarts the open mind, creative and critical thinking approach to the situation at hand.
The inside out approach value approach has always kept my dreams alive and I urge every young person to go back to the basics and retrace the source of energy, creativity and innovation that they never recognized or dropped in their pursuit of extrinsic values like money and, fame. If you believe in what you do and write it down it will eventually happen.
