Eric Kimani's Motivational Lecture on Success & Significance For Young People

In the past I have confessed to being a big Eric Kimani fan. He is Kenya's answer to Steve Covey, in my humble opinion. I am glad that he is slowly, but surely branding himself a motivational speaker. I find every speech or writing he has generated full of lessons and wisdom that can be used by everybody to enrich their lives. Below is one of the oldest speeches he made(some 5 years ago)- long before he attained his now celebrity status in motivational speaking:- A MOTIVATIONAL LECTURE ON SUCCESS AND SIGNIFICANCE DELIVERED TO YOUNG PEOPLE It is my singular honour and privilege to give this talk. Many scholars and business writers have attempted to give out a definition of success. I do not boast to know how to define it, but I will try to provide some insights to what I consider are the basic ingredients to leading a successful and significant life. What is success? I define success as a journey towards having what you want and the experience of continuing to want and enjoy what you have. I call it a journey because success does not have a beginning and an end. Indeed success is more the journey than the destination. A significant life in my view is one that impacts positively on others. In other words a life of legacy. What then are the prerequisites of success? I will try and enumerate eight characteristics of successful people and where relevant will draw from my own experiences and those of other people. Successful People have a Dream Your dreams are central to your success. Martin Luther King’s is perhaps the world’s most famous dreams and I quote. “I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream tonight.” End of quote. Martin Luther’s dream changed much of the history of America. A dream by definition is a burning passion, desire or obsession. Dreamers will have a thousand and one ideas. Many would not stand up to any test but it is some of their dreams that changed the world. I recall the days I carried a tape recorder to capture my thoughts and dreams. To this day I still carry pieces of paper where I put down my dreams as they hit me. In 1993 I had a dream of setting up a milk processing plant. I went even to the local lending institutions but they could not buy into my dream. I had a dream of setting up a company to fill in a void that I saw being created by the eminent fall of the giant KCC. That dream today is a reality albeit small in the form of Palmhouse Dairies Ltd. Dreams require dream catchers. In my life some of my bosses have been great dream catchers providing great inspiration and support. My first employer, saw it in me; encouraged me to forego the then troubled University and set my career path towards professional Accountancy. In my first attempt towards this goal, so fierce was my passion that I was the best National student. I qualified as a CPA under the mentorship of my then immediate boss (now late), who not only became my dream catcher but a great friend – He was one of the best men in my Christian wedding – himself a Muslim leader! Dream catchers form a pillar of support for ones dreams and a useful sounding board. My next dream catcher came in 1987 when I joined a new employer and found the then Managing Director. He caught all my dreams. The years 1987 to 1992 were perhaps the years of my greatest dreams. You will need dream catchers in your life; men of vision, “can do” people. Men and women who see a mountain ahead and say; how can we get over it, around it, or even get rid of it!” Avoid dream killers who say “that it the biggest mountain I have ever seen and I bet people have died trying to get over that thing, probably some this very afternoon.” Dreams will often fail and this is part of the game of success, as I will mention later. Finally, fix your mind firmly on what you want to do; then go out and do it. The challenge is to find that dream; that thing that ignites the fire within you and the search is what makes life meaningful, interesting and challenging. Get rid of naysayers – those who throw cold water at your dreams. I recall in 1996, when I told one of my best friend, that I was setting up a milk processing plant in pursuit of my 1993 dream, he told me that the giant KCC was likely to wipe out the competition at a strike. I have reaped immense profits and benefits todate and six years later KCC is still a fallen giant. Naysayers are negative people who waste your time. Avoid sharing your dreams with them. Successful People have Fun To be successful it is important that you enjoy your work and your work environment. If you do not enjoy your work or your colleagues you are better off looking elsewhere. The writer in the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes says and I quote “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That every one may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his task.” I recall that my first and second change of jobs were precipitated largely by my failure at a point to enjoy the jobs. I recall vividly that even my wife and some friend’s thought I was crazy to leave some green pasture to pursue the unknown. In both cases my dream catchers gave up on me and the nay sayers took over. Indeed I recall at one of the companies the very top management had started to label my ideas as “the flavour of the month”. At that point they lost me. It was no longer fun working. Strains, pressure and tensions are danger signs that it is time to leave. It is not a disaster to take a job and find you did not want it; it is a major disaster if you decide to stay in a job you do not enjoy. In my last job I stayed two years; earning what I considered above industry average pay but left when I realised I did not enjoy what I was doing. It is impossible to succeed where you do not enjoy what you do and those around you. Having fun doing your work will make you truly excel. Successful People have a Vision A craving and burning desire to achieve what they are out to do. Vision is the ability to see is beyond the physical realm through creative imagination. Stories of men and women driven by passion abound. The power of vision is well demonstrated in the life of the late (died only last year) Victor Frankl an Austrian Psychologist who survived the dreadful Nazi concentration camps. While in the camp he observed that it is not the health, vitality, genetics, skill or intelligence that counted in survivors but a sense of future vision – some important thing to do on the future. A calling to the future. Mahatma Gandhi came from a background of timidity, scarcity, fear and insecurity and his vision brought the British government on its knees to liberate the world’s largest democracy; India. He said in his words, and I quote “I claim to be no more than an average man with below average capacities. I have not the shadow of doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have if he or she would put forth the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith”. End of quote. The passion for vision is expressed in hope and faith. You must seek to connect to your mission and vision; your mission is what gives your life meaning. You could express it in a mission statement; How to develop and internalise a mission statement could be the subject of another talk. I recall in 1992, when I decided that I needed to look into building my own house and move out of the company house. A friend of mine pointed me to some properties that were on sale next to an upmarket area. The property was then bush – indeed very unattractive at the time. My vision saw beyond the bush. I bought with vision to one day develop it and build a home. My friends thought I was nuts – we even ate wild pig trapped on the property! There was an impassable 0.6 km and I bought at the middle of it. My wife confesses to me that when she saw the property her heart sank! By mid 1998, we had completed a house, the road was tarmac and the street lit! The power of vision helps one to see beyond what exists and create what does not. Successful People have Faith Faith is a belief that you can do it. Faith gives you life, power, a starting point. It removes limitations. It moves mountains. It enables you to hear the small voice that tells you that you can. Faith is persistence and perseverance. One Calvin Coolidge put it this way. “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not! Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with great talent. Genius will not! Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not! The world is full of educated failures. Persistence prevails. Determination alone makes you omnipotent.” End of quote. When I saw the job of a Managing Director from my current employer advertised in August 2000, I applied and besides my other qualifications, it is perhaps my faith that outranked all. I knew deep inside me that I could get the job. I trusted (and asked God) that I could. When it came, it only consolidated my faith in a most profound way. My faith is based on the believe that there is a higher being in God. From this faith and this God I draw my strength to press on. Successful People make their own Luck Many say successful people are lucky but nothing could be further from the truth! I define luck as “the ability to take advantage of opportunities”. Seeing a way where others don’t. Not blind hope. Work hard and put yourself in a position to capitalize on opportunities that come your way. Seek situations that provide the opportunity. I recall late 1992 when I was appointed Finance Director for one of my previous employers perhaps the first African to hold that position within that sector. Many may have thought I was lucky. What they may not have known is that I had written a cost reduction proposal with myself proposed as Finance Director which the principal shareholders naturally approved! It was a deliberately orchestrated move to make my own luck! Making your own luck is central to your survival. The best analogy to this is that of a striker in a soccer match. He does not waste his energy chasing the ball from goal post to the other. He looks out for that pass that gives him a break and sends the ball hitting the net like a bullet! That is not luck. You do not call lucky a fisherman who has studied the habit of fish and regularly takes home a large catch. You have to position yourself to make your own luck. Successful People are not afraid of failure Successful people believe in what Tom Peters describe as the 3 F’s – Fail, Fast, Forward. Sometimes you will fail and so what? Fix your mind not on your failure but on the next act. Pick yourself up. If you are not experiencing failure you are not working had enough. You must not confuse the fear of failure with failing. The former is dangerous and leads to paralysis. The fear of failure will lead you to loose the ability to have a rewarding, meaningful and enjoyable life. It is a dangerous emotion that breeds indifference, indecision, doubts, worry and procrastination. These will lead to the window of opportunity to open and close without you taking advantage. Don’t be afraid of failure, it is part of the game of success. Perhaps the best-case example in my life here is my pursuit of studying law. Realising as I did that I had for good reason, missed out on University education I enrolled for an LLB degree with the University of London by correspondence in 1991. It was an uphill task. My wife went for a whole year 1992/93 and I was left to look after our three kids the oldest then 8 years and youngest 2! That year I could not study. But I did not give up! A promotion in 1993 derailed me. But I still did not give up. In 1995 I completed the LLB degree with honours. In the year 2001 just before I joined my current employer, I got an opportunity, after two earlier failed attempts to do my Pupillage and attended the Kenya School of Law where I graduated as an advocate in September 2001! To succeed you just cannot quit! Successful People do not Quit You will have bad times – at such times you will need to draw from the strength deep inside. Your passion for vision. People have seen their world fall apart – death, divorce, sickness etc, but in all this they find stamina, willpower, energy and the courage to go on. The only way you can fail is if you quit. So you cannot fail the last time you try. Winston Churchill said “There is only one answer to defeat, and that is victory. Successful People Persevere Persistently You will recall that the initial dream for the milk factory was 1993 – and it did not materialize until 1996. I recall days I thought that my investment in the milk processing was a wrong move. Sometimes the milk went bad in the market; there was too much of it and my bigger competitors were cutting prices beyond what we could stand. But we persevered and persisted and these bad times came to pass. At times we made no profit at all, but many times after persisting we made money. You will recall elsewhere in this talk I alluded to the fact that perseverance and persistence makes you omnipotent. Those who know Mukore Academy, now a fully fledged primary school and tertiary college will tell you what perseverance and persistence can bring your way. I have a dream that in the not too distant future, if we persist and persevere we shall be able to offer fully-fledged degrees at Githunguri campus from reputable Universities. In concluding my talk on success, I quote from one of the most inspiring sources of motivation; The Holy Bible in Luke 9:25 where it says “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self.” To be a success you must determine what really matters. Character and truth are cornerstones to true success. Your guide and compass will be your ability to educate and follow your conscience. Apply a commonsense approach to life. Common sense is defined as the coming together of experience, learning and talents and applying it. Finally, remember that as one scholar put it, life and success is not measured by duration but by donation – give it away. A life of significance and legacy is perhaps the greatest success any man or woman can have. Leave a lasting legacy. Ladies and Gentlemen I thank you very much E.M. KIMANI