Have you ever been granted an unexpected holiday? Well, this happened to me and maybe to you if you are a Kenyan. Elections period gave me a cool two weeks’ holiday. At first I was a bit uncertain. Clients were rescheduling trainings to ‘after elections’ then to ‘after the big announcement.’ August was about to look like a bad month despite the fact that it’s my birthday month. Little did I know that the unsolicited holiday would turn out so well. It was a time to relax, reflect and connect.

My holiday was crowned by one interesting interaction. I happened to share a ride with my primary school head teacher. A calm strong man in his mid-seventies. He is like my second dad, having been one of my dad’s best friend. His business premise is always my last stop over when am going home. Actually I take a different route and drive an extra 30Kms just to check into his place. Needless to say that I enjoy the ride because it’s very scenic with no traffic. It’s what we call ‘hitting two birds with the same stone.’

I however realized that most of the time the conversation is usually short lived. It’s just ‘dropping by’ as I rush to a meeting of from a meeting. This time however I had all the time. We had a long. He is the person who has probably never doubted my moves. Irrespective of how unconventional the move is. He also has a way of seeing more of my blessings than I acknowledge. Every time I pop in he says “Do you see how far God has brought you?” Maybe he has a better memory of my young version than I do. He has literally watched me grow from day one of school to date and he has never doubted my ability or my decisions.

As the conversation unfolded, he mentioned he would be going to the nearest town later that day. He needed to make some bank transactions and check some building materials. That was my perfect moment; a chance to take a ride with him. I admired his energy as he moved around giving instructions to his grandson before getting into the car. He is a great observer; he could tell me more about the car than I could explain. I however got curious about the items he was looking to shop that day. At his age I thought he would be resting, enjoying his retirement.

That curiosity got me more than I was looking for. He enthusiastically explained about a building project that he has embarked on. He explained every aspect in detail. I could see it clearly in my mind. The location, the physical outlook, the size of each room, the fittings and now the final touches that he was looking to make. I have discussed with him other tasks he has had before, including consultancies in education sector. He however had never sounded so enthusiastic about a project like this one. Despite many other items we discussed including leadership tips (coming in subsequent article), this one stood out. I cannot wait to see the project on my next visit.

I was left with a high level of reflection and conviction. A confirmation that “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dorman forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” Robin Sharma

Just so you know I also spent that holiday listening to Robin Sharma’s audio books. That statement totally stood out, I had to recheck it on the hard copy later. As Robin Sharma also notes, “the purpose of life is a life of purpose.” Listening and observing my primary school head teacher that day brought all this to light.

He gave me a reason today to remind us to live with purpose and enthusiasm, but how;

1. Understand what life should feel like – When you are not being you everything feels foggy and colorless. You are bored, tired and busy at the same time. As my favorite priest said last Sunday, “People get bored because they have not found something they love.”
2. Trust yourself – Trust your ability to make the right decisions. We are naturally intuitive before we learn the rules. If you are not following your intuition you are operating on other people’s terms.
3. Feel the fear and do it anyway – You don’t have to wake up every day with great excitement but you need to wake up feeling you are on the right path by your own standards. The unknown is scary; fear will always be there but it cannot rule you unless you let it.
4. Rethink your to do list – If you do not decide what matters in advance you will spend it all doing things that are not aligned to your vision. If you care enough about a goal and want it badly enough you will take regular action.
5. Check in with yourself regularly – Before you get out of bed, ask yourself what is important for me today, what would make me sleep well tonight because I got it done? Before you make decisions ask yourself is this part of my goals, is this what I want?

Energy and enthusiasm are necessary to keep you going regardless of the circumstances; you need to find things that serve to fuel your passion and make you happy.

Photo by Barbara Olsen : https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-in-gray-crew-neck-shirt-wearing-black-headphones-7870237/