POWER TALK: Don’t let your history limit your destiny

Dr Wale Akinyemi at a past event.

What you need to know:

  • Friends it is possible to have a destiny that bears no resemblance with our history. Don’t ever let your dream be limited by your history.

  • People like Dr James Mwangi of Equity bank are living a destiny that bears no resemblance to their history.

When last week I wrote about taking risks I was on the verge of taking one myself. I was paying for a hall so I could get to meet my readers.

I wanted you to be inspired by some of the things that were inspiring me and you turned out in a way that I could never have imagined and for this I am so grateful. It was however a very huge learning point for me and I want to share them in three categories — the good the bad and the ugly.

The Good: You responded in your large numbers. By 6pm the hall was nearly full. There was energy and expectation.

Besides the very inspiring stories one major thing that caught my attention was the fact that we had members of parliament, Chairmen and Chief Executives of companies, Business owners, corporate leaders, the electrician, the spare parts dealer and even the students all in one room.

We had people from different parts of Kenya who had come from far and wide to be inspired.

DREAMS ARE VALID

It showed that indeed my Kenyan dream is valid – a Kenya united behind a single purpose that transcends tribe, ethnicity or social standing.

We had all said yes to a common goal of being inspired and so it was easy to say no to the things that divide us. As a Nation we need to identify our common goal and dream – a great Kenya – a Kenya that we will leave better than we found it.

When we unanimously say a big yes to this then it will be very easy to say a big no to the things that divide us. As an organisation when we say a big yes to the dream of the organisation then we will say no to the suggestions offered by mediocrity.

The Bad: I thought I was thinking big when I got Lenana Hall and Aberdare halls to be combined and turned into one super big hall. However, thirty minutes into the event it was clear that what I thought was big thinking was actually small thinking as there was no more room even for people to stand.

I was even sadder to hear that the number of people that were turned back outside were more than those inside. For this I am terribly sorry.

The lesson? We need to qualify our thinking contextually. Because my past meetings had attracted up to 200 people getting a place that could take four to five times that appeared to be big thinking. Where do you take the bearing for your dreams from? I had taken my bearing from where I used to be and I was burnt for it.

Friends it is possible to have a destiny that bears no resemblance with our history. Don’t ever let your dream be limited by your history. People like Dr. James Mwangi of Equity bank are living a destiny that bears no resemblance to their history.

Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo did not wear shoes until he was an adult yet he lived and continues to live a destiny that bears no resemblance to his history.

Yes we do learn from history but we have the liberty to have dreams that are unconnected to our history.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOURSELF

If we allow history to cloud or dreaming and to dictate the boundaries of our imagination we will find ourselves in the very bad position I found myself on Friday 14th August helplessly learning that people who came from far were being turned back and there was nothing I could do about it.

The Ugly: I promised to give books to my readers and so we went with 200 books because we thought that there was no way we could have more than that number of readers show up.

Of course the 200 books were able to serve only one small segment of the people. (I hope those of you who did not get have collected your books from the place we agreed on). Again the big lesson is: Never underestimate the potential of your dream.

I hope you have today taken some lessons from my mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. The fool insists on making his own.