We make our choices, and then those choices — good or bad — make us

When Chonga lost his job abruptly after he was laid off as a clerk, he became a sculptor out of necessity. Eventually, he became the most successful sculptor in the region.

When his friend Robert remarked that Chonga was very lucky, the latter smiled and answered: “Luck has nothing to do with it. I trained as a clerk.

For five years, I worked for a clearing and forwarding company but got laid off quite unexpectedly. What options did I have?

“I came back home and realised that I had to do something because I had a family to take care of. I got casual jobs as a stone-cutter to begin with.

My first days were the most painful — the embarrassment of cutting stones, not to mention the painful blisters I got since my hands were not used to such difficult work.

GREAT HARVEST

“When I accepted that this had become my new way of life, the embarrassment melted away. The painful blisters eventually healed.

What you may call my lucky break came when a certain sculptor approached me for an apprenticeship because he had a huge order and needed someone who had some experience with stone-cutting. The pay was little but I learnt a lot.”

Chonga continued: “I was once told a story of two farmers.

One of them planted beans and harvested several sacks. He would look at his neighbour’s land and scorn him for wasting his land on useless things because the neighbour had planted bamboo grass on his land.

“For a long time, all one could see were the bamboo shoots sticking out of the ground without much promise.

“The bean farmer kept scoffing at his neighbour, who faithfully watered his bamboo shoots. Then one morning, something wonderful began to happen. All the bamboo shoots began to grow. Soon, the seemingly bare land was heavy with bamboo plants.

“It dawned on the bean farmer that while he was scoffing at his neighbour for wasting his time watering useless shoots, the bamboo plants were busy spreading their roots far and wide, looking for water.

“Even when the drought came, the bamboo farmer still had a great harvest. His shoots had deep roots, unlike his neighbour whose beans dried out in the first weeks of the drought.”

Robert mulled on his friend’s words, then said: “James Allen, in his timeless classic, As a Man Thinketh, remarks that most people are not aware of the struggles that successful men and women endure before they become successful, which is why most people think that prosperous people are just lucky or favoured.

LEAP TO FREEDOM

“The truth is that what most people see are the results of years of sacrifice and hard work. Successful people always bounce back, whatever the circumstances.”

Whether you think you will succeed or not, you are right. Your thoughts determine how you respond to any situation.

The only thing that stands between you and greatness is your perception of your current situation. Your thoughts, whether positive or negative, control your actions.

You might have heard the story of the donkey that had grown old and tired. Its owner decided to throw it into a dry well and bury it alive.

Once the donkey was in the well, the owner started covering it with soil.

The donkey shook the soil and stepped on it. Since the owner could not see what was happening, he kept the soil coming and the donkey kept shaking it off and stepping on it. The donkey used what was meant to bury him to rise to the top.

Eventually the donkey leapt out to freedom.

Our circumstances are only half the story. The other half is how we respond. We make our choices, and then our choices make us. You almost always have options, whatever your circumstances. Don’t make excuses, make history!