What your appetite reveals about you

Last week, we started on a journey that I called “The Wale Rules” – some of the things that I have picked up along the way in my life, a number of them in a very hard way.

I believe that experience is not the best teacher. It is the most painful. It is the best teacher when it is someone else’s experience.

Our primary goal should be to learn by instruction. When that fails, then we have to learn by experience.

The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. The fool insists on making his own. 

We are where we are not because we were perfect, but because we learnt from our imperfections. That which we learn, we are able to share.

Control your appetite

What you have an appetite for reveals a lot about you.

Appetite is a pre-determinant of destiny. If you have an appetite for things that build you, then you will end up in a good place. If you have an appetite for things that destroy, then one does not need to be a prophet to predict your doom.

It is always interesting to see what people opt to do when they are free to choose and they have the resources to do whatever they want. Their decision reveals appetite.

Have the right appetite for the right things. There are few things worse than not having enough appetite for the right things and enjoying all the appetite for the wrong stuff.

An appetite for success that is not accompanied with an appetite for personal development and strong legacy of greatness and honour will ultimately lead to crime.

Live a life of balance

The fact that you are right does not mean that the other person is wrong. 

The ability to objectively appraise other views apart from your own is a key catalyst of progress and harmony.

What you know is not all there is to be known. It is just a tiny fraction of what there is to be known.

Having a dogmatic view of life robs you of immense possibilities. Your world is a tiny fraction of the greater world.

Balance is to realise that just as you have a right to believe what you believe, the other person also has the same right.

Your responsibility is not to force the other person to accept your view but to live your life in such a way that your view becomes attractive.

Be humble by choice

The greatest test of humility is success. Anyone can feign humility when they are hungry and when they lack. It takes a genuinely meek person to be humble in the midst of abundance. Pride goes before a fall.

I sometimes look at some people and I conclude that the world is better off with them in a low state.
This is because if they get promoted or get very successful, more people will suffer. Their success will cause more harm than good to others.

Think of the driver who has no regard for pedestrians, yet he is not even the owner of the car he is driving. What will such a person do if he has his own car?

How you treat people who are at your mercy will determine how life will ultimately treat you.

A lady who goes on a date with a man who speaks harshly to waiters is in trouble. Her day will come when he is no longer trying to impress her.

It pays to remember that a novice called Noah built an ark that survived a great flood that wiped away the rest of the world, and experts built a ship called the Titanic, which did not survive its first voyage.

To be continued…