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Things I’ve learned in the past 10 months…

Written by Bongeka
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The year 2017 is ending soon and a few days ago I was having one of my reflection episodes. Reflection is so powerful because it enables me to focus my mind on being grateful and progressive. I know some may ask, why not do the yearly reflection right at the end of 2017. I keep realising that we don’t know what tomorrow holds and as people we live as if we are immortal, but we not. Every moment that we have an opportunity to see a new day is truly a gift from God.

A few people close to me know the details of how 2017 started for me…it’s been one heck of a year! Full of surprises, both good and bad. But I must say this is truly one of the best years of my life…I have grown more in 2017 than the previous past two years. So, I’ve learned a few things along the way and I just wanted to share some of those things here…so here goes my list:

  1. God is my provider truly and NOT my job. I will write another piece someday just on this point alone!
  2. Tough situations always work out for Good – Just pray, laugh and rest.
  3. When days are dark, your true friends shine through!
  4. Have more than 3 good friends (you can send me a private message on this one and I will expand further ?).
  5. Family will always open their arms to you…the saying is true “there is no place like home”. Enjoy every moment with your parents, siblings & some relatives. Life is too short don’t spend it with people who don’t love you like your family does.
  6. Not everyone is going to be patient to see your dreams through with you, and that’s OKAY.
  7. Life will not ALWAYS go according to plan…but that does not mean give up!
  8. I didn’t know this about myself but, I AM a risk taker and I love it!
  9. Invest at least 30 minutes a week working towards something you love. If it means sending emails for opportunities, attending workshops, researching, reading up, strategizing etc.
  10. Have FAITH! Just believe! Trust in God and you will experience “crazy” peace even when things are falling apart in your life.
  11. Have shameless persistence! Knock on doors even if you keep receiving no’s/declines…one door will eventually open.
  12. When an opportunity to travel anywhere arises grab it! Travelling will change your life for good…
  13. Savings! Savings! Save a significant portion of your income so that should you be out of a job, your savings can carry you for a year of unemployment.
  14. If I have not bought my house and car cash, it’s not really mine…If I lost a job and every asset that I have is at risk of being taken/repossessed, I am not financially free.
Life,

Lessons that touched me at the Leaderex conference…

Written by Bongeka
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I was so excited to receive an invite for the Leaderex conference. I had no idea that my encouragement and clarity of life’s journey would come from the various nuggets of wisdom the speakers I listened to shared. The profoundness of what was shared was not anything new, but they reminded me of simple life changing truths I had forgotten and shared new insights on ordinary concepts. Allow me to care and share with you my interpretation some of the nuggets below:

  • At school, we are taught how to read, write, comprehend etc, but we have not been taught to listen well. Some of the biggest issues in relationships whether personal or in the work space stem from a lack of active listening.
  • Question to leaders – do you listen to allow your team to solve their own problems or do you listen to give a quick solution? The speaker mentioned that sometimes when you listen intently and deeply to someone you will notice that the wisdom they need to solve their own problems is within them and it will come out. This reminded me of the proverb that says, “Though good advice lies deep within the heart, a person with understanding will draw it out.” Proverbs 20:5-7 (NLT).
  • We cannot seek to address the social issues of the marginalised population sitting in big city conference centres and boardrooms. That’s like providing a prescription/medication for a problem you have not thoroughly diagnosed. We ought to co-create solutions with those we are attempting to help.
  • We live in a world where everyone wants to be right, but not everyone wants to be understanding of other people’s views. We all should understand that the world is filled with different kinds of people and they all have a right to live because the creator deems it fit.
  • If you are the leader of your business – continuously communicate your vision with your team. Don’t assume that since you have mentioned it before and it burns in you that everyone else is on the same page.
  • The relevance of the MBA? MBAs are very useful but you need to know what to get out of it. An MBA should not be used as a token of status but rather as an effective tool in shaping your business idea.
  • Wisdom is all around us – Sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel; we can learn from the different business models who have made it to build a successful empire.
  • Choose your business partners very carefully – make sure there is vison alignment with the partners otherwise your vision will be “contaminated”.
  • When you start something, don’t expect perfection in the beginning. Start with enough and other things will become clearer and better as you go along.
  • Focus – know what you are pursuing, there will be other people who will want to add to what your dream should be, but be unrelenting in your pursuits.
  • Prepare to learn about yourself, the good and the bad stuff and be okay that it’s part of your daily life walk.
  • You should keep learning, its hard but not learning and growing is dangerous.
  • To keep learning, you must be comfortable with failure. How you handle failure determines how successful you become.
  • Have shameless persistence – keep knocking on doors, don’t give up.
  • Story telling is an underestimated, but effective communication mechanism. In fact, story telling should be default for communication as the things people remember the most are things told in stories.

Hope you find these nuggets useful…let me know your thoughts?

Life,

Interesting lessons from my travel diary…

Written by Bongeka
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My buddies and I recently viajou “travelled” to Mozambique to witness the marriage union of one of our dearest friend’s. The journey was so amazing that I had some really great moments of reflection based on the experiences I encountered. I thought it would be great to just express some of those amazing learnings below:

Number 1, Hospitality is such a great gift. Mozambique is a predominately Portuguese speaking country so majority of my friend’s family does not speak much English. But their hospitality was able to cut through and penetrate the language barrier. They were so hospitable that it felt like I was home away from home. I have been to many relatives houses and visited many people whom we speak the same language but some of them have never treated me like that family did. This left me yearning to be more hospitable in my own home.

Secondly, intolerance is the greatest enemy to seeing a united Africa. As tourists we decided to explore a bit of Maputo. As we were heading to one of the neighbouring beaches our taxi was stopped by some of the local policemen. They uttered something in Portuguese to our driver and next thing they asked two of my friend’s for their passports. Unfortunately my friends had left their passports at the house we were staying at. The policemen got really angry and demanded that my friends follow them to the police station. The rest of us pleaded with them and showed them our passports and begged that they don’t take them to the police station. We stepped out of the taxi and one of the policeman got so upset that he uttered in Portuguese that we should get back inside the taxi as this was not South Africa. The other policeman spoke a bit of broken Zulu and said that they were going to make life difficult for us because Mozambicans were being ill-treated in South Africa. We just went into prayer and all I can say is thank God a response came quick…but unfortunately the driver asked for money from us and had to bribe them not to take us to the police station. I came to a painful realisation of just how divided Africa really is.

Thirdly, what separate us are just languages and borders. As we entered Mozambique we were marvelled at how green the land was. I remember uttering words to my friend next to me and saying this feels just like another part of South Africa to me. She then went on to utter the words “my sister it’s just language and borders that separates us but at the end of the day we are all the same”…I really loved that statement and it’s so true, the earth/land in itself is the same everywhere but its human beings that have decided through certain world systems that we are different.

Fourthly, Gratitude is life giving. As we proceeded with the journey and I looked at the beautiful green landscape, I also saw some really saddening things. I saw houses which looked like match boxes and the most horrible dirt filled slums and was heart shattered at the idea that people lived in these conditions. I saw some really bad Infrastructure and bad roads and I realised that people are really poor out there. One of the things I really appreciate about travelling is that it opens up your eyes to the reality of the bigger world around you. It also leaves you full of gratitude knowing that there are so many things to be grateful for in your own country.

Finally, the selfie revolution has taken over! I was so shocked and amused as I gazed at the world around me from South Africa to Mozambique. I noticed pockets of people posing in front of the camera in both countries. There was a particular group that stood out for me; they were dressed in a church uniform and both the men and the women gathered together. One particular gentleman even went to the extent of lifting his 2 litre coca cola bottle and posing with it as if the audiences who would be looking at this picture would admire it as they would if he was posing next to a Bentley, I couldn’t help but just laugh so much at this sight…

After these five main reflections, I now understand when Saint Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”.

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