Nina mdogo wangu wa kike. Nampenda sana. Lakini kwa miaka mingi, uhusiano wetu ulinisumbua.

Ni mpole, ana akili na mchangamfu sana. Ana nyota ya kuingia sehemu na watu wakafurahia uwepo wake kwa haraka sana. Shida yake ni kuwa baada ya muda anatoweka.

Unatuma ujumbe. Hakuna jibu. Wiki mbili zinapita. Mwezi mmoja unapita. Kisha kuna siku anarudi — na wakati anaporudi, ni mambo mawili tu: inawezekana mambo mabaya yamemkuta au kuna vitu vizuri sana vinaendelea kwenye maisha yake. Hakuna kitu kati ya hayo.

Niliongea naye mara nyingi sana. Hakuna kilichobadilika. Mwaka jana niliamua kumuelezea ukweli wote, nikamwambia: unatoweka, kisha unarudi kana kwamba hakuna kilichotokea. Unajua maumivu ambayo unasababisha?

Akatabasamu kidogo, akasema: “Bro, mimi nina watu wengi maishani mwangu. Lakini nina watu wachache sana wa muhimu. Nawe uko miongoni mwa wale wa muhimu zaidi.”

Sikujua nifanye nini na maneno hayo. Sikujua nifikirie nini.

—

Labda hakuwa anaelewa kasoro yake. Labda alikuwa anaelezea kanuni ya maisha.

Kuna aina mbili za watu katika maisha yako. Watu wa karibu. Na watu wa muhimu. Watu wa karibu wapo katika maisha yako ya kila siku — unakula nao, unapiga nao stori, mnatumiana vichekesho kwenye mitandao ya jamii.

Watu wa muhimu ni tofauti kabisa. Wanabadilisha jinsi unavyofikiri. Unawakumbuka hata wakiwa mbali. Unawatafuta wakati maisha yanakuumiza au yakikufurahisha. Ni watu ambao unajua wapo kwa ajili yako utakapowahitaji, na wewe utakuwa kwa ajili yao watakapokuhitaji.

Watu wengi wanachanganya hizo aina mbili. Lakini si sawa.

Nilipopata ufahamu huo, nilianza kuuona kila mahali. Katika biashara. Katika fedha. Katika afya. Katika ujuzi. Mfumo ule ule, uliojificha chini ya vitu vya kawaida kabisa.

—

Hii inaitwa Kanuni ya Pareto — au kwa lugha ya kawaida, sheria ya asilimia themanini kwa ishirini, 80/20.

Vilfredo Pareto alikuwa mwanauchumi maarufu. Aligundua kitu cha ajabu bustanini mwake — asilimia themanini ya mbaazi zake zilitoka kwenye asilimia ishirini tu ya maganda.

Akaangalia umiliki wa ardhi nchini Italia. Mfumo ule ule. Asilimia ishirini ya watu walikuwa wanamiliki asilimia themanini ya ardhi yote. Aliendelea kutafuta. Uwiano huo ukiendelea kuonekana, tena na tena.

Asilimia themanini ya matokeo yanatoka kwenye asilimia ishirini ya juhudi. Maisha hayapo sawa. Hayajawahi kuwa sawa. Mgawanyo wa vitu daima umekuwa si sawa — na watu wanaojua hilo wanaacha kutafuta usawa.

Badala yake wanauliza swali moja tu: asilimia ishirini ipi ya kwenye maisha yangu inaleta asilimia themanini ya mahitaji, ndoto na malengo yangu?

KATIKA MAHUSIANO

Unaweza kuwa na watu kumi unaowaita wa karibu. Lakini wawili tu kati yao ndio wa muhimu — wale wanaobadilisha maamuzi yako, wale unaowapigia simu wakati mambo yanakuangukia, wale wanaokujali na kukuthamini kwa hali uliyokuwa nayo.

Usitegemee kila uhusiano kubeba uzito sawa. Weka uwekezaji wako wa kweli kwa wale asilimia ishirini wa muhimu. Waache wengine wawe walivyo.

Asilimia ishirini ya watu wanafanya maisha yawe mazuri au mabaya. Asilimia ishirini ya watu wanakusababishia asilimia themanini ya maumivu ya kichwa au furaha ya moyo. Watambue. Ishi nao kwa akili.

KATIKA BIASHARA

Biashara inaweza ikawa na bidhaa themanini na kuamini kila moja ina uzito sawa. Lakini ukweli ni huu — bidhaa moja au mbili ndizo zinazoleta asilimia themanini ya mapato. Zilizo nyingine ni kelele tu.

Ofisi moja inaweza kuwa na wafanyakazi hata mia, lakini asilimia ishirini tu ya wafanyakazi hao ndio wanoingiza asilimia themanini ya mapato na faida kwenye ofisi.

Biashara zinazokua haraka ni zile zinazogundua kanuni hiyo mapema. Zinawekeza kila kitu ndani yake. Nguvu inayotumika sehemu moja inakuwa. Nguvu iliyotawanyika inapoteza uwezo wake wa kuleta matunda.

Jiulize sasa hivi: bidhaa ipi, mteja yupi, njia ipi ya uuzaji ndiyo inayobeba zaidi? Kisha jiulize muda wako wa kweli unakwenda wapi. Jibu hilo litakuambia kila kitu.

KATIKA FEDHA

Watu wengi wanapigia mahesabu ya pesa zao kwa kuogopa kila kitu kwa wakati mmoja. Bili ya umeme. Akaunti ya akiba. Pesa za matumizi ya chakula au nauli Kila kitu, kwa uzito sawa, kwa wakati mmoja.

Lakini ukweli ni huu — maamuzi machache ndio yanayoamua maisha yako yote ya kifedha. Kuanza kuweka akiba mapema. Kuepuka madeni yenye riba kubwa. Kupunguza matumizi mabaya na yasiyo na lazima.

Kama una matatizo ya pesa kila wakati, kuna asilimia ishirini ya matumizi yako inayosababisha asilimia themanini ya matatizo yako ya kifedha. Yatambue. Yashughulikie.

KATIKA AFYA

Unaweza kutumia pesa kwa dawa, matibabu, na mitindo mingi ya maisha ya kisasa. Au unaweza kutafuta mambo mawili au matatu yanayobadilisha afya yako kwa kweli — usingizi, mazoezi, chakula unachokula — na kufanya hivyo kwa uthabiti na uvumilivu.

Utafiti unaonyesha mara nyingi sana kwamba tabia chache ndizo zinazozalisha matokeo mengi ya afya. Kila kingine ni marekebisho tu.

Asilimia ishirini ya mfumo wako wa miasha ndio unaleta asilimia themanini ya matatizo ya kiafya ya watu. Vyakula, vinywaji na kutokufanya mazoezi vinaleta magonjwa mengi kushinda kitu chochote.

Na watu wanaoweza kurekebisha mfumo wao wa maisha kwenye vitu hivyo wanabadilisha afya yao kuwa bora kwa asilimia themanini.

—

HITIMISHO

Mdogo wangu aliniletea maumivu mengi sana kwa muda mrefu kwamile tabia yake. Lakini upande wa pili wa maumivu hayo, nilijifunza kitu kuhusu kanuni ya ufanisi wa Pareto.

Si kila mtu anayekupenda atakuwa karibu kila wakati. Si kila bidhaa utakayo itengeneza itakuza biashara. Si kila ujuzi unaomiliki utabadilisha maisha yako. Si kila tabia utakayoijaribu itakusogeza mbele. Sio kila rafiki uliyenaye atakuwepo wakati wa shida.

Lakini daima kutakuwa na asilimia ishirini. Na asilimia hiyo ishirini ndiyo itakayokuwa na jukumu kubwa katika kubadilisha maisha yako.

Jukumu lako ni kutambua asilimia ishirini inayibadilisha sehemu za maisha yako na kuweka juhudi kwenye hizo.

Panapo majaaliwa..

Watushule

I have a younger sister. I love her. But for years, our relationship confused me.

She is warm. She is brilliant. She fills a room. But she disappears.

You send a message. Nothing comes back. Two weeks pass. A month passes. Then one day she returns — and when she does, it is either crisis or triumph. Nothing in between.

I confronted her. Multiple times. Nothing changed. Last year I told her straight: you vanish, then you show up like nothing happened.

She smiled and said: “Bro, I have a lot of people in my life. But I have very few important people. And you are one of them.”

I did not know what to do with that.

—

Maybe she was not describing a flaw. Maybe she was describing a principle.

There are two kinds of people in your life. Close people. And important people. Close people are in your daily orbit. You share meals with them. You send them memes. Important people are different. They shape how you think. You reach for them when life gets real. Distance does not change what they mean to you.

Most people confuse the two. They are not the same.

Once I understood that, I saw it everywhere. In business. In money. In health. In skills. The same pattern, hiding underneath everything.

—

It is called the Pareto Principle. The 80/20 rule.

Vilfredo Pareto was an economist. He noticed that eighty percent of his peas came from twenty percent of his pods. He checked land ownership in Italy. Same pattern. Twenty percent of people owned eighty percent of the land. He kept looking. The ratio kept appearing.

Eighty percent of outcomes come from twenty percent of inputs. Life is not balanced. It was never meant to be. The people who understand this stop trying to make everything equal. They ask one question instead: which twenty percent actually matters?

In Relationships

You may have ten close people. But only two are truly important — the ones who shape your decisions, who you call when things fall apart, who see you clearly.

My sister knew which category I was in. She protected it. The closeness she gave others was real, but light. What she kept for the important few was different.

Stop expecting every relationship to carry equal weight. Put your deepest investment into the two. Let the eight be what they are.

Twenty percent of the people make your life better. Twenty percent cause eighty percent of your headaches. Identify them. Live with them smarter.

In Business

A business can carry eighty products and treat them all equally. But usually, one or two products generate eighty percent of the revenue. The rest are noise.

The businesses that scale find that engine early. They pour everything into it. Attention is finite. Focused energy compounds. Scattered energy dissolves.

Ask yourself: which product, which customer, which channel is carrying the most? Then ask how much time you are actually giving it. The answer will tell you everything.

In Money

Most people manage money by worrying about everything at once. The electricity bill. The investment account. The lunch budget. All of it, equally.

But a few decisions determine most of your financial life. Start saving early. Avoid high-interest debt. Invest consistently, not perfectly. Three or four decisions, made well and made early, will outweigh hundreds of smaller choices you will spend years on.

If you are always running out of money, there is a twenty percent of your expenses causing eighty percent of your problems. Find them. Control them.

In Health

You can chase every supplement, every trend, every program. Or you can find the two or three things that actually work — sleep, movement, food — and do them consistently.

A small number of habits produce most of the health outcomes. Everything else is refinement.

The twenty percent is rarely glamorous. It is usually the basics, done well, for a long time.

—

Closing

My sister caused me real pain. On the other side of it, I learned something.

Not everyone who matters will be present all the time. Not every product will carry the business. Not every skill will change your life. Not every habit will move you forward.

But there will always be a twenty percent. And that twenty percent will be responsible for most of what your life becomes.

Find it. Protect it. Even when everything else is asking for your attention.

Until next,

Watushule

Unajua ile sehemu ya mji yenye mnara wa Askari umesimama katikati. Magari yanazunguka. Watu wanapita haraka haraka. Daladala. Harufu ya mahindi ya kuchoma pembeni. Mnara umesimama tuli, na mji unaendelea kutembea.

Nimepita Mnara wa Askari mara nyingi sana. Wiki iliyopita ilikuwa tofauti. Nilipojikuta naingia kwenye barabara ndogo ya dharura nikasimama. Sikuwa nimepanga kusimama. Nilisimama tu.

Niliangalia upande wa pili wa barabara, mahali ambapo zamani ilikuwa Tanzania Posta Bank. Jengo hilo sasa ni kitu kingine. Walihama. Wana jina jipya. Tanzania Commercial Bank.

Nilipokuwa nimesimama pale, niliikumbuka ile benki ya zamani. Ile niliyoingia kwa mara ya kwanza. Baba alikuwa ameniagiza kumwona meneja wa tawi. Meneja huyo alipaswa kunisaidia kufungua akaunti yangu ya kwanza.

Nilikuwa na miaka kumi na nne. Pengine kumi na tano.

Baba alikuwa amenisukuma kwa wiki nyingi. Fungua akaunti. Fungua akaunti. Sikutaka. Sikuwa na pesa. Ningeweka nini ndani? Lakini alishikilia. Jinsi wazazi wanavyoshikilia mambo usiyoyaelewa.

Basi nikaenda. Nikajitambulisha. Nikamuulizia meneja wa tawi.

Ofisi yake ilikuwa kwenye kona kabisa. Dirisha la ofisi yake lilikuwa likitazama moja kwa moja Mnara wa Askari. Niliketi kwenye kiti cha mbao. Yeye aliketi kwenye kiti cha ngozi.

Tulipiga story kidogo. Akamwambia msaidizi wake aanze kunifanyia utaratibu wa kufungua akaunti. Msaidizi wake alijaza fomu. Nikatia sahihi. Sahihi ni mbaya. Nisingesaini hivyo leo. Walinipa kadi na kitabu kidogo cha hundi.

Lengo likatimia. Nikapata akaunti yangu ya kwanza.

Kwa miaka michache, niliitumia ile akaunti. Pesa za matumizi. Pesa za likizo. Chochote kilichopita mikononi mwangu wakati wa sekondari kilienda kwenye akaunti hiyo. Kisha sekondari nikamaliza. Nikaendelea na maisha.

Nikasahau.

Nilisahau kabisa kuhusu ile akaunti. Kadi ya benki nilisahau kwenye madroo. Kitabu cha hundi kilikuwa kwenye mafaili. Akaunti ikaacha kupokea miamala.

Kwa miaka.

• • •

Wiki iliyopita, nilipokuwa nimesimama pale karibu na Mnara wa Askari, nikiangalia mahali ambapo benki ilikuwa — yote yakanijia kichwani.

Nilirudi nyumbani jioni hiyo. Nilianza kutafuta. Nilifungua faili ambazo sikuzifungua kwa miaka. Bahasha za zamani. Karatasi za zamani. Nikaipata. Kadi. Namba ya akaunti. Hata taarifa ya mwisho ya akaunti.

Taarifa ilisema: shilingi 90,000.

Tisini elfu. Ndio salio nililoacha siku niliyoacha kutumia akaunti.

Niliketi na karatasi. Nikafikiri — Je akaunti bado ipo hai? Pesa bado iko? Imekuwaje sasa?

Asubuhi iliyofuata nilienda benki. Benki mpya. Jina jipya. Jengo jipya. Wahudumu ambao hawakuwa wameajiriwa nilipofungua akaunti.

Niliwapa taarifa zangu. Wakaangalia. Wakatafuta. Wakaangalia tena.

“Samahani. Akaunti hiyo ilifungwa miaka mingi iliyopita. Unaweza kufungua nyingine kama unataka.”

Nikasema asante, sihitaji. Nikageuka na kuanza kuondoka.

Kisha nikasimama. Nikamgeukia na kumuuliza;

“Salio langu la mwisho lilikuwa shilingi 90,000. Mwaka 2008. Ingekuwa kiasi gani sasa kama akaunti ingekuwa haijafungwa?”

Hakusema chochote. Akaenda kwenye kompyuta yake. Akabonyeza bonyeza keyboard. Akaniangalia. Akatabasamu. Akachukua karatasi. Akaandika kitu. Akaikunja. Akaiingiza kwenye bahasha yenye nembo mpya. Akanikabidhi.

“Fungua ukifika nyumbani.” Akasema.

Nilipenda drama aliyongezea ya kuficha, ikaniongezea hamasa ya kutaka kujua. Niliweka bahasha kwenye begi. Nikaondoka.

• • •

Kiasi cha awali: shilingi 90,000, mwaka 2008

Riba: 13% kwa mwaka

Riba juu ya riba kila mwaka

Shilingi 562,500

Hisia zilikuja nyingi sana kwa wakati mmoja. Pesa yangu ilikuwa imekua kutoka shilingi 90,000 hadi 562,500. Sikufanya chochote.

• • •

Haikuwa uchawi kilichotokea, Ni kitu kina maelezo rahisi sana.

Compounding. Kwa Kiswahili — riba juu ya riba.

Ni neno la kwenye ulimwengu wa fedha.

Pesa ukiweka benki hupata riba.

Riba ukiiacha benki nayo hupata riba.

Kisha riba hiyo hupata riba. Kidogo mwanzoni. Kisha unaanza kuona ikikua. Kisha inakuwa ya kushangaza kadri muda unavyoenda.

Inasemekana Albert Einstein, mwana sayansi maarufu sana aliiita riba juu ya riba kuwa maajabu ya nane ya dunia. Iwe alisema au la, yeyote aliyeshuhudia ufanyaji kazi wa riba juu ya riba anajua.

Pesa ikiwekezwa inazaa pesa.

Pesa inayozaa pesa, huzaa pesa zaidi.

Lakini si hicho tu ninachotaka tutafakari leo hapa Watushule.

Compounding au riba juu ya riba si dhana ya fedha tu. Ni dhana ya maisha.

• • •

Compounding katika mahusiano

Fikiria watu walio muhimu katika maisha yako. Wale wanaopokea simu zako. Wale wanaokupigia wakipata habari njema, na wale wanaokupigia wakipata habari mbaya.

Mlikutana lini?

Kwa wengi wetu, zamani sana. Sekondari. Chuo. Kazi ya kwanza. Biashara ndogo uliyojaribu kabla ya hii. Kikundi cha kanisa au msikiti. Mtaa.

Hukupanga wawe muhimu. Ilijitokeza tu. Ulipiga simu hata wakati hauhitaji chochote. Ulisaidia hata kama ilikugharimu kidogo. Ulikumbuka siku za kuzaliwa. Ulihudhuria misiba. Ulituma “nimekukumbuka” bila sababu yoyote.

Mwaka hadi mwaka, mahusiano yalikuwa yanakua. Hukuyaona.

Rafiki wa Form Three anakuwa mtu wa kukuajiri miaka kumi na tano baadaye. Binamu uliyemsaidia kazi za shule anakuwa mtu wa kukuunganisha na mteja. Jirani aliyekula nawe ulipokuwa hauna kitu anakuwa mlezi wa mtoto wako.

Mahusiano usiyoyachunguza mara kwa mara ndiyo yanayoota mizizi ya kina.

Mafanikio kwenye maisha yanaletwa na mahusiano yaliyojengwa kwa miaka mingi sana kwa wazo la riba juu ya riba. Unaishi na mtu vizuri na yeye anaishi vizuri na wewe. Na huyo mtu atakutambulisha kwa mtu mwingine vizuri na yeye ataishi na wewe vizuri.

Na mahusiano ya muda mrefu ndio huleta ukaribu, upendo, msaada na jamii ya watu bora kwenye maisha yako. Miaka itapita kama ile akaunti yangu ya benki. Lakini kuna siku mahusiano hayo ya muda mrefu yatakuja kufanya makubwa zaidi kwenye maisha yako bila kutegemea.

• • •

Compounding katika ujuzi

Ujuzi nao unakua.

Ukiwa na miaka kumi na tisa, unajifunza kuandika vitu. Haionekani kama jambo kubwa. Ukiwa na miaka ishirini na mbili, unajifunza kusikiliza kwenye mkutano kabla ya kuongea. Haionekani kama jambo kubwa. Ukiwa na miaka ishirini na tano, unajifunza kujielezea. Hiyo nayo inaonekana ndogo.

Viweke pamoja. Miaka ishirini ya ujuzi mdogo mdogo, umepangwa juu ya mwingine. Jinsi unavyofikiri. Jinsi unavyojielezea na kuwasiliana na watu. Jinsi unavyoshughulika na watu wagumu. Jinsi unavyojadiliana. Jinsi unavyoandika. Jinsi unavyojishikilia mambo yanapoharibika.

Mlundikano huo ndio watu wanaomaanisha wakisema “uzoefu.” Si muda. Muda peke yake hautoi chochote. Ni ujuzi mdogo. Uliojirundika kwa miaka mingi.

Ukweli mchungu — watu walioanza wakiwa na miaka kumi na nane ni vigumu kuwafikia ukiwa na miaka thelathini na tano. Si kwa sababu wana akili zaidi. Wana miaka mingi zaidi “ya ujuzi juu ya ujuzi.”

Mtu aliyeanza biashara miaka mitano nyuma ana ujuzi juu ya ujuzi ambao ni bora kushinda anayeanza biashara leo. Kwenye maisha yako tafuta mbinu ya kujenga ujuzi juu ya ujuzi. Miaka mingi ikipita wewe utakuwa bora kwa sababu akaunti yako ya ujuzi itakuwa imekua.

• • •

Uhalisia

Pesa. Mahusiano. Ujuzi. Vyote vinakua. Lakini kwa sharti moja tu.

Lazima uviache muda wa kutosha.

Unapanda mbegu. Huichimbui kila wiki kukagua. Hapo ndipo sehemu ngumu. Kizazi chetu kinataka risiti leo. Tunapost na kuangalia likes ndani ya dakika tano. Tunatuma ujumbe na kungoja blue ticks. Tunaanzisha biashara halafu tunauliza kwa nini hatujatajirika mwezi wa tatu.

Compounding haifanyi kazi hivyo.

Compounding inakuomba uuamini muda. Kufanya jambo dogo leo. Na kesho. Na kesho kutwa. Na uache kuhesabu.

Vitu vinavyokua zaidi maishani mwako ni vile unavyoacha kuvikagua.

Kutoka shilingi 90,000 — katika akaunti nisiyoitoa, nisiyoiongezea, nisiyoikumbuka — pesa zilikua. Zaidi ya mara sita ya kile nilichoacha pale.

Niliondoka benki nikifikiri vitu vingi sana.

Nilifikiria ingekuwaje kama ningekuwa nikiongeza akiba. Fikiria kama kila mwezi ningekuwa nikiilisha kiasi kidogo. Fikiria kama ningefanya hivyo katika mahusiano. Katika ujuzi.

Chochote ulicho leo. Umri wowote. Hatua yoyote. Kuna akaunti mahali katika maisha yako unayoweza kuifungua leo. Ujuzi. Uhusiano. Tabia. Kiasi kidogo cha kuhifadhi kila mwezi kwenye jambo lenye maana.

Ifungue sasa. Isahau kwa muda. Acha muda ufanye kazi usiyoweza kufanya wewe.

• • •

Baba alinisukuma kufungua akaunti hiyo nilipokuwa sielewi kwa nini.

Alikuwa mtaalamu wa fedha. Alikuwa anafanya kazi benki. Alikuwa mtu aliyeelewa, kama wazee wanavyoelewa, kwamba unapanda vitu kabla hujavihitaji. Na vitu hivyo huongezeka

Jenga mahusiano yanayokua.

Jenga ujuzi unaokua.

Jenga pesa inayokua.

• • •

Hii ni Watushule.

Tunafikiri. Hivyo tunakuwa.

Hadi wiki ijayo — kwaherini.

You know that part of town. The Askari Monument in the middle. Traffic going around it. People rushing past. Daladalas. The smell of roasted maize somewhere. The monument stands still and the city moves.

I have passed that monument a hundred times. Last week was different. I found a service road near it and stopped. I had not planned to stop. I just stopped.

I looked across the street to where the old Tanzania Posta Bank used to be. The building is something else now. They moved. They have a new name. Tanzania Commercial Bank.

Standing there, I saw the old bank. The one I walked into the first time. My father had sent me to see the branch manager. The manager was supposed to help me open my first account.

I was fourteen. Maybe fifteen.

My father had been pushing me for weeks. Fungua akaunti. Fungua akaunti. Open an account. I did not want to. I had no money. What would I put inside? But he insisted. The way fathers insist on things you do not understand.

So I went. I introduced myself. I asked for the branch manager.

He had a corner office. The window looked straight at the Askari Monument. I sat on a wooden chair. He sat on a leather one.

He made small talk. He told the teller to start the process. The teller filled in forms. I signed. The signature is bad. I would not sign it that way now. They gave me a card and a small checkbook.

That was it. I had an account.

For a few years, I used it. Pocket money. Holiday money. Whatever passed through my hands in secondary school went into that account. Then secondary school ended. I moved on.

I forgot.

I forgot completely. The card went into a drawer. The book went into a file. The account went to the back of my mind. It stayed there.

For years.

• • •

Last week, standing at Askari Monument, looking at where the bank used to be — it came back.

I went home that evening. I started digging. I opened files I had not opened in years. Old envelopes. Old papers. I found it. The card. The account number. A printed statement from the last time I touched it.

The statement said: 90,000 shillings.

Ninety thousand. The balance the day I stopped paying attention.

I sat with the paper. I thought — What happened to the account. I wonder if the money is still there. I wonder what it has become.

The next morning I went to the bank. The new bank. New name. New building. Tellers who were not working when I opened the account.

I gave them my details. They looked. They tapped. They looked again.

“I’m sorry. That account was closed many years ago. You can open another one if you like.”

I said no thank you. I turned to leave.

Then I stopped. I turned back.

“My last balance was 90,000 shillings. That was in 2008. What would it be now if the account had not been closed?”

He did not say anything. He went to his computer. He typed. He looked at me. He smiled. He took a piece of paper. He wrote something on it. He folded it. He put it in an envelope with the new bank logo. He handed it to me.

“Open it when you reach home.” He said.

I liked the drama. I kept the envelope in my bag. I left.

• • •

Initial amount: 90,000 shillings, 2008

Interest rate: 13% per year

Compounded annually

562,500 shillings

I did not know what to feel. My money had grown from 90,000 to 562,500 shillings. I had done nothing.

• • •

There is a word for what happened. Compounding.

It is a finance word. Money earns interest. The interest earns interest. Then that interest earns interest. Small at first. Then noticeable. Then ridiculous.

Einstein is supposed to have called it the eighth wonder of the world. Whether he said it or not, anyone who has watched it happen knows. There is something unfair about it.

Money that makes money makes more money.

But that is not what I want us to sit with today on Watushule.

Compounding is not just a finance idea. It is a life idea.

• • •

Compounding in relationships

Think about the people in your life who matter. The ones who pick up the phone. The ones who call you with good news, and the ones who call you with bad.

When did you meet them?

For most of us, a long time ago. Secondary school. University. First job. The small business you tried before this one. A church group. A neighbourhood.

You did not plan for them to matter. You showed up. You called when you needed nothing. You helped when it cost you something small. You remembered birthdays. You attended funerals. You sent nimekukumbuka for no reason at all.

Year by year, the relationships were compounding. You did not see it.

The friend from Form Three becomes the one who hires you fifteen years later. The cousin you helped with homework becomes the one who connects you to a client. The neighbour who shared food when you were broke becomes the godparent of your child.

The relationships you do not pull up to check on grow the deepest roots.

The way I forgot the account, most of us forget our relationships. Not in a bad way. We just live. We move. We get busy. But the ones we planted properly keep growing. Whether we look or not.

One day you walk back. The balance is something you did not expect.

• • •

Compounding in skill

Skills compound.

At nineteen you learn to write a clear email. It does not feel like much. At twenty-two you learn to listen in a meeting before you speak. It does not feel like much. At twenty-five you learn to disagree with someone without making an enemy. That one also feels small.

Put them together. Twenty years of small skills stacked on each other. The way you think. The way you read a room. The way you handle a difficult client. The way you negotiate. The way you write. The way you carry yourself when things go wrong.

That stack is what people mean when they say experience. It is not time. Time alone gives you nothing. It is small skills. Compounded.

The painful part — the people who started at eighteen are hard to catch at thirty-five. Not because they are smarter. They have more years in the bank.

Like the account.

• • •

The quiet truth

What ties the three together?

Money. Relationships. Skill. They all compound. But only under one condition.

You have to leave them alone long enough.

You plant the seed. You do not dig it up every week to check. That is the hard part. Our generation wants the receipt today. We post and check the likes in five minutes. We send the message and wait for the blue ticks. We start the business and ask why we are not rich by month three.

Compounding does not work like that.

Compounding asks you to trust time. To do the small thing today. And tomorrow. And the day after. To stop counting.

The things that compound most in your life are the things you stop checking on.

• • •

Back to the bank

From 90,000 shillings — in an account I did not touch, did not deposit into, did not remember — the money grew. More than six times what I left there.

I left the bank thinking. Imagine if I had added to it. Imagine if every month I had fed it small amounts. Imagine if I had done the same with relationships. With skills.

That is the regret. Not what compounding gave me. What it could have given me, if I had understood.

But it is not too late. That is why I am telling you the story.

Whatever you are today. Whatever age. Whatever stage. There is an account somewhere in your life that you can open today. A skill. A relationship. A habit. A small monthly deposit into something that matters.

Open it now. Forget it for a while. Let time do the work you cannot do.

• • •

My father pushed me to open that account when I did not understand why.

He was a finance expert. He was a banker. He was a man who understood, the way older people understand, that you plant things before you need them. And those things compound.

I think about that a lot now.

Build relationships that compound.

Build skills that compound.

Build money that compounds.

• • •

This is Watushule.

We think. So we become.

Until next week — kwaherini.

Nilichukua sahani niliyotumia kula dagaa nikaipeleka kwenye sinki la jikoni. Kulikuwa bado na mabaki ya wali na dagaa wachache. Nilipanga kuosha vyombo baada ya masaa machache. Niliporudi jikoni, sinki lilikuwa limejaa sisimizi.

Wengi wetu hatupendi sisimizi, hasa wanapovamia maeneo yetu. Niliosha vyombo haraka kisha nikaendelea na shughuli zangu za kawaida. Saa chache baadaye nilirudi jikoni kuchukua matunda, ndipo nikakutana na tukio la kuvutia sana.

Kupitia dirisha la jikoni kwa nje niliona msafara wa sisimizi wakishirikiana kubeba mmoja wa dagaa waliokuwa wamebaki karibu na sinki. Nikatazama juu ya ukuta waliokuwa wanapanda, nikauona uwazi mdogo uliokuwa unaonekana kama makazi yao.

Nilitaka kuona nini kingetokea. Dagaa alikuwa mrefu mno kiasi kwamba haikuwa rahisi kwa sisimizi kumuingiza kwenye lile tundu. Ili aingie, walipaswa kumgeuza kwa wima. Lakini sisimizi waliendelea kumbeba kwa mlalo. Nikajiuliza kama kweli wangeweza kutatua tatizo hilo.

Nilikuwa tayari nimevutiwa na jinsi walivyoshirikiana kumbeba yule dagaa. Walimtoa kutoka jikoni, wakapita nje ya nyumba, wakazunguka kona kadhaa mpaka wakafika upande mwingine wa dirisha. Kisha waliinua dagaa yule kwa pamoja wakipanda ukuta mrefu kuliko nilivyoweza kufikia.

Nilikaa pale kwa zaidi ya nusu saa nikiwatazama wakimzungusha dagaa kila upande. Mara wanampeleka kushoto mwa tundu, mara chini, mara juu, mara kushoto tena. Haikufanya kazi.

Kadri muda ulivyopita ndivyo sisimizi walivyozidi kuongezeka. Baadaye walikuwa mamia. Lakini mchakato ulikuwa ule ule. Juu, chini, kushoto, kulia, wakijaribu kumsukuma ndani ya tundu. Haikufanya kazi. Nikaondoka.

Baada ya masaa machache nilirudi tena kuangalia. Kulikuwa na sisimizi wengi zaidi kuliko mwanzo, lakini bado walikuwa wanafanya kitu kile kile. Waliendelea kusukuma bila maendeleo yoyote.

Nikaanza kujiuliza walifikiria nini mara ya kwanza walipomwona yule dagaa. Nikamfikiria sisimizi wa kwanza aliyemuona na kutoa taarifa kwa wengine. Kusudi lake lilikuwa kuwaambia wenzake kwamba kulikuwa na chakula kingi.

Kisha mmoja wao akapendekeza wampeleke kwenye kiota chao. Wote wakakubaliana kuwa ni wazo zuri. Hakuna hata sisimizi mmoja aliyesimama na kuuliza kama kweli inawezekana dagaa akaingia kwenye lile tundu.

Kadri wazo lilivyopata nguvu, sisimizi wengi zaidi walijiunga. Wakaanza kumbeba dagaa kuelekea ukutani na hatimaye kwenye lile tundu. Wote walitoa nguvu zao mpaka kazi hiyo ikawa misheni ya pamoja. Kadri ilivyochukua muda mrefu, ndivyo ilivyozidi kuvuta umakini wa sisimizi wengine.

Nikajiuliza kama kulikuwa na wakati ambao mmoja wao alisimama na kuuliza: “Je, kweli huyu dagaa ataingia ndani ya hili tundu?”

Na kama angeuliza hivyo, wale mamia ya sisimizi waliokuwa wakifanya kazi kwa bidii wangemjibu vipi?

Huenda wangemcheka, wangemshambulia au wangemtenga kwa kuhoji jambo ambalo kila mmoja alikuwa ameliamini. Mantiki yao ilikuwa rahisi:

“Ikiwa kila mtu anaamini hili ni wazo bora, basi lazima liwe sahihi.”

Walijua kuwa kupinga kundi lote ilikuwa hatari. Wengine wangemkataa na kumchukia kwa kuhoji jambo ambalo kila mtu alikuwa tayari ameliamini, hata kama ushahidi ulionyesha wazi kuwa halifanyi kazi.

Nilijikuta nikitafakari mawazo hayo yote. Nikagundua kuwa binadamu mara nyingi tunafanana sana na sisimizi kwenye hilo. Mara nyingi tunafuata wengi bila kujiuliza kama kweli wako sahihi.

Tatizo: Mfumo wa Mawazo — Wengi Kama Mtego

Kufuata wengi bila kufikiri mara nyingi huwa mtego. Ni vigumu kufikiri kwa uhuru unapozungukwa na maoni ya wengi. Ndiyo maana ni muhimu kujiuliza:

“Haya ni mawazo yangu kweli, au nimeathiriwa na wengi?”

Hili ni muhimu hasa katika maamuzi ya maisha binafsi. Maamuzi kuhusu ndoa, kazi, furaha, na afya hayapaswi kuamuliwa kwa kufuata tu maoni ya jamii. Wengi watatoa maoni yao, lakini matokeo yataishiwa na mtu mmoja mmoja.

Hii ndiyo huitwa contrarian thinking — uwezo wa kufikiri tofauti na wengi. Si kuwa tofauti kwa ajili ya ubishi, bali ni kutoruhusu tabia ya kundi kuchukua nafasi ya mantiki yako mwenyewe.

Sisimizi walishindwa si kwa sababu walikuwa sisimizi. Walishindwa kwa sababu ya mantiki mbovu. Kila mmoja alikuwa anamfuata aliyekuwa mbele yake bila kujiuliza kama njia hiyo ilikuwa inafanya kazi.

Umaarufu wa wazo ukawa ushahidi wa ukweli. Na haukupaswa kuwa hivyo.

Dagaa hakuingia kwenye tundu. Saa nyingi za juhudi za pamoja hazikuzaa matokeo yoyote. Nguvu, idadi, kujituma, vyote havikuwa na maana kwa sababu mwelekeo ulikuwa mbaya tangu mwanzo.

Na hili si tatizo la sisimizi pekee. Sisimizi walikuwa na dagaa. Sisi tuna kazi, mahusiano, na ndoto.

Ndoa Kwa Kufuata Mfumo

Tunawajua watu wanaooa au kuolewa si kwa sababu wanataka, bali kwa sababu kila mtu karibu yao anaingia kwenye ndoa. Wanakubali presha za familia na matarajio ya jamii.

Wengi wanafuata mkumbo bila kusimama kujiuliza kama kweli wanataka ndoa hiyo, na mtu huyo, katika muda huo.

Na maamuzi hayo huzaa ndoa zisizo na furaha, talaka, majuto, na maumivu ya muda mrefu.

Ndoto Zinazocheleweshwa

Tunamjua mtu mwenye ndoto ya kweli. Labda biashara, sanaa, au maisha yasiyoingia kwenye mfumo wa kawaida. Lakini wengi wanamwambia ni hatari, haiwezekani, au ni ujinga. Na hivyo anaacha.

Anaweka pembeni kile ambacho kilikuwa cha kweli kwake na kuchukua kile kinachoeleweka kwa wengine.

Miaka inapita. Wengi wanaendelea na maisha yao. Lakini yeye anaendelea kubeba majuto ya kutokujaribu kile alichokitaka kweli.

Njia Zisizowahi Kuhojiwa

Hii ipo kila sehemu ya maisha. Kuna watu ambao hawajawahi kusimama kujiuliza kama njia waliyochukua ni yao kweli. Wamefuata shule, kazi, maisha ya kawaida kwa sababu ndiyo njia iliyotarajiwa.

Wanasukuma dagaa kwa mlalo kwa sababu ndivyo ilivyokuwa ikifanywa siku zote.

Hawajawahi kujiuliza kama kweli anaingia kwenye tundu.

Suluhisho: Fikra za Athari za Baadaye

Watu wengi huuliza swali moja tu:

“Nini kitatokea nikifanya hivi?”

Kisha wanafanya uamuzi.

Huo ndio mtazamo mfupi ambao sisimizi walikuwa nao. Walijiuliza tu nini kitatokea wakimbeba dagaa kwenda kwenye kiota, bila kujiuliza kama ataingia.

Second-order thinking huenda hatua zaidi. Huuliza:

“Nini kitafuata baada ya hatua yangu ya kwanza?”

Sisimizi walipaswa kujiuliza:

Dagaa ataingia kweli?
Ataathiri vipi nafasi ya ndani?
Je, njia tunayochukua inafanya kazi kweli?

Lakini wengi huishia kwenye swali la kwanza tu.

Nioe?
Nichukue kazi hii?
Nianzishe biashara?
Niamini wanachosema?

Ikiwa kila mtu anaoa kwa sababu ndiyo mfumo wa jamii, hupati jamii ya ndoa zenye furaha. Unapata jamii ya watu waliotoa uamuzi wa maisha kwa sababu ya presha za kijamii.

Na athari zake huendelea kwa vizazi.

Ikiwa kila mtu anaacha njia isiyo ya kawaida kwa sababu wengi hawaikubali, nani ataunda vitu vipya duniani?

Maendeleo yanahitaji mtu aliye tayari kuonekana amekosea mbele ya wengi.

Kwa second-order thinking, maswali huwa ya kina zaidi:

Nikioa sasa, itaathiri vipi maisha yangu, uhuru wangu, kazi yangu?

Nikichukua kazi hii, itaathiri vipi muda wangu, mahusiano yangu, afya yangu ya akili?

Nikianzisha biashara hii, itaathiri vipi fedha zangu, amani yangu, na maisha yangu binafsi?

Kila uamuzi una athari kubwa zaidi kuliko tunavyoona mwanzoni.

Hitimisho

Nikifikiria sisimizi wale na dagaa aliyekwama ukutani, bado navutiwa na picha ya lile tundu la mviringo na msafara wa sisimizi waliokuwa wakisukuma kwa pamoja.

Huenda katikati yao kulikuwa na sisimizi mmoja aliyekuwa na wazo tofauti. Labda alisimama. Labda alijaribu kumgeuza dagaa kidogo.

Lakini alikuwa amezungukwa na maoni ya wengi. Mamia wakisukuma upande mmoja. Na uzito wa kundi ni mgumu kuupinga.

Ni sehemu gani ya maisha yako unasukuma dagaa kwa nguvu kwenye tundu ambalo halitoshi?

Ni nani karibu yako anayesukuma upande huo huo na kuita hiyo “ushahidi”?

Na ungehitaji nini ili kuugeuza kidogo?

Usifanye jambo kwa sababu wengi wanafanya. Fanya jambo ambalo ndani kabisa linagusa nafsi yako. Na likishindikana, uwe tayari kubeba matokeo yake na kuanza tena.

Wengi hawakujui kuliko unavyojijua mwenyewe.

Kitu si sahihi kwa sababu tu watu wengi wanakifanya.

Panapo majaaliwa,

Fikiria kwa kina. Ishi kwa makusudi.

Watushule

I took the plate that I used for the sardines to the kitchen sink. It had a few sardines and rice remaining. I intended to wash the dishes after letting them sit for a few hours. When I came back to the kitchen the sink was full of ants.

Most of us don’t like ants, especially when they claim our spaces. I immediately cleaned the dishes and went on with my normal routine. A few hours passed; I went back to the kitchen to take some snacks, and I was greeted by quite a sight.

Through the kitchen window, I saw a convoy of ants working together to carry one of the sardines I had left at the sink. I looked at the top of the wall they were climbing and saw a hole that looked like their home base.

I was curious to see what would happen. The sardine was too long for the ants to maneuver easily. To fit it through the hole, they had to orient the fish vertically. However, the ants continued to move it sideways. I wanted to see if they were capable of solving the problem.

I was already impressed with how the team moved the sardine. They took it from the kitchen sink, went outside, and turned a few corners to reach the other side of the window. Then they coordinated together to climb a wall higher than I could reach.

I stayed there for half an hour observing them moving the sardine in all directions. They would take it to the left of the hole, then push it down, then up, then left again. It never worked.

The longer it took for it to go in, the more ants came to the party. Soon there were hundreds on the scene. The process was the same; they would take it up and down, left and right, trying to push it into the hole. It never worked. I left.

A few hours later I came back to observe the scene. Now there were more ants than before, but they still moved the same way. They kept going, even though they weren’t making progress.

I began to wonder what they thought when they first found the sardine. I imagined the first ant who saw the sardine and sounded the alarm. Its intention was to alert others to the abundance of food.

Then one ant suggested carrying it to their nest. And they all agreed it was a good idea. No ant paused and asked if it was possible to fit the sardine into the hole.

Now the idea gained momentum, more ants came and started moving the sardine to the wall, then to the hole. They all committed their energy to the task until it became a collective mission. The longer it took, the more attention it drew. More ants noticed and joined forces.

I wondered if there was a time that one of the ants paused and asked, is it possible to fit that sardine inside the hole? If one had, how would the hundreds of ants working so hard have responded?

Likely they condemned, laughed at and pushed the dissenter away for thinking of that. Every ant’s thought process was, “If everyone thinks this is the best idea, then it’s likely the best idea”.

I caught myself processing all those thoughts. This reflection reminded me that humans behave like ants. On many occasions we follow the majority without asking if it is right.

The Problem: The Mental Model — The Majority as a Trap

Following the majority blindly often leads to a trap. It is difficult to think clearly and independently when surrounded by the majority. That is why it is important to pause and ask: Is this my own thinking or influenced by the majority?

This is especially important when making decisions involving personal life. Choices about marriage, career, happiness, and health are not meant for collective consensus. The majority will have their say, but the impact and outcomes are borne by the individual.

This idea is called contrarian thinking. It means thinking differently from most people. This helps you avoid being misled by popular opinion. However, it means not being different just to be different. It is about not letting group behaviour replace your own logic.

The ants failed not because of their nature. Their mistake was a failure of logic. Each one focused on the ant ahead and copied its method without checking if it was effective. Popularity became evidence. It should not have been.

The sardine never entered the hole. Hours of collective effort produced nothing. Energy, numbers, commitment — none of it mattered because the direction was wrong from the start.

This is not just an ant problem.

Where We Are the Ants

The ants had sardines. We have careers, relationships, dreams.

Marriage by Default

We all know people who marry not because they want to, but because everyone around them is marrying. They succumb to family pressure and social expectation.

Many people follow the crowd. They don’t stop to think about whether marriage is what they truly want, with this person, at this time.

These choices, made by most, lead to unhappy couples, divorces, regrets, and lasting resentment.

Dreams Deferred

We know someone with a real pursuit — a business, an artistic path, a life that does not fit the standard template. The majority calls it risky, impractical, or naive, and so the person stops.

They shelve the thing that was true for them and pick up something that makes sense to everyone else.

And years go by, the majority moves on, but this individual doesn’t. They regret not pursuing what they wanted. They hate doing what they are doing every day.

Paths Never Questioned

This applies to everything in life. Consider, there’s the person who never faced a major dream conflict and just followed the usual path. They stuck to college, career, and lifestyle. They didn’t choose these paths; they simply met expectations.

They are pushing the sardine head-on because that is how it has always been done. These people have never thought to ask if it actually fits the hole.

The solution: Second-Order Thinking

Most people ask, what happens if I do this? They stop there and simply act. This short-sightedness is like the ants who only ask what will happen if they carry a sardine to their hole, without considering if it will fit.

Second-order thinking asks: what will be the consequences of my first action? Instead of just acting, the ants should ask what happens once they reach the hole. Will the sardine fit? How will the other ants react? How much space will it take up inside?

Most people will only ask the first question and accept answers that the majority approves of.

Should I get married?

Should I take the job?

Should I start the business?

Should I believe what they say?

If everyone marries because marriage is the social default, you do not get a society of happy couples. You get a society of people who made a lifelong decision based on social pressure. The downstream effect lasts for generations. Unhappy homes teach children that commitment means fitting in, not love.

If everyone leaves the unconventional path because most people disapprove, who will create what doesn’t exist yet? Progress requires the person willing to be wrong in front of everyone.

For second-order thinking the questions go deeper

Most people ask only the first question and accept answers that the majority agrees on.

Should I get married?

What will happen if I get married now? How will marriage affect my life, my career, my privacy and my independence?

Should I take the job?

How will the job affect my life, marriage, hobbies, time, relationships, and other opportunities?

Should I start the business?

How will the business affect my finances, my time, my peace of mind, my relationship and other opportunities?

Should I believe in what they say?

How will that affect how I live, my family, my work, my business, my relationships , and more?

Every decision and action has consequences far beyond what we see at first. Most choices made simply because others make them carry long-term or even lifelong impacts.

Contrarian thinking and second order thinking are not about rejecting the majority for sport. It is not about being the person who always disagrees. It is about asking whether the collective approach actually fits your specific situation — your values, your life.

The sardine did not need to be thrown away. It did not need to be replaced with a different sardine. It needed to be rotated. Small adjustment. Different angle. Same destination.

Sometimes the majority is right. Get the education. Build the safety net. Wear the seatbelt. But sometimes the majority is just a crowd of ants who inherited a direction and never questioned it. Your job is to know the difference.

Contrarian thinking and second order thinking are mental models—the right tools.

The question is not whether the majority is wrong. The question is whether their answer is right for you.

The Closing

When I think of the ants and the sardine pushed to the wall, I’m still captivated by the memory of the round hole and the convoy joining the struggle.

Somewhere in that crowd, maybe one ant had a different instinct. Maybe it paused. Maybe it tried a slight angle. But it was surrounded by certainty — thousands of its kind all pushing the same way — and the weight of the collective is hard to resist.

Where in your life are you treating the sardine like a square peg you’re trying to force into a round hole?

Who around you is pushing it the same way and calling that evidence?

What would it take to rotate it?

Do not do something because many people are doing it. Do something that deep down you resonate with and if it fails you will be happy to take responsibility and start again.

The majority doesn’t know you better than you know yourself.

Until then,

Think deeply. Live deliberately.

Watushule

Tafuta Njia Za Kutofeli.

“Rogers, nimekusimamisha wewe pamoja na marafiki zako.”

Mwalimu mkuu msaidizi alitangaza hivi mbele ya wanafunzi wote wakati wa paredi ya Jumatatu asubuhi.

Wiki chache kabla ya siku hiyo, baadhi ya wanafunzi wa Shule ya Sekondari ya Galanos waliingia kwenye mgomo dhidi ya walimu. Walifanya madai kadhaa, na waliniomba mimi kuwasilisha malalamiko yao.

Nilikuwa waziri wa michezo mstaafu, nafanya vizuri darasani, na nikijulikana miongoni mwa wanafunzi na walimu kama “Pugu Boy.” Waliamini nilikuwa mtu sahihi wa kuwasilisha malalamiko yao. Na nilifanya hivyo.

Wanafunzi walipata wanachotaka, na maisha yaliendelea. Lakini walimu hawakusahau.

Walibeba chuki dhidi yangu na wanafunzi wachache, wakiwemo viongozi, kwa kutofanikiwa kuzuia mgomo. Wakatupa adhabu ya kusimamishwa shule kwa wale tuliokuwa kidato cha sita na wale wengine kuhamishwa.

Tulipoadhibiwa, tulikuwa miezi mitatu tu kabla ya mitihani ya taifa ya Form Six — mitihani ambayo ilikuwa njia ya kuingia Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, ndoto niliyoibeba kwa miaka mingi.

Adhabu yangu ilikuwa kukaa nyumbani kwa miezi mitatu yote kabla ya mitihani. Nilipaswa kuripoti shuleni usiku mmoja kabla ya mtihani, kufanya mitihani chini ya uangalizi wa polisi, na kuondoka mara moja baada ya mtihani kumalizika.

Walimu walijua kwamba hali kama hiyo, kwa kawaida, ingemsumbua mwanafunzi na kupunguza nafasi zake za kufaulu. Nilihisi vivyo hivyo niposikia habari hiyo, na marafiki zangu walilia. Ndoto zangu za masomo zilionekana kuisha.

Nilipotoka nje ya shule, moyo ulikuwa mzito, nilimpigia simu mama na kumweleza kila kitu. Alinipa pole na kusikiliza kwa undani kesi yangu. Kisha akaniuliza:

“Kwa hivyo walimu wamekuadhibu, nao wanatarajia ufeli — utafanya nini kuhakikisha hautafeli?”

Swali hilo lilibadilisha kila kitu.

Mama hakuniuliza ninachohitaji kufanya ili kufaulu. Aliuliza ninachohitaji kufanya — au kuacha kufanya — kuhakikisha sitafeli. Kuna nguvu mpya nikaipata kwenye lile swali, kwamba nikikubali kufeli walimu watakuwa wametimiza lengo.

Nilimwomba aniongeze pesa kidogo. Nikatafuta hosteli ambapo wanafunzi wengine mtaani walikuwa wanaishi na kusoma. Nikajitengenezea ratiba yangu mwenyewe — yenye masaa ya kujisomea kila siku.

Nikatafuta mitihani ya miaka iliyopita na kuitumia kutafuta maeneo yangu dhaifu. Nikasoma pamoja na wanafunzi wenzangu waliokuwa wamesimamishwa pia — tulizungumza, tulipimana, tulikataa kuruhusu adhabu ikamilishe alichotaka mwalimu.

Nilifanya hivi kwa miezi karibu mitatu. Nikarudi shule siku moja kabla ya mtihani. Miezi ikapita na matokeo yakatoka.

Matokeo yalipotolewa, nilikuwa miongoni mwa tatu bora. Nilipata A kwenye hesabu — daraja ambalo wanafunzi wachache sana walipata katika mkoa wote.

Kwa miaka kumi na tano, sikufikiria sana kuhusu stori hii ya maisha yangu. Lakini hivi karibuni, nimetambua kwamba mama yangu alinipa kitu zaidi ya moyo siku hiyo.

Alinipatia modo ya kufikiria (mental model) kwenye maisha

Modo ya Kufikiria (Mental model) ni Nini?

Modo ya kufikiria ni zana ambayo akili inatumia ili kuelewa na kutatua matatizo. Hali tofauti zinahitaji zana tofauti — kama vile daktari, mjenzi, na mwanasheria kila mmoja anabeba vyombo tofauti kufanya kazi yake. Zana ambayo mama yangu alinipatia kwenye simu hiyo ina jina.

Inaitwa inversion — yaani, kufikiria kinyume.

Kufikiria kinyume ni desturi ya kufanya kazi kwa kuangalia nyuma au kitu usichokitaka, badala ya kuwaza mbele na vitu unavyotaka.

Badala ya kuuliza nifanye nini kufaulu, unauliza ni nini kinahakikisha kufeli — kisha unaondoa mambo hayo moja baada ya jingine.

Hii Si Kukata Tamaa

Kabla sijasonga mbele, inawezekana una wazo ambalo labda linakuja akilini mwako: kufanya hivyo sio kukaribisha mawazo mabaya?

Hapana. Na tofauti hiyo ina maana.

Kukata tamaa ni hali ya kihisia. Ni kukaa na hisia ya kushindwa — kufikiria vitu vyote vibaya vitakavyotokea na kuacha kujaribu na kutenda.

Kufikiria kinyume ni zana ya kimkakati. Ni kuangalia kushindwa kama taarifa — kuiona kwa jina lake, kuelewa visababishi vyake, na kuondoa vitu hivyo.

Mtu anayekata tamaa anasema: labda nitafeli. Mtu anayetumia kufikiria kinyume anasema: hizi ndizo hali mahususi zinazozalisha kushindwa — sitaruhusu hali hizo kuwepo.

Sikukaa kwenye hosteli ile nikifikiria jinsi mitihani itakavyokwenda vibaya kwa sababu nimesimamishwa shule. Niliketi nikitambua lengo la walimu kunisimamisha shule mpaka siku ya mtihani ni ili nifeli, je vitu gani vitafanya nifeli— kisha nikaanza kuvifanyia kazi kimoja baada ya kingine.

Kuna msemo wa Kiswahili unaojulikana: haraka haraka haina baraka.

Huu, unaonekana kama ushauri wa kupunguza mwendo. Lakini ukiusoma kama kufikiria kinyume, unabeba ujumbe mkali zaidi: si kusema nenda polepole ili ufanye kazi nzuri. Unasema kukimbia kunahakikisha kupoteza unachokimbilia kukipata.

Hekima ipo katika unachokiepuka — si katika unachokiongeza. Mabibi na mababu zetu walifundisha kufikiria kinyume muda mrefu kabla haikuwa na jina.

Maswali Yanayotakiwa Kujiuliza

Kufikiria kinyume kunafanya kazi kwa sababu kushindwa kwa kawaida ni rahisi zaidi kuliko mafanikio. Kuna njia nyingi za kupata matokeo mazuri — kipaji, wakati, bahati, mitandao, juhudi, fursa. Nyingi ziko nje ya uwezo wako.

Lakini njia za kushindwa kwa kawaida ni chache, zinajirudia, na ni za uhakika. Hazikupangii. Hazitegemei mazingira. Zinaonekana kwenye kioo.

Kwa hivyo geuza swali.

Badala ya kuuliza: Nitapataje mafanikio kwenye kazi?

Uliza: Ni nini kitaharibu kazi yangu?

Badala ya kuuliza: Ninajengaje ndoa ya kudumu?

Uliza: Ni nini kinaharibu mahusiano?

Badala ya kuuliza: Ninakuwaje tajiri?

Uliza: Ni tabia zipi zinahakikisha ninabaki kuwa masikini?

Majibu ya maswali yaliyogeuzwa yanakuwa na majibu ya moja kwa moja kushinda majibu ya kuhusu mafanikio. Kwa sababu mafanikio yanaishi katika dhana tu — yako huko mbali, siku zijazo, hayaeleweki wazi.

Kushindwa, unapoangalia moja kwa moja, ni mahususi. Unaweza kuielekeza. Unaweza kuiondoa.

Sehemu Sahihi Ya Kutumia Mental Model Hii

Katika kazi yako:

Fikiria miaka mitano ijayo ya maisha yako ya kikazi.

Jiulize ni nini kitaharibu mwenendo wako wa kazi.

Majibu ya kawaida ni pamoja na: usimamizi mbaya wa fedha, kuharihu mahusiano muhimu, kukaa katika nafasi ambazo hauwezi kukua, uongo, uvivu na vingine kadhaa.

Ni vitu vingapi kati ya hivyo tayari vipo kwenye maishani mwako?

Katika mahusiano yako:

Kuna mambo zaidi ya maelfu ambayo watu husema yatafanya uhusiano udumu — mawasiliano, kujitolea, wakati wa pamoja, maadili yanayofanana. Yote hayo ni kweli.

Lakini kuna idadi ndogo sana ya mambo yanayoharibu uhusiano kwa uhakika: dharau, uongo, kupuuza kunakokuwa kawaida, malalamiko yasiyo fanyiwa kazi, usaliti na mawasiliano mabovu.

Jiulize mambo yapi kati ya hayo yapo kwenye mahusiano yako sasa hivi?

Katika fedha zako:

Watu wengi wakifikiria pesa wanawaza namna ya kuzipata na kuwa matajiri.

Kufikiria kinyume kunauliza swali tofauti: ni mifumo gani ya matumizi inayohakikisha hautaweza kuwa na utajiri — bila kujali kipato chako?

Jibu kwa kawaida si gumu. Ni mfumuko wa maisha unaosogea sambamba na ongezeko la mshahara. Ni kutokuwepo kwa utaratibu wowote wa akiba ya moja kwa moja. Ni kuchukulia mkopo kama mapato ya ziada. Kuishi maisha ya starehe ambayo hauna uwezo nao. Kuwa na chanzo cha mapato kimoja na ambacho kinaweza kukatishwa muda wowote.

Jiulize vitu vipi tayari vipo kwenye maisha yako sasa hivi kwenye maswala ya fedha?

Swali Linalostaahili Kuwa Kichwani Kila Siku

Fikiria eneo moja muhimu la maisha yako sasa hivi — kazi yako, fedha zako, mahusiano, afya yako. Adha kujiuliza ni namna gani utafanikiwa.

Sasa uliza kinyume:

Ni nini kitasababisha unashindwa kufanikiwa?

Andika majibu ya ukweli na uhalisia wa maisha yako. Usijidanganye.

Kisha angalia orodha hiyo na ujiulize: Ni mangapi kati ya haya tayari ninayafanya?

Orodha ya majibu yako ndio orodha ya vitu vinavyoweza kubadili maisha yako.

Panapo majaliwa

Fikiria kwa kina. Ishi kwa makusudi.

Watushule

The deputy headmaster said it in front of everyone. Monday parade. The whole school watching.

A few weeks earlier, students at Galanos High School had gone on strike against the teachers. They had grievances, they needed a voice, and they chose me. I was the ex-minister for sport, known among students and teachers, Pugu Boy, who spoke well and carried himself with confidence. I delivered their message. The students got what they asked for.

The teachers never forgave me for it.

Three months before our national form six examinations — the exams that determined entry into the University of Dar es Salaam, the dream I had carried for years — they sent me home. I was to report to school the night before each exam, sit under police supervision, and leave the grounds the moment the last paper was done.

They knew what they were doing. No classroom. No mock exams. No access to notes, study groups, or the daily rhythm that prepares a student for high-stakes tests. They had designed a failure. My friends cried for me. I felt it too — that cold, sinking feeling that everything you have worked toward is suddenly very far away.

I walked out of the school gates and called my mother.

I explained everything. She listened. She was quiet for a moment. Then she asked:

“So the teachers have punished you, and they are expecting you to fail — what are you going to do to make sure you won’t fail?”

That question changed everything.

Notice what she did not ask. She did not ask what I needed to do to pass. She asked what I needed to do — or stop doing — to make sure I would not fail. The direction was reversed, and with it, the entire frame of the problem.

I stopped grieving and started thinking.

I asked her to send me pocket money. I found hostels where students slept and studied. I built my own timetable, one that put in the hours the school would have given me. I tracked down past exams and used them to identify my weak areas. I studied with the other suspended students — we discussed, we tested each other, we refused to let the punishment finish what it had started.

When the results came out, I was in the top three. I earned an A in advanced mathematics — a grade achieved by very few students in the entire region.

For fifteen years, I didn’t think much about that experience. Then recently, I realised what my mother had given me that afternoon was not just encouragement.

It was a mental model.

What is a mental model?

A mental model is a tool the mind uses to understand and solve problems. Different situations demand different tools — just as a doctor, a builder, and a lawyer each carry different instruments to do their work. The tool my mother handed me on that phone call has a name.

It is called inversion.

Inversion is the practice of working backwards from the outcome you want to avoid, rather than forward from the outcome you want to achieve. Instead of asking how do I succeed, you ask what guarantees failure — and then you systematically eliminate those things.

This is not pessimism

Before we go further, let me address the thought that may already be forming: isn’t this just negative thinking?

No. And the distinction matters.

Pessimism is an emotional state. It is sitting with failure as a feeling — imagining the worst, absorbing it, letting it drain your will to act. Inversion is a strategic tool. It is looking at failure as information — naming it precisely, understanding its causes, and removing them. The pessimist says: I am probably going to fail. The person using inversion says: here are the specific conditions that produce failure — I will not allow those conditions to exist.

I did not sit in that hostel imagining how badly the exams would go. I sat there identifying exactly what would cause me to fail, and then I went to work on each one.

There is a Swahili saying: haraka haraka haina baraka — hurry has no blessing. On the surface, it looks like advice to slow down. But read it as inversion: it is not saying move slowly to succeed. It is saying rushing guarantees you lose the thing you are rushing toward. The wisdom is in what you avoid, not in what you add. Our grandmothers were teaching inversion long before it had a name.

The questions that cut through

Inversion works because failure is usually simpler than success. There are many paths to a good outcome — talent, timing, luck, networks, effort, opportunity. Most of them are outside your control. But the paths to failure are usually few, consistent, and honest. They do not flatter you. They do not depend on circumstances. They show up in the mirror.

So flip the question.

Instead of asking: How do I build a strong career?

Ask: What would destroy my career?

Instead of asking: How do I build a lasting marriage?

Ask: What slowly kills a relationship?

Instead of asking: How do I build wealth?

Ask: What behaviours guarantee I stay broke?

The answers to the inverted questions are almost always clearer, more honest, and more immediately actionable than their forward versions. Because success lives in the abstract — it is somewhere out there, in the future, vague and aspirational. Failure, when you look at it directly, is specific. You can point to it. You can remove it.

Where to apply it

In your career: Think about the next five years. Ask yourself what would most certainly derail your professional life — not diplomatically, but honestly. Common answers include: chronic financial mismanagement, burning important bridges, staying comfortable in roles that stopped growing you, confusing visibility with ability. How many of those are already present in some form? That discomfort is data.

In your most important relationship: There are a thousand things people say will make a relationship last — communication, commitment, quality time, shared values. That is all true. But there are a much smaller number of things that reliably destroy relationships: contempt, dishonesty, neglect that gets normalised, unspoken resentment that slowly calcifies into distance. Ask what those things are in your specific relationship. Then ask how close any of them are to the surface. You do not need to be in crisis for this to be useful. Prevention done early is invisible — it looks like a relationship that just works.

In your finances: Most people approach money by trying to earn more. Inversion asks a different question: what spending patterns guarantee you never build wealth, regardless of income? The answer is usually not complicated. It is lifestyle inflation that moves in lockstep with salary increases. It is the absence of any automatic savings mechanism. It is treating credit as additional income. Name your specific versions of these and you will know exactly what to stop before you know what to start.

A question worth sitting with

Think about one important area of your life right now — your career, your finances, your most important relationship, your health.

Now ask it backwards:

What would guarantee that I fail here?

Write the honest answers. All of them. Do not be diplomatic.

Then look at that list and ask: How many of these am I already doing?

The discomfort of that answer is the beginning of useful thinking.

Until then

We think. So we become.

Think deeply. Live deliberately.

Watushule

Filamu hiyo inamtambulisha Arnold kama Terminator, roboti muuaji asiyekata tamaa. Katika simulizi ya filamu hiyo, binadamu wako vitani dhidi ya mashine zinazoongozwa na akili bandia inayoitwa Skynet. Terminator ana misheni, na yuko tayari kufanya chochote ili kuitimiza.

Arnold Schwarzenegger alikuwa na mistari isiyozidi ishirini katika filamu nzima. Lakini mstari mmoja ukawa wa kihistoria: “I will be back.” Alikuwa na mwonekano wa kipekee. Alivaa koti jeusi la ngozi na miwani ya jua usiku. Mwendo wake ulikuwa wa taratibu, wa makusudi, na wenye harakati za kiroboti.

Sote tulitaka kuwa kama yeye.

Wakati huo hatukuwa na njia ya kuwajua waigizaji zaidi ya kile tulichokiona kwenye filamu.

Miaka ikapita, na intaneti ikaanza kupatikana kwenye internet café nyingi. Moja ya vitu vya kwanza nilivyotafuta mtandaoni ilikuwa Arnold Schwarzenegger. Niligundua kitu kimoja: Arnold aliigiza nafasi ya Terminator vizuri sana kwa sababu kwa namna fulani, ilifanana na maisha yake mwenyewe.

Terminator alikuwa na misheni ya kutekeleza, na alifanya kila kilichohitajika ili kufanikiwa. Katika maisha halisi, Arnold alifuata njia inayofanana na hiyo kwa kujiwekea malengo ya wazi na kufanya kazi bila kuchoka kuyafikia.

Alikuwa kijana mwenye ndoto kubwa huko Austria. Alijiunga na jeshi. Siku moja, alimwona Reg Park kwenye televisheni akishinda mashindano ya kujenga mwili au body building. Akavutiwa na kutamani kuwa kama yeye.

Akajiwekea lengo la kuwa body builder (mjenga mwili) kama shujaa wake, kisha kuondoka Austria, kwenda Hollywood, na kuwa mwigizaji.

Filamu The Terminator ilitoka tarehe 26 Oktoba 1984, miaka saba kabla sijazaliwa.

Niliitazama filamu hiyo miaka kumi na nane baadaye. Nililipa shilingi hamsini za Kitanzania kuingia kwenye chumba chenye giza. Walikuwa wamekificha na kukifunika kwa mapazia na mazulia. Viti vilivyovunjika na mabenchi yaliyokuwa yakianguka vilizunguka televisheni ndogo ya Chogo.

Wakati mimi natazama filamu ya Terminator ilimaanisha kuwa ndoto ya Arnold ilikuwa imetimia. Kwangu, hiyo ilikuwa tafakari ya kuvutia sana. Kuvutiwa na mtu, kutengeneza lengo, na kulifikia. Ilionekana kama njia bora ya kuishi maisha.

Zaidi ya miaka kumi na nane imepita tangu nilipotimiza lengo langu la kwanza kubwa maishani. Nililiandika kwenye notebook na kulisoma kwa umakini mkubwa, nikiwa nimevutiwa na Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nilipokuwa kidato cha nne Shule ya Sekondari Pugu, nilitengeneza lengo langu la kwanza na kuliandika: “kusoma Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam.”

Niliweka lengo hilo kwa sababu binamu yangu alikuwa amesoma katika chuo hicho miaka michache kabla. Kama Arnold, nilikuwa na lengo langu la kwanza.

Nilipata sababu zaidi za kusoma kwa bidii. Nilisisimka kutafuta namna ya kuingia katika chuo kikuu cha Dar es salaam. Nilijikita kwenye vigezo vya udahili, kozi sahihi, na mambo mengine. Kila nilipopata muda wa ziada, nilipanda basi kwenda chuoni. Nilipenda kuwaona wanafunzi waliokuwa wamefanikiwa na waliobahatika kusoma pale.

Miaka mitatu baadaye, nilikuwa mwanafunzi wa Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, nikisoma Shahada ya Biashara katika Fedha. Nilikuwa nimetimiza lengo langu la kwanza. Nikakumbuka lengo la kwanza la Arnold, kushinda taji la Mr. Universe.

Wakati huo, hilo lilikuwa moja ya mashindano maarufu zaidi ya kujenga mwili duniani. Lilikuwa ni taji lilelile ambalo shujaa wake, Reg Park, alikuwa amewahi kushinda.

Baadaye nilitengeneza malengo mengine machache chuoni ili kuthibitisha kama mbinu hiyo kweli inafanya kazi. Nilisema nilitaka kuwa na gari langu mwenyewe kabla ya kuhitimu, nikiwa mwaka wa tatu. Nilitaka kupata kazi mara tu baada ya kuhitimu. Pia nilikuwa na lengo la kuanzisha kampuni yangu ya kwanza kabla ya kuhitimu.

Wiki moja kabla ya siku ya mahafali yangu, nilikuwa na gari langu la kwanza, Toyota Celica nyekundu, lililoagizwa kutoka Japan. Nilikuwa na mkataba wa kazi na moja ya kampuni kubwa nne za ukaguzi wa hesabu, PwC, na nilikuwa na kampuni yangu, au niseme startup.

Kwangu, hilo lilimaanisha kuwa kuweka malengo kuna faida kubwa kwenye maisha. Arnold alishinda mataji matano ya Mr. Universe na mataji saba ya Mr. Olympia katika safari yake ya kujenga mwili. Aliigiza kwenye zaidi ya filamu arobaini za Hollywood. Hata akawa Gavana wa California.

Nilisisimka sana kuwaambia watu umuhimu wa kuwa na malengo maishani. Lakini baadaye nikagundua kuwa watu wengi huja na malengo na kuhamasika. Baada ya miezi michache, hupoteza hamasa na kuacha.

Nimeona hilo kwa ndugu zangu, marafiki, jamaa, na hata watu nisiowajua. Ilinifanya niwe na udadisi wa kujua kwa nini malengo hufanya kazi kwa baadhi ya watu, lakini hayafanyi kazi kwa wengine. Nilijiuliza ni nini kilinifanya nifanye kazi kwa bidii zaidi nilipokuwa na malengo kuliko wakati ambao sikuwa nayo.

Udadisi huo ulinifanya nichunguze zaidi kuhusu malengo, ndipo nikakutana na dhana ya mifumo. Arnold hakuishia tu kuweka malengo au kuwa na ndoto. Alichotengeneza hakikuwa malengo pekee.

Ndoto na malengo peke yake hayana maana. Unahitaji mfumo.

Arnold alianza na ndoto, kisha akaivunja kuwa malengo, na hatimaye akatengeneza mfumo. Ili kushinda Mr. Universe, alipaswa kufanya mazoezi mara tatu kwa siku, kula sana, na kujifunza kila alichoweza kuhusu mashindano hayo.

Alipaswa kujitokeza hata alipokuwa amechoka, mgonjwa, hana hamasa, au amechelewa. Jeshi lilitishia kumfukuza, lakini bado alipaswa kuwepo.

Ili kupata kazi kabla ya kuhitimu, nilihitaji kujifunza kuhusu waajiri wakubwa. Nilipitia usaili wao wa nyuma na kufanya mazoezi ya aptitude tests. Pia nilihudhuria kila career day niliyoweza kuipata.

Nilikosa baadhi ya vipindi na quiz. Pia nilipoteza muda ambao ningeutumia kutazama filamu, kukaa na marafiki, na kucheza mechi za mpira nilizotamani sana kucheza.

Nilianza kwa sababu ya ndoto na lengo. Niliendelea kwa sababu ya mfumo nilioujenga.

Hii ndiyo njia bora.

Msingi bora wa mfumo wowote bado ni ndoto na lengo. Unaweza kuota chochote, lakini hakitakuwa na maana mpaka ukibadilishe kuwa lengo. Hii ndiyo njia ya vitendo zaidi niliyoiona katika kutengeneza malengo, nilijifunza kutoka kwa marehemu Jim Rohn.

Kwanza, orodhesha matamanio yako yote, fikra zako zote, na ndoto zako zote.

Chagua matamanio, fikra, na ndoto hamsini ambazo ungependa kuzifuata kama ungepata nafasi.

Punguza orodha hiyo hadi kubaki na zile kumi na sita ambazo unaweza kuanza ndani ya miaka mitano ijayo.

Gawa malengo hayo kumi na sita katika makundi manne. Kuwa na matamanio au ndoto nne ambazo zinaweza kuchukua miaka mitano kutimia. Kuwa na matamanio, ndoto, au fikra nne ambazo zinaweza kuchukua miaka mitatu. Kuwa na malengo manne ambayo yanaweza kuchukua mwaka mmoja. Kisha kuwa na malengo manne ya mwisho ambayo yanaweza kuchukua wiki chache au miezi michache.

Kisha ndipo inapokuja sehemu muhimu zaidi. Kwa kila moja ya malengo hayo kumi na sita, jaribu kujibu maswali haya:

Kwa nini unataka kutimiza tamanio, ndoto, au fikra hiyo?

Kwa nini usijaribu kuitimiza na uone maisha yatakupeleka wapi?

Kwa nini usiwe wewe wa kujaribu kuitimiza?

Kwa nini usianze sasa hivi?

Ukishayapanga malengo yako kumi na sita ndani ya miaka mitano, upande wa vitendo wa maisha unaanza. Unahitaji kutengeneza mfumo unaozunguka malengo yako.

Unahitaji kujenga tabia za kila siku na mazingira ambayo tabia hizo zinaweza kustawi. Dumisha mfumo huo kwa muda wote unaohitajika mpaka utimize matamanio, malengo, au ndoto zako.

Tabia hizi ndizo shughuli za kila siku zitakazokupeleka kwenye kufikia malengo hayo.

Ili kushinda mashindano ya kujenga mwili, kwanza Arnold alipaswa kuishi kama mjenga mwili. Alipaswa kufanya mazoezi kila siku, kula vizuri, kujifunza mchezo huo, na kupumzika.

Alijitosa kwenye kujenga mwili kwa kusoma kila jarida aliloweza kupata na kutazama vipindi vya televisheni vilivyohusiana na mchezo huo. Pia alijitoa kwenye ratiba kali ya mazoezi, akifanya mazoezi kama mtaalamu mara mbili au tatu kwa siku.

Alifanya hivyo mpaka akashinda mashindano.

Mara baada ya kuamua kile alichotaka kutimiza, alijikita kwenye mfumo wa kila siku aliopaswa kuufuata. Siku nyingine hakuwa na hamasa, lakini alipaswa kufanya mazoezi kwa sababu mfumo ulimtaka afanye hivyo.

Siku nyingine alikuwa na shughuli nyingi, lakini mfumo ulimsukuma kutafuta muda wa kusoma na kujifunza kuhusu kujenga mwili. Siku nyingine alihisi kukata tamaa kwa kuhofia kuwa huenda asifanikiwe, lakini mfumo wake ulimsukuma kufanya mazoezi na kupumzika.

Na alifanya hivyo pia kwenye uigizaji Hollywood. Alitengeneza mfumo ambao ungemsaidia kuwa mwigizaji tunayemjua leo. Alipaswa kujifunza kuigiza, kusoma kuhusu lafudhi, na kuandaa mwili wake kwa nafasi za uigizaji.

Nilipotengeneza ndoto, lengo, au fikra ya kuwa na gari kabla ya kuhitimu, sikuwa na kazi wala biashara. Nilipaswa kuchagua gari la ndoto, kujua bei yake, na kutafuta njia za kuweka akiba, kuomba, kubembeleza, kupata kipato, au kukopa ili kulipata.

Nilianza baadhi ya biashara ambazo zingenipa faida ya ziada kunisaidia kununua gari, lakini biashara hizo zilifeli. Niliomba msaada kwa watu wengi; wengine walinisaidia, wengine walinikataa.

Nilijaribu kuweka akiba kutoka kwenye pesa ya matumizi ya chuo, wakati mwingine ilifanikiwa na wakati mwingine haikufanikiwa. Nilikopa kwa marafiki na watu wengine; wengine walinipa, wengine walikataa.

Lakini kabla ya kuhitimu, nilikuwa na gari.

Nilihudhuria zaidi ya usaili ishirini ndani ya miezi miwili nikiwa chuoni. Wakati mwingine usaili ulikuwa katikati ya mitihani. Hilo lilitokana na kipindi kirefu cha kutuma CV; baadhi ya waajiri walikataa maombi yangu, wengine waliniita kwenye usaili.

Nilisoma vitabu na makala nyingi kuhusu usaili; nyingine nilizielewa na nyingine sikuzielewa. Nilipiga simu kwa watu wengi kuomba taarifa za ndani, msaada, na connection kwenye sehemu za kazi. Wengine walipokea simu zangu, wengine walikata simu, na wengine hata waliniblock.

Sikuacha kwa sababu nilikuwa na mfumo wa kufuata baada ya kujitoa kwenye malengo hayo. Kila siku, mfumo wangu ulinisukuma kufanya mambo kadhaa. Nilisoma kuhusu kazi na usaili. Nilituma CV yangu kwa mtu. Niliwakumbusha wengine kuhusu CV niliyotuma. Pia nilifanya mazoezi ya maswali ya usaili kwa usaili wowote uliokuwa mbele yangu.

Nilipokuwa na lengo la kujenga misuli na kuwa na six-pack, nilitengeneza mfumo. Kila siku baada ya vipindi vya chuo, nilienda gym ya chuo, nilifanya stretching, nilifanya mazoezi ya makundi mawili ya misuli, kisha nikacheza mpira.

Nilihakikisha kila siku nakula protini nyingi, hasa mayai, ndizi, na kuku. Nilihakikisha nakunywa maji mengi na kupumzika vya kutosha. Pia nilikuwa naenda YouTube mara kwa mara kutazama video nyingi kadiri nilivyoweza kuhusu kunyanyua vyuma.

Pia nilimuuliza maswali mengi Teacher Swai, kocha rasmi wa chuo. Naye alikuwa na misuli mingi. Pia nilishauriana na wanafunzi wengine kadhaa waliokuwa na uzoefu wa kunyanyua vyuma.

Na mfumo huo ulinitaka nifanye hivyo mpaka nitimize lengo. Nilipaswa kufanya hivyo baada ya vipindi na mitihani. Nilipaswa kufanya hivyo nilipokuwa nimechoka. Nilipaswa kufanya hivyo hata nilipokuwa sina pesa nyingi za kununua kuku na mayai. Nilipaswa kufanya hivyo hata Teacher Swai alipokuwa hayupo. Ulikuwa mfumo niliopaswa kuufuata.

Kila nilipogundua kuwa sifuati mifumo yangu, nilitambua kuwa sitatimiza ndoto yangu. Na hilo lilinikumbusha kwa nini niliitaka ndoto hiyo tangu mwanzo. Sababu yangu ilipokuwa imara, nilijikuta nikirudi kwenye mfumo wangu mara moja.

Nilijifunza kuwa wakati mwingine maisha yanaharibu utaratibu na mifumo, na unaweza kuacha mfumo wako kwa siku moja au mbili. Lakini nilikuwa na uwezekano mkubwa wa kufanikiwa nilipojisukuma nisiache zaidi ya siku tatu zipite bila kufuata mfumo wangu.

Nimekuwa nikitumia mfumo huo huo kwa zaidi ya miaka kumi na nane sasa, na nitaendelea kuutumia milele. Nimeuona kuwa wa vitendo na unaofaa kwa kufanikisha lengo lolote.

Hiki ndicho unachopaswa kufanya ili kutimiza ndoto, matamanio, au mahitaji yako;

Orodhesha matamanio yako yote, fikra zako zote, na ndoto zote unazotaka zitimie ukiwa hai, au hata baada ya wewe kufariki.

Chagua zile bora hamsini za kuanzia.

Kutoka kwenye hizo hamsini, chagua kumi na sita muhimu zaidi kwako kwa sasa.

Gawa malengo hayo kumi na sita kulingana na muda unaokadiria kuyatimiza, kuanzia wiki chache mpaka miaka mitano.

Inashauriwa uwe na malengo manne unayoweza kutimiza ndani ya wiki chache au miezi michache.

Chagua mengine manne kwa malengo ya mwaka mmoja, kisha mengine manne kwa kipindi cha miaka mitatu. Malengo manne ya mwisho yawe yale unayolenga kuyatimiza ndani ya miaka mitano.

Kwa kila tamanio, fikra, au ndoto, chukua muda kujiuliza maswali haya:

Kwa nini unataka kutimiza tamanio, ndoto, au fikra hiyo?

Kwa nini usijaribu kuitimiza na uone maisha yatakupeleka wapi?

Kwa nini usiwe wewe wa kujaribu kuitimiza?

Kwa nini usijaribu sasa hivi?

Ukisharidhika na hilo, ndipo tengeneza mfumo kwa kila lengo.

Tengeneza tabia na orodha za mambo ya kufanya kila siku au kila wiki mpaka ufikie malengo yako.

Jisukume kila wakati kufuata mfumo huo, bila kujali nguvu ulizonazo, hamasa, matatizo, au vikwazo. Pale changamoto zinapotokea na ukaruka siku moja au mbili, jiambie kuwa utarudi kwenye mfumo haraka iwezekanavyo.

Kanuni bora ni kuahidi kutoruhusu zaidi ya siku tatu zipite bila kufuata mfumo wako.

Katika kufuatilia lengo langu la uandishi, nimejiahidi kutoruhusu zaidi ya siku tatu zipite bila kuandika kitu cha nilichojifunza. Nimejiahidi pia kutoruhusu zaidi ya siku tatu zipite bila kufanya mazoezi, hata kama itamaanisha kutembea au kufanya stretching.

Kuwa mwangalifu usiwe na tamaa kupita kiasi unapotengeneza mfumo wako. Ni rahisi sana kubebwa na hamasa. Unaweza kufanya vitu kwa kasi zaidi, kwa ukubwa zaidi, au kwa nguvu zaidi, lakini visiwe endelevu.

Watu wengi hutengeneza lengo au kuwa na ndoto ya kuwa fiti, mara nyingi watu wenye uzito mkubwa wanaotaka kupunguza uzito. Wananunua vifaa vipya vya mazoezi, wanalipia gym, na kusema, “New Year, New Me.” Yani mwaka mpya na mambo mapya. Lakini kufikia katikati ya Januari, wengi hurudi kwenye tabia zao za zamani.

Watu hawa walitengeneza mfumo uliowazidi nguvu na ambao haukuwa endelevu. Ni rahisi kuanza kwa kutembea mara tatu kwa wiki, kisha taratibu kuhamia kwenye kutembea kila siku. Kutoka hapo, unaweza kuongeza kasi au umbali kabla ya kuongeza kukimbia au mazoezi ya gym.

Na ukiwa na hamasa, nenda gym. Ukiwa na shughuli nyingi, tembea. Lakini kwa ujumla, bado unaendelea kufuata mfumo.

Ni sawa kuwa na ndoto na malengo, lakini maisha hutokea pale unapofuata mfumo wako kwa uthabiti.

Mpaka wakati mwingine,

Fikiri kwa Kina. Ishi kwa Makusudi.

Watushule

Have you seen the movie The Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger?

The movie introduces Arnold as the Terminator, a relentless cyborg assassin. In the plot, in the future, humanity is at war with machines led by an AI called Skynet. The terminator has a mission and will do anything to do it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had fewer than 20 lines in the whole movie. One line became legendary: “I will be back.” He had the iconic look. He wore a black leather jacket and sunglasses at night. His walk was slow and deliberate, with robotic movements.

We all wanted to be like him.

Back then we had no way of knowing more about the actors than what we saw in the movies.

Years went by, and the internet became common in many cafés. One of the first things I searched for online was Arnold Schwarzenegger. I learned something deep: Arnold played the Terminator so well because it mirrored his own life.

The Terminator had a mission to do and did everything necessary to succeed. In real life, Arnold followed a similar path by setting clear goals and working tirelessly to reach them.

He was a young ambitious man in Austria. He joined the military. One day, he saw Reg Park on TV winning bodybuilding competitions. And he felt inspired to be like him.

He set a goal to be a bodybuilder like his role model, then leave Austria to go to Hollywood and become an actor.

The movie *The Terminator* came out on October 26th 1984, seven years before I was born.

I watched the movie eighteen years later. I paid fifty Tanzanian shillings to enter a dark room. They hid it and covered it with curtains and carpets. Broken chairs and falling benches cluttered a small TV.

The fact I watched the movie Terminator it meant his dream came true. To me that was a fascinating process. Be inspired by someone, create a goal, and achieve it. It seemed the best way to approach life.

Over eighteen years have passed since I achieved my first goal in life. I wrote it in a diary and studied it with great attention, inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger. During my last year at Pugu Secondary School, I created my first goal and wrote it down: “to attend the University of Dar es Salaam.”

I set that goal because my cousin attended that university a few years back. Like Arnold, I had my first goal.

I had more reasons to study hard. I felt excited to find out how to get into that university. I focused on the entry criteria, the right courses, and more. Whenever I had free time, I would take a bus to the University. I liked seeing the accomplished and lucky students there.

Three years later, I was a student at the University of Dar es Salaam, studying for a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance. I had accomplished my first goal. I remembered Arnold’s first goal, to win the Mr. Universe title.

At the time, this was one of the most prestigious bodybuilding competitions in the world. It was the same title his role model, Reg Park, had won.

I then created a few extra goals at the University to prove if the method really worked. I said I wanted to have my own car before my graduation, in my third year. I wanted to have a job immediately after graduating. I had a goal to create my first company before graduating too.

A week before my graduation day, I had my first car, a red Toyota Celica, imported from Japan. I had a contract with one of the Big Four auditing firms, PwC, and I had a company, or rather, a startup.

To me it meant that setting goals has a significant impact on life. Arnold won five Mr. Universe titles and seven Mr. Olympia titles in his body building career . He starred in over forty Hollywood movies. He even became the Governor of California.

I was so excited to tell everyone about the importance of having goals in life. But then I realised that many people would come up with goals and be excited. A few months down the line they would lose that motivation and stop.

I have seen that in my siblings, friends, relatives and even strangers. It made me curious about why it works for some people and doesn’t work for others. I wondered what made me work harder with goals than when I didn’t have them.

That curiosity made me explore more about goals, and then I landed on the concept of systems. Arnold did not merely set goals or dreams. What he created were not just goals.

Dreams and goals mean nothing on their own. You need a system.

Arnold started with a dream, then broke it down into goals and ended up creating a system. To win Mr. Universe, he had to train three times a day, eat a lot, and learn everything he could about the tournament.

He had to show up, even when he was tired, sick, unmotivated, or late. The military threatened to throw him out, but he still had to be there.

To land a job before graduation, I needed to learn about the top employers. I reviewed their past interviews and practiced for the aptitude test. I also attended every career day I could find.

I missed some classes and quizzes. I also lost time to watch movies, hang out with friends, and play football matches I really wanted to join.

I started because of my dream and goal. I kept going due to the system I built.

Here is the best approach.

The best foundation of any system is still the dream and the goal. You can dream about anything but it won’t matter unless you turn them into goals. Here is what I find to be a more practical way to create goals, inspired by the late Jim Rohn

List all your wishes, fantasies and dreams.

Choose fifty wishes, fantasies and dreams that you would go for if you had the chance.

Trim that list down to the first sixteen that you can start in the next five years.

Break those sixteen goals down into four groups. Have four wishes or dreams that would likely take five years to do. Have four wishes or dreams or fantasies that would likely take three years to do. Have four goals that would take one year to accomplish. Have the last four goals that would take a few weeks or months to accomplish.

Then comes the most important part. For each of those sixteen goals, try to answer the following questions.

Why do you want to accomplish that wish, dream or fantasy?

Why not try to accomplish that wish, dream or fantasy and see where life leads?

Why not be the one to try to accomplish them?

Why not now?

There are some things where the why is so strong that you would immediately ask, “Why not now?”

Once you spread your sixteen goals over five years, the practical side of life begins. You need to create a system around your goals.

You need to build daily habits and an environment where those habits can thrive. Maintain this system as long as it takes to achieve your wishes, goals, or dreams.

These habits are the daily activities that will lead you to achieve those goals.

To win a bodybuilding competition, Arnold first had to live like a bodybuilder. He had to train daily, eat well, study the sport, and rest.

He dived into bodybuilding by reading every magazine he could find and watching related TV shows. He also committed to a rigorous training schedule, working out like a professional two or three times a day.

He did that until he won the competition.

Once he decided what he wanted to achieve, he focused on the daily system he needed to follow. Some days he was not motivated, but he had to work out because the system required it.

Some days he was busy, but the system urged him to find time to read and learn about bodybuilding. Some days he felt discouraged about not making it, but his system urged him to work out and rest.

And he did the same with acting in Hollywood. He created a system that would help him become the actor we all know. He had to learn how to act, study accents, and train his body for potential roles.

When I created the wish, goal or fantasy of having the car before my graduation, I didn’t have any job or business. I had to pick a dream car, find the price and find ways to save, ask, beg, earn or borrow to get it.

I started some businesses that would give me extra profit to help buy the car, but the businesses failed. I asked for help from many people; some helped, while others rejected me.

I tried saving my pocket money at university, sometimes it worked and other times it didn’t. I borrowed from my friends and others; some gave it to me and others refused.

But before graduation, I had the car.

I attended over twenty interviews in two months while at university. Sometimes, I had them in the middle of exams. This followed a long period of sending out CVs; while some employers rejected my applications, others invited me to meet.

I have read dozens of books and articles about interviews; some I understood and some I didn’t. I called a lot of people to ask for inside information, favours and connections in the workplaces. Some answered my calls, others hung up, and some even blocked me.

I did not stop because I had a system to follow after I committed myself to that goals. Every day, my system pushed me to do a few things. I read about jobs and interviews. I sent my CV to someone. I reminded others about the CV I sent. I also practised interview questions for any upcoming interviews.

When I had a goal to build muscles and have a six-pack I created a system. Every day after University classes, I would go to the University gym, stretch, work out two muscle groups then play soccer.

I had to make sure every day I ate a lot of protein especially from eggs, bananas and chicken. I had to make sure I drank a lot of water and rested a lot. I also had to go on YouTube a lot and watch as many videos as I could about weightlifting.

I also asked many questions to Teacher Swai, the official trainer from the university. He had a lot of muscles, too. I also consulted several other students who were experienced in weightlifting.

And that system wanted me to do that until I achieved the goal. I had to do that when I left classes and exams. I had to do that when I was tired. I had to do that when I didn’t have so much cash to buy chickens and eggs. I had to do that when Teacher Swai was not there. It was a system I had to follow.

Whenever I noticed that I was not following my systems,I realized that I would never achieve my dream. And that reminded me why I wanted that dream in the first place. When my why was so strong I found myself immediately coming back to my system.

I learnt that sometimes life would happen, and I would skip my system for a day or two. But I was more likely to succeed when I pushed myself to never let more than three days pass without following my system.

I have been using the same system for more than eighteen years now and I will continue using it forever. I find it practical and relevant for achieving any goal.

Here is how it works, this is what you have to do to fulfill your dreams, wishes or fantasies:

List all your wishes, fantasies and dreams you want to come true while you are alive, or even after you are gone.

Pick the best fifty to start with.

From the fifty you want to start, pick the top sixteen that matter most to you right now.

Break down those sixteen goals based on the estimated timeframes, from weeks to five years.

It is recommended that you have four goals that you can accomplish within weeks or months.

Select another four for your one-year targets, followed by four for the three-year mark. The final four goals should be those you aim to achieve within five years.

For each wish, fantasy or dream, take the time to ask yourself these questions:

Why do you want to fulfil that wish, dream or fantasy?

Why not try to accomplish your wish, dream, or fantasy and see where life leads?

Why not be the one to try to accomplish it?

Why not now?

Once you are comfortable with that, then create a system for each goal

Create habits and to-do lists that you will need to do every day or weekly until you reach your goals.

Always push yourself to follow that system, no matter your energy, motivation, problems, or distractions. When disruptions occur and you skip a day or two, you should promise yourself to get back to the system as soon as you can.

The best rule is to promise never to go more than three days without following your system.

In pursuit of my writing goal, I have promised to never let more than three days pass without writing something to share. I have promised myself to never go more than three days without a workout, even if it means walking or stretching.

Be careful not to be too ambitious when working on your system. It’s easy to get carried away when you’re motivated. You can do things faster, bigger or stronger, but not sustainably.

People create a goal or have a wish to be fit, usually overweight people wanting to lose weight. They buy new workout gear, pay for gym memberships, and say “New Year, New Me.” But by mid-January, many return to their old habits.

These people created a system that overwhelmed them and was not sustainable. It is easier to start walking three times a week, then transition to daily sessions. From there, you can increase your pace or distance before finally adding running or gym workouts.

And when you are motivated, go to the gym. When you are busy, go for a walk. But overall you are still following the system.

It is okay to have dreams and goals, but life happens when you follow your system, consistently.

Until then,

Think Deeply. Live Deliberately.