Eat, Sleep, ...., Repeat.

Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do.” More often than not we have more than likely encountered scenarios whereby people are described by what they do. After all is said and done, you’re better off being christened a nickname based on your career path as opposed to one that is based on your favorite past time activity that entails either imbibing one too many a bottle or having an unhealthy fixation with the members of the opposite sex. Woe unto you if both cases apply to you. In as much as this may be a risky maneuver that might lead to a bruised ego of sorts, seek to find out how people have saved your contact on their phone; food for thought. With that said, be cognizant of how your habits are perceived and the potential impact it has in the overall trajectory of life.

  Once upon a time when I had just acquired a two digit age count coupled with a new found independence and some coins to boot, I discovered the beauty of saving money or in this case coins. At the end of the week and under the tight security of my bedroom, I would empty the contents of the jar on the bed and count the money with immense joy. My fear revolved around having less coins and losing the jar altogether hence my room was always under lock and key even though everyone knew where the key was. Beats logic but made sense to a budding kid.

Like clockwork, the process of dropping in additional coins into the saving jar was repeated at the end of day without fail. In addition to saving, I loved listening to music. I did some research and knew exactly how much I needed to purchase a cassette. Under the guise of purchasing a gift for my father, I set forth a plan in motion that sought to kill two birds with the same stone or so I thought. He owned the car and by extension the music player and to ensure that I controlled the music output, I gifted him a radio cassette of my favorite musician from the proceeds of my savings and insisted that nothing else should be on air. The more I saved, the more I acquired hence the pattern of eating, sleeping, saving and repeating became imprinted into my psyche in my childhood. Adulting is a different ballgame altogether. Story for another day.

A big fish is caught with a big bait is an African proverb whose meaning can loosely be translated as success can hardly come by in the absence of great effort. An older relative who lived with us at the tail end of my high school education embodied the true meaning of persistence. Employment opportunities seemed to evade him at every point and turn. Self-sabotage led to closed doors and he fumbled where no obstacles were in sight. Looking back in hindsight, his path was totally different and had nothing to do with employment even though he had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in a lucrative field. Every door has its own key and this ought to serve a reminder to us that life has no formula. Despite the obstacles, he ate, slept, attempted and repeated.

To his credit, he spent every awakened moment scheming on what to sell. While upcountry, we made early morning trips to sell milk in a nearby center. Neither of us had a driving license yet. Therefore, the reason to go early was twofold. Be the first to enter the market and evade the long or short arm of the law. This was quickly regularized as soon as I came of age. While in the city, I accompanied him on several occasions and we went from office to office selling books.

He seemed to have mastered the art of identifying gaps in the market and filling it as best as he knew how to. We once received a hostile reception and were denied entry into a building. I’m pretty sure the guards were listening to the Swahili song whose chorus is “close the door, they are coming.” To cut the long story short, the widest door ever swung right open in his face shortly thereafter and to date he is eating life with a big spoon. The big game often appears when the hunter has almost given up the hunt for the day. This best sums up how the tide turned in his favor but luck definitely had nothing to do with it. I can attest to the fact that striking gold took blood, sweat and tears.

“Cars run on money, and make you fat. Bikes run on fat, and saves you money” is a quote of unknown origin that once swayed me to get into cycling. I was as enthusiastic as a kid who just found out that dinner is cake when I bought a bike and hit the road for the first time. In as much as I got into cycling in the dog days of summer, I pushed on despite the sweltering heat. Day in day out I kept at it and within no time I was hooked. Little did I know how much fat I had shed and this was brought to light when I met an old friend who almost failed to recognize me at first glance. Despite the pitfalls here and there, the pros of cycling by far outweighed the cons and this motivated me to keep going. I definitely ate, slept, cycled and repeated the process without fail for days on end in order to reap the perceived rewards of cycling.

Riding a bike is as close as we get to flying. Until you hit a pothole, then you actually fly. I learnt this the hard way and have a tale to tell as well as a scar to show for it. In addition to the aforementioned, I also validated the African proverb “While climbing a tree, if you insist on going beyond the top, the earth will be waiting for you.” I once went overboard in trying to achieve a goal of riding fifty miles without factoring in the return trip. I sat on stones, logs of trees and everything in between until I got back home. I got to know that one can actually crawl when all else fails.

Love for riding almost cost me a relationship and she wished it would rain so I could stay in but it deterred me not. She poured cold water on my dream to beat Lance Armstrong the reigning champion at the time and added if that was my path to success she’d have to triple her effort in her career. I also once squeezed in a cycling trip in between jobs and almost missed an important meeting but made it by a whisker. In conclusion, consistency is vital in the achievement of results. Eat, Sleep, (…, …, …) and Repeat. Fill in the blanks based on your passion and remember that work must be put in since sugarcane is sweetest at its joint.