BEGINNINGS

"Patrick Awuah started Ashesi University in a rented house in 2002 with 30 students. 19 years later, it is among the most respected universities in Africa and boasts a 100-acre campus with world class curriculum, spacious living and study spaces with corporate-world-ready graduates being churned out every year. 

I bet the four MBA students who did the feasibility studies towards the establishment of Ashesi had their doubts. I bet Patrick spent some sleepless nights wondering wether quitting his well paying job at Microsoft to start a university in Africa was wise. Beginnings are fraught with doubt. Beginnings are dangerous.

Most people spent all their lives behind the starting line, waiting for a starting gunshot that never comes and then they give up on their dreams. Your heartbeat is the the bell you need to listen to. If it beats with your dreams, you should start running wether you think you are ready or not. Start with 'why' like Simon Sinek advices, and you are more likely to stick to your vision, work at it everyday, grow organically and in time hit that sweet spot, where everything comes together and long lasting success is ensured. 

Joel Degue says resolutions most often don't work. Set goals rather. Get fit this year, go to school or start a business, reduce your expenses, work on your personal development. Get out of debt. Invest in your mind. Read a minimum of 10 or 12 books this year. I am reading one every weekend. 

Talk to others who have done it or are doing it.  Break it down into smaller steps and daily or weekly actions you need to take, and it won't be long before you start seeing the fruits of your labour. 

Beginnings are pivotal. Beginnings are inspired by potential. But you have to work dreams into reality. 

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has grace, power and magic in it. Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and Creation) There is one elementary truth the ignorance which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment that one definitely commits ones self, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred… Unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way." - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

There goes the starting pistol. 

By Stan Dugah

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