As children, we dreamt of becoming doctors, engineers, pilots and many other high-value careers lines as well as humble teachers and nurses; careers that we were able to visualise. We never worried about the details that would take us these careers. Children in kindergaten volunteer to do everything you ask of them. They raise their hands to answer any question you ask.
Fast forward to adolscence stage, and some have acquired place at the back of the class and will not respond to any question that is likely to redicule them.
For some reason as we grew up, the influences around us teach us other things such as shame and redicule. We soon give up inspirational thinking and creativity and settle for what life “gives us” every morning. For example, everytime after personal finance managment lessons with any group of my adult students, I can almost anticipate some questions.
In secondary school, we were taught about five different types of capital such as land, labour and machinery, simply called factors of production.. We seem to have forgoten that most abundant capital category is human labour – your abilities delivered at birth in the form of potential.
Napoleon Hill, arguably the most famous self-help action writer and thinker himself, had to face failure in order to discover that failure is an important source of success instructions. The legendry Andrew Carnigie, while asking Napoleon Hill to consider the project of studying the causes of success and failure, said it in no uncertain terms.
“There seem to me that there is an opportunity here which should challenge an ambition of a young man of your type; but ambition alone is not enough for the task which I have suggested. The one who undertakes it must have courage and tenacity.”
In the same breath, Andrew Carnigie told Napoleon that “along towards the end of your labour, if you carry it through successfully, you will make a discovery which may be a great suprise to you. You will discover that the causes of success is not something seperate and a part from man; that it is a force so intagible in nature that the majority of men never recognize it, a force which migh be properly be called the ‘other self’.”
Indeed, most people are not motivated by setting goals because at the other end of the pipe is the fear of what would happen to them should they fail to achieve their vision – what people would say about their failure.
Cash is a measure of successful effort at a specific activity. Cash itself is not success, but it creates the environment we all desire to experience. It delivers the power to do more.
Financial literacy is a process
Every inch of skill, wisdom and the resultant financial success from them is acquired in small dozes sometimes over a long stretch of time. Financial literacy is an active learning process through hands-on practice, essentially starting with an idea, whether you have cash capital or not. Sophistication is learnt and like a ladder, each step is necessary to move upwards. You remain with experience after losing money so that you are able to start again.
Like Frank Howard once said, eveyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realising that life is made up of little things. Imagine how big a problem is and put in place a solution – a business system which is replicable and cash will flow out.
Bill Gates imagined a world where everyone has a personal computer and went to work to produce it. He is hardly half his life and the world population has experienced his dream and in return paid him handsomely. As a result, he is wise on matters personal computing and wealthy too.
Life should be all about creating something new to solve a different problem or the same problem differently, better than somebody else has done it before. Cash will flow in better than somebody has recieved before.
Patrick Wameyo, is a Financial Literacy Educator and Small Businesses Consultant . [email protected]
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