"Exploring the Many Facets of Life: benkinama blogspot is a site founded by Rawlings Kinama for those interested in learning more about different lifestyles, education, culture, social-economic issues, and parenting. Here, we delve into a variety of topics that shape our lives and impact our communities. My blog also explores the social-economic factors that influence parenting, and how we can all work together to create a better future for our families and ourselves.
Have you ever wondered why bicycle chains and gears are always on the right side?
Drivetrains enable riders to pedal a bicycle forward and even change gears in bicycles.
A drivetrain is the set of components in a vehicle that move the wheels forward. In motorized vehicles like cars, they connect the engine and transmission to the wheel axles.
In bicycles, it is where the chain chainset, also known as the crankset, and the cassette sprockets at the rear wheel.
Drivetrains, where the chains and the gears are located on the right side because of the tradition that bicycle makers set in the 1800s.
The tradition was adopted as most people were right-handed, including the makers and customers.
Gears make it easier for riders to pedal depending on the gradient of the road. Mountain bikes have derailleur gears.
A derailleur gear is a mechanism that allows the chain to move from one sprocket to another.
Though modern technology can allow drive chains to be on the left side the challenge is that some bicycle parts fit only when the drive chain is on the right side.
Among Kenyans who love cycling is first lady Rachel Ruto who has an organization, mama Cycling which encourages cycling as a leisure activity and sport.
"My last relationship taught me that there are people who are sincerely predisposed to the simple life: To sleep and wake up to their partners; to go to their small job and its trifles; to raise kids, to go to church on Sundays, and later die as quietly as they lived. And that's okay.
Unlike me, she didn't want the world. Didn't want the fame. Didn't care for the money. Not like I did. And in my oblivion, I would wake up at 3:00 am. Sleep at 11:00 pm. To get her all the good things I thought she needed. But instead, I was taking away everything she needed.
I look back & I realize that sometimes we unintentionally impose our visions onto our partners. Never asking what they wanted & deciding whether we can meet it. In my quest for ultimate success, I slowly but surely choked the life out of us. I gained the world, but I lost us.
And back then the question that I would ask myself looking at her was; "how could you be satisfied with so little?" I attributed it to a lack of vision/mediocrity/ignorance. In such moments we forget that these people are adults like us. That they also have their visions.
It bothered me that she didn't want to expand her boutique. It was doing well, but I am the kind of man who doesn't know when to stop. I want the world. But at some point, you are going to have to stop and let your partners be. And that if you must proceed, you'll have to do it alone.
Some partners don't want eccentric fame/wealth. They want money, but just enough to keep you guys comfortable. They may support you in your pursuit of the world, but they aren't a mini you. You'll gain the world, and lose your heart. I held the world, but I was empty.
One day the world comes tumbling down. And you'll turn back home, hoping to find your partner's outstretched arms, only to run into an empty hall. Yes, you'll rebuild. But you need not have to if you struck a balance. Believe me. You don't want to be alone on a stormy night."
Disciplined people have things or habits they do in common that make them successful in life.
Here are 10 things disciplined people do to be successful in life:
1. Set clear goals: Disciplined people set specific, measurable, and achievable goals. They break down their goals into smaller tasks and create an action plan to achieve them.
2. Prioritize: They prioritize their tasks and focus on the most important ones. They use their time wisely and avoid wasting it on unimportant activities.
3. Develop a routine: They establish a routine that works for them and sticks to it. They use their time efficiently and are consistent with their daily habits.
4. Practice self-control: They resist the temptation to procrastinate, indulge in unhealthy habits, or give in to distractions.
5. Maintain focus: They maintain their focus on their goals and stay motivated even when faced with challenges or setbacks. They learn from their mistakes and keep moving forward.
6. Cultivate positive habits: They cultivate positive habits that contribute to their success, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and sufficient sleep.
7. Learn continuously: They are lifelong learners who seek to improve themselves. They read books, attend seminars, and take courses to expand their knowledge and skills.
8. Manage time effectively: They manage their time effectively and avoid wasting it on unproductive activities. They use tools such as calendars and to-do lists to stay organized.
9. Take responsibility: They take responsibility for their actions and decisions. They don't blame others for their failures and take ownership of their mistakes.
10. Celebrate successes: They celebrate their successes and milestones along the way. They acknowledge their progress and use it as motivation to keep going.
By implementing these practices, disciplined people can increase their chances of achieving success in various areas of their lives.
In many African countries, demonstrations against the sitting government are met with resistance from the authorities, including the use of excessive force, arrests, and even deadly violence.
African presidents who hold on to power often fear protests and demonstrations because of the following reasons:
Threat to their legitimacy: Protests and demonstrations can be seen as a direct challenge to the authority of a sitting president.
When citizens take to the streets to protest against their government, it can undermine the legitimacy of the president and his government, particularly if the protests are widespread and persistent.
This was evident in Kenya in 2017, where protests erupted after the controversial presidential election, resulting in the country being divided along tribal lines.
Fear of losing power: Many African presidents have a long history of clinging to power, often through authoritarian means.
They may fear that protests and demonstrations could turn into a movement that could unseat them from power.
This was the case in Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni was re-elected in a controversial election in January 2021, and protests broke out soon after the election results were announced.
The authorities responded with deadly force, leading to the deaths of dozens of people.
Fear of destabilization: Some African presidents fear that protests and demonstrations could lead to instability in their countries, particularly if they escalate into violence.
This was the case in South Africa in 2021, where protests against the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma turned violent, resulting in widespread looting and destruction of property.
The government responded with a heavy-handed crackdown, leading to the deaths of over 300 people.
Fear of exposing corruption: Protests and demonstrations can also bring attention to corruption within the government, particularly if they are focused on issues such as mismanagement of public funds, lack of transparency, and accountability.
This was the case in Kenya in 2015, where protests broke out after allegations of corruption within the government were exposed. The protests led to the resignation of several government officials, including the minister of health.
In conclusion, African presidents fear protests and demonstrations against their regimes for a variety of reasons, including threats to their legitimacy, fear of losing power, fear of destabilization, and fear of exposing corruption.
However, it is essential to note that citizens have a right to express their grievances peacefully, and governments should respect this right and address the concerns of their citizens through dialogue and peaceful means.
A Kenyan TikTok content creator, Njoki Murira whose ability to make creative, funny, and authentic videos has propelled her to garner millions of followers on the platform.
She was born in December 2000 and grew up in a humble single-parent family as the last of five children, three girls, and two boys.
She did not finish school due to her humble background. Today, through content creation, the Thika-based woman has been able to change the trajectory of her life and that of her family.
Njoki used to sell mitumba clothes and would occasionally post videos that she made when there were no customers.
One of her videos trended and she gained a huge following. Unfortunately, the account was closed, and had to open a new one.
Currently, she has more than 2.5 million followers.
She shares the videos showcasing the village life while shaking her behind. Her sister would do the recording for her. They have shared videos of dancing together.
She has found a way to make money through TikTok. At the beginning of March, She shared a video of the house she is building for her mother, proving that content creation pays.
In a recent Q and A with fans, Njoki revealed that she has made more than 3 million on the platform in less than six months. She shared a screenshot of her earnings with her fans. She had accumulated more than 6.8 diamonds.
"It has been 1 year now, divide the diamonds by 2 and that is the money I have earned from live TikTok videos. Mind you I have streaming for only 5 months now". She said.
I would spend hours in the night listening to Tracy and reading his quote.
One particular sentence stick with me from Tracy and that is; if you want to achieve
something different, you have to do something different.
If you want to achieve what you've never achieved, you have to do what you've never done before.
Growing up, I wrote the above sentence and pasted it in my room and each day when I saw
those words, I knew that I had to make sacrifices.
It's very simple; if your life is not what you want it to be right now, you have to be
willing to do something different and don't let me sugarcoat anything here; you won't
move from one easy world to another.
Doing something different means getting out of your comfort zone and this is never going
to be easy.
In today's article, I'm going to be sharing with you the 3 sacrifices you need to make
to escape poverty.
Just 17 years ago, I was just one of the young people whose life was a disaster.
I hated my life and wished I was never born because I was born into poverty, sickness,
and many other limitations.
So, how was I able to change my life, from being a guy who hated life to creating one
of the best life ever for myself? Books! Books!!Books!!!
My life changed the day I started reading books and I'll explain how it happens.
First, when I started reading books, I started reading the stories of ordinary people who
achieved extraordinary things.
These stories encouraged me and gave me hope that I could as well overcome every obstacle in my way and achieve greatness in my life.
I think this is very simple; if you know that some people have some disadvantages you think
you have yet, to go on to achieve greatness, you suddenly start to believe in yourself.
When you start to believe in yourself, you start to think big, and when you increase the
size of your dreams, you automatically increase what is possible with your life.
In my case, I started believing that I could become rich, even though I grew up in a poor
village.
I started believing that I could become a millionaire and this belief led me to something
very important; I started looking for how to achieve what I believe I could achieve
by reading books written by people who have made a lot of money before.
I started learning the mindset and the actions of these people and the more I modeled these people, the better my financial life.
Yes, it took me 8 long years before my financial life had a drastic change, without reading
books, I would never have made it.
One other thing you can do in addition to reading books is watch videos that tell
stories about successful people.
Yes, books are boring but so is every meaningful thing.
Fruits are boring and vegetables are boring but if you want to be healthy you'll eat more
of them.
Soda drinks are fun, sugar is sweet and fast foods are nice but if you like your health,
you'll run away from them.
The TV is fun and social media is interesting but if you want to escape poverty, you'll
spend more time with your books.
Sometimes ago, I got to know that Bill Gates reads one book every week.
I've also read about the fact that an average millionaire read one book every week.
If an average millionaire does something, it is probably a good thing to emulate so
I decided that I'm going to be reading one book every week.
This isn't easy and I'm not asking you to start reading a book per week.
But you have to make sacrifices to read books if you want to escape poverty.
Don't make excuses I told you earlier that sugar is sweet and you agree that hard drugs, fast foods, and most other harmful things are fun.
Another very sweet thing is excuses and that's why most people make it.
Listen, you can come up with a hundred reasons why you're where you are if you want and you can as well come up with a single reason why you need to be elsewhere.
The difference is in the way you use the powerful machine God gave you.
That machine is your brain.
If you program your brain to look for the reasons why you're poor, your reticular activating
the system will be busy looking for reasons and you'll start seeing how the economy, the government, and your parents make you poor.
Your brain will quickly show you how your lack of education, your health challenge,
your childhood or even the country in which you were born are the reasons why you're poor.
If however, you program your brain to look for why you must be rich, you'll start seeing
that even in a bad economy, some people are making hundreds of thousands of dollars in
legitimate businesses.
You'll start reading about people who went through similar difficulties like you and ended up successful.
You'll start seeing that you have more power over your life than you think and you'll start taking responsibility.
An excuse is the food of the fools and our world is filled with many of them because an excuse is sweet.
It's about pointing a finger. It's easy.
Everyone can do it but if you want to escape poverty, you'll not do it. Don't make an excuse.
Identify what you have to do to change your life and do it, no matter how difficult.
Trade a hundred failures for one success. I heard something very interesting from Mark Cuban a few days ago and it makes a lot of sense to me.
Cuban said, "It doesn't matter how many times you fail, remember you only have to succeed once."
This statement makes a lot of sense to me because whenever I looked back at my 8 years
of failures, I could see the meaning of this statement.
You see, my first 8 years in the business world was terrible. Everything I attempted failed and everyone thought I was stupid.
I was broke, rejected and frustrated but a day came when I had my first breakthrough.
From there, I had my second breakthrough and the third.
Today, it seems as if everything I touch becomes successful but that's the opposite of the
kind of life I had only a few years ago.
Here is the thing: It doesn't matter how many times you fail, remember you only have to succeed once and that once will quench all the pains of the failed years.
Why is it important you understand this?
Well, most people see failure as a bad thing and that's why they give up.
If you're in search of success, you should understand that the road that leads to success is called failure and failure is not final because a single success can make you forget the pains of ten years' of failures.
Make sacrifices to try things. Make sacrifices to get out of your comfort zone. Make sacrifices to do things that are risky and when you fail, be courageous to stand up and try again because it doesn't matter how many times you fail, all you need is a single success.
The most important point in this article is this; sacrifice.
If you want to escape poverty, you have to be disciplined enough to do things that are not comfortable. It's not comfortable to read but you have to do it.
It's not comfortable to take actions that may lead to failure but you have to do it.
Failure is painful, yet you have to endure failures and try again.
Remember how I started this article; You cannot get a new result by doing the old things and every new thing is uncomfortable.
So you have to be willing to make sacrifices if you want to escape poverty.
Sunday, 12 March 2023
Buddha said before you speak let your word pass through three gates: Is it valuable, is it necessary and is it making any difference to the person who understands it what, when, where, and how much to speak.
No one can stop that person from being successful. A spoken word never comes back just like a spent arrow never comes back.
Words are like weapons that you must be learned to use properly. Because the person who has no control over their speaking, always put themselves in trouble they lost control over everything.
Even today, people only speak to humiliate each other. Sometimes they speak without any reason just to get valid but rewards are very powerful and it can change the world if you know how to speak.
So the people who know when to speak and how much to speak, are very strong and very powerful. Now let me make it clear. Silence is not meaning to stay without saying a word. Here silence means not speaking anything without any valuable reason.
It means speaking only when it is necessary or valuable silence means, laser focus. Silence means focusing on your goal, focusing on your work.
So today i will tell you five powerful benefits of being silent and it will transform your life completely.
Number one: Silence makes your opponent confused
The greatest warrior sons who said he will we who knows when to speak and why not to speak.
He said he defeated thousands of his enemies with his power of silence. So many times he puts his enemies into deep thinking by staying silent. He said, when you stay silent it makes your enemies perplexed and they start thinking about you and your plan.
That's what you are gonna do. What's your next move because of the fear in this way they lost focus on their own goals and this is how you can keep your plans secret and this is how you can take advantage of the silence and at the end the game is yours. You can win it in your style.
Number two: Silence builds laser focus
Silence is not the absence of words but the presence of focus.
Silent people have lots of ideas and things to say but they don't speak unless it is necessary.
If you want to do something big in life or if you work on any kind of project, then what would you do to get success? You need focus. And what did you need to have that kind of laser focus?
You need to stop focusing on multiple things and keep quiet. Let me tell you a story about a mosque. In his childhood used to stay silent most of the time so their parents thought he had a hearing problem because most of the time he couldn't hear anything their parents took him to the hospital but the doctor said he was well.
Number three: Silence gets people's attention
Now you are gonna realize how silence gets people's attention if you have ever been in a classroom or in a group situation you have most likely experienced how silence often gets everyone's attention.
If the teacher is talking away the listener's mind might start to wonder. When the speaker stops talking, a signal goes to the brain that something has happened. All of them suddenly pay attention to try and figure out why communication has stopped.
The same is true in our daily conversation. If we are silent people take note and we gain their attention. If you stay silent and focus on your goal if you speak only when it is necessary then people's focus goes on if you stay silent and speak only about what is valuable then people will listen to you.
People will remember you and recommend you.
Number four: Silence builds trust
In order to achieve success, connecting with successful people and developing effective relationships becomes very essential for me.
A relationship is very important in life. So if you want to develop effective relationships or if you want to connect with successful people. What you need to do, you must build trust and to build trust you must listen to them carefully. That's what successful people do.
They do not do all the talking but you can see some people when they meet with successful people start chattering. They go busy talking about their own stuff but successful people mostly focus on listening. They ask questions about the other person and listen to them.
When you listen to a person carefully, they will realize they are valuable in your life. They will feel as an important person and in this way, they will trust them.
Number five: Silence helps to negotiate
When the other person is silent you wonder what they might be thinking. So turn the tables. Let them wonder what you are thinking. Maybe you got a job and have been asked for a salary or the company mentions a salary figure but you want more than that. So do not answer immediately. Do not say I will take it no, pause stay silent for a moment. The discomfort of the silence will make the other person want to feel the void and start talking.
Let them reveal information that helps you to have the upper hand moving forward in the conversation.
Number six: Silence build strength
Most of us don't like silence and we are afraid of it because we equate silence with insignificance as we want to be heard and seen, liked, and loved by people. We all want people's attention. We all want to be seen by people. We always want to be something or someone good in the eyes of another person.
We are depending on other people's opinion as their opinion makes us feel good. Also sometimes their opinions make us feel bad. So we give our power away. We are constantly in search of something we already have. But we already have everything we truly need but we can't recognize them until we become silent and get rid of distractions.
Silence gives us a sense of self-value. Everything is within us if we recognize how to connect.
Allowing silence to listen to our breath, opens the possibility to find out the self-value right there you don't need people to tell you who you are and what you are capable of, what you can and what you can't. Which they ultimately tell you from their own limited perspective.
Instead of that, if we stay silent we would find our inner voice and would realize that we are already all we need to be.
And accepting who you are is a victory. Silence will make you realize what's your strength. Silence will help you define your strength. Silence is really really powerful.
