THINK & CHOOSE WEALTH

Last week in our course we gave people the Centonomy challenge. We told them to come up with ideas to make 20 million shillings in two years.  What was your own immediate reaction when you read that?  Are you thinking about how impossible the task may have been?  Well they thought that in the beginning as well.  However when they realised it was not a choice we had given them, they started THINKING, talking and discussing various ideas that could generate that money. Some started with one idea and ended up with a completely different one.  Others made the first ideas work.  But all groups did come up with something that came close and even surpassed the target. You may be thinking that this was just theory.  Yes some assumptions may have been made but the fact is they pushed their minds to come up with 20 million shilling ideas.  And to add on to that many were surprisingly accurate in the knowledge that they had on specific areas. Some people emerged from the challenge determined to put the time in proper research and start executing these ideas.  Even if they do not make 20 million but make 1 million, they will not have failed.  It was 1 million they were never going to make if they had not started thinking different.  After the exercise most of them were shocked that they were able to do it and like you they also had their misgivings.  The “what if” dilemma started creeping in.  What if it fails? What about competition? What about the time required?  What if our information is wrong? What about start up capital?  The list could go on and on.  So we put all our “what if’s” and fears down and started asking the opposite – Why may this work? Not surprisingly, this question provided a response to all the doubts.  The fact that there is competition means it has been done before and worked. It also means you can do research on people who have done it before and understand what will be different about your ideas.  By eliminating wastage on time, we found we actually gave time to engage in these activities. Lack of information is countered by doing proper research. Capital can be accessed by pooling resources.   In other words there are also many reasons why it could work. We do not have the right to say it cannot work until we have tried. That is the only thing that may give you justification for concluding that a particular project is not for you. Is there a guarantee that it will work?  Of course not.  You may loose money but ironically every shilling you loose brings you closer to a million.  Because you always learn something, meet other people, come across new information that can propel you into the next thing.  Losing does not mean you cross your hands and don’t try again. It just means you try again now armed with the lessons.

The challenge had nothing to do with income levels of people.Please realisethat wealth creation is not limited or defined by your salary, but by how far you can think and how courageous you can be to execute. Manyof us have mental limitations of where we can invest or how much money we can make because of the salary we earn.  You think your boss has a greater right to create wealth because he has a bigger salary.  The challenge we gave had nothing to do with how much money you earn or what title you held at work.  It simply challenged people to look at their networks, skills, time and other resources differently. You may be earning a salary and you are able to save Shs 10, 000 a month.  There are probably ten other people you know who can save the same amount.  Perhaps you can come together and start figuring out what you can do with Shs 100, 000 per month. Use your combined efforts, networks, skills and ideas and push the boundaries on what you can do.   Investments are not just traditionally what we have defined them as.  Yes shares, treasury bills, land are investments.  But so is chicken rearing, jewellery design, greenhouses, onion farming etc.  Ask yourselves what skills you have that you can use.  There are many people wasting time lamenting on why they don’t own property yet there are valuable skills that could be generating income.  You may have networks in certain areas or have information that you can use to turn into a business venture. I think everyone must come to a point that they realise that they are unique, uniquely resourceful and uniquely gifted.  We had over 30 groups that week in the challenge and they each came up with different ideas.  Even those that had similar ideas were executing them differently. This proves that people have unique points of view. Trying to do what someone else is doing will make you the person who sits on potential. In conclusion remember to create wealth you have to do something different.  To do something different requires you think differently.  If you want a million shillings, just start asking yourself what it would take to make a million.  It does not mean you wait for savings from your salary to add up to a million. You can simply dream of wealth or you can start thinking, exploring, researching, executing and putting yourself in the right environment to create that wealth. The reason you do not have the amount of money you would like to have today is because you have never chosen to make it. In the challenge, we did not give them a choice.  They had to think how they could make the money. Why do we open our minds to choices that we do not like?  If you are constantly focused on how impossible it is to make it, then you have not chosen to make it.  If you hold your employer responsible for all your financial woes, then you have not chosen.If you have never dared to do something different, you have not chosen. Dreaming, procrastination or complaining is not choosing wealth . Choosing wealth requires a plan, discipline and action. Choosing poverty doesn’t. Make your choices today and live with them.