The question making rounds: Tota ke dirile eng ngwaga ono?
Baboki Kayawe | Tuesday December 16, 2014 19:43
The lucky resolutions are the ones that did not end up in the dustbin, or the electronic trash can; they are the ones that didn’t accumulate dust or become yellowed, as paper does when it ages: these chosen plans that goldened as opposed to seeing chemistry happen to them, and turning into rust in the end.
Even the unlucky ones, as far as implementation is concerned, but were fortunate enough to at least be remembered plans are under the microscope right now.
Some people committed to eating healthy, others to exercise and be in good shape; a lot more vowed to open savings accounts or even drop one or two bad habits in an endeavour to save time and be more efficient and productive.
Whatever it is that you had inked in the ‘to-do’ or ‘to achieve list at the beginning of this year, you are not the only one who feels like time is your greatest enemy. I believe most of us have beautiful, great and awesome goals to accomplish but there is just no time to fully execute those ideas; most of which are born every 1 January.
Time, yes time. That ‘thing’ we wish to have in abundance, yet thousands often tend to complain about its minimal availability, is one of the crucial factors to consider for the successful realisation of goals.
How effectively you utilise those nanoseconds that flower into years, then decades can make the difference between attaining or failing to achieve your plans. In Botswana, people normallly ask the question, “tota ke dirile eng ngwaga ono?” at this time of the year. Loosely translated into english it means, “what have I achieved this year”?
Karabo Ramontshonyana, 28, who is an architect, and others speak to Mmegi about how they invested the time that earned the name 2014!
For Ramontshonyana, the ‘culture’ of scripting yearly plans is a little awkward because she embraces opportunities and life as it happens.
“I had not written down any plans for 2014. I live life in a way that I see and make use of opportunities whenever they avail themselves,” she says.
According to her, a lot of projects that she took on this year needed a lot of money, which saw her savings account depleted. However, she is quick to say, “which is not bad thing altogether because savings are meant to cater for such.”
Asked how she spent the most valuable currency, which every earthling is given in an equitable manner, Ramontshonyana says she has achieved a lot.
Among other things, she has started a small business, she tutors and mentors young people, her cooking skills have improved and she bought three lovely books by Francine Rivers which became her roadmap to self-discovery.
“I have improved to become more patient this year, as well as living healthy. I joined yoga classes and it has been a fantastic experience,” she adds.
Amogelang Pheresi is a working mother who believes that the question lies in one’s lack of preparedness and prioritising.
“Time is quite an invaluable gift that when well put to use bears great fruits, though it can teach great lessons as opposed to fruition as well, she says.
“Priotising our time is very crucial. Yet another important aspect vital for investing time well and executing one’s plans is saving,” Pheresi advises.
The industrious woman has had a hectic schedule this year jostling her roles as a wife, a mother and a career woman pursuing her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and marketing degree.
She made a small entrance in the transport business when she invested in a mini-bus as well as undertaking a construction project.
She gushes: “I started three projects at the beginning of this year and people had initially discouraged me saying they once tried the same projects and failed. However, I did not despair and I just went on to try my luck.”
Pheresi faced many challenges because she had too much on her plate, but the thought of quitting never crossed her mind. She tells Mmegi that she had to be very economic with how she used time. The hardest of them all was committing to saving 15 percent of her monthly earnings.
“Saving was not easy, because life is very expensive these days but with determination I soldiered on. And it has paid off,” she says in a jovial tone.
Her two main ingredients for success this year were using time effectively and reforming her balance sheet.
In his early thirties, Keoleboge Seleme concurs with Pheresi that time and intelligent appropriation of money are critical in putting any idea to life. He too, like dozens other Batswana, is failing to find an answer to this topical question.
“I am also wondering, and I can’t point what I have achieved this year,” he says.
The greatest enemy, he says, is procrastination. “I have been thinking there is still time and the year is just beginning,” he confesses.
More than once, he would commit to starting a project immediately but an inner voice would convince him to implement the idea in June, then July only to find December already upon him.
Time is not the only currency in short supply, though. Seleme adds that most of the plans he had for this year did not require a lean budget. The thought of cutting out some things from his budget, like entertainment, he says is always on his mind. Though, he confides, making that decision would require a huge leap of faith and would not be very easy to do.
“It is not easy to cut out lifestyle or entertainment expenses and redirect the money to much more deserving projects because this (entertainment) is an important part of me,” Seleme says.
The answer to the current question has eluded the man for years thus far. Perhaps phrased differently, the answer to the question has remained “nothing” for Seleme for a while now.
He is willing to be educated on how best he can invest the coming 365 days, and to decide on a smart budget.
Attempting to prepare Seleme and thousands others in a perennial state of wonder at the end of each year is internationally acclaimed motivational author, Robin Sharma.
Maybe in response to “tota ke dirile eng ngwaga ono?” Sharma, well-known for his soulful and purpose driven fictitious account The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari recently wrote as a prelude to his online course: “I have figured out how ‘hyperperformers’ and ‘uberhumans’ schedule their days and set their routines”.
Yours truly likes the sound of scheduling their days and setting routines!
Sharma says that too many potentially great people spend the best years of their lives in acute frustration because they are trying to figure out the winning process used by the top one per cent.
As Pheresi alludes, the secret of the hyper-performing one per cent that Sharma states above (who perhaps would need another 365 days in answering our question, the big question) lies in managing the currency of the 21st century-TIME.
The invaluable currency that buys any other currency under the sun be it the Pula, Dollar and others to come as youngest states such as South Sudan get to have younger siblings is essential. Time, specifically strategic time management, can flower into good health, investment, education, better relationships and infinite other benefits.
The remorse and that feeling of lack of purpose that often engulfs many of us when introspecting on how effectively we have invested the 365 days that every earthling is entitled to perhaps captures a great story in one question.
This is the story of poor time and associated resources’ appropriation, as Yours Truly also ponders on the question, “tota ke dirile eng ngwaga ono?”