Life Plan 101

It is said that there is a time and a season for everything.  And indeed there is.  And for each season, there is what needs to be done, which if not done will affect other seasons.  And so it is with life.  Your life is set out according to a plan, a life plan.  And in the life plan, there are times and seasons.
Imagine that your full life is divided into four equal periods.  Assuming a full life of years, each quarter would be approximately 20 years.  In each of these quarters, there is what would need to be done, in order to maximise the impact of that quarter, and also in order to best position oneself for the next quarter.  In my view, the quarters and their respective objectives are set out as below.

The objective of each quarter is to exit on top, and one can define what exiting on top means for each quarter.

In Quarter 1 (Q1) your objective is to build a foundation.  Everything is aligned to help you build a foundation; you have parents to support you, guide you, feed you, and to educate you.  It is not generally expected that you are generating money or bringing up other children.  Your role in this quarter is to focus on building a good foundation that will best position you for the next quarter.  Exiting on top in this case will mean getting a good education, keeping healthy and avoiding bad habits.

In Quarter 2 (Q2) your objective is to build a career.  You are expected to get into a trade and develop expertise in that trade.  If you are employed, you are expected to grow in responsibility and knowledge exiting in top management.  If you set up a business, you are expected to build it into a successful enterprise, solving problems and creating employment.  While you may generate money and even some savings in this quarter, it is not expected that you will get very rich.  Exiting on top in this case means that you have risen in responsibility and knowledge.  You will also have built significant networks and build a family.

 

In Quarter 3 (Q3), you are now perfectly positioned to learn on your expertise, knowledge and networks to build wealth.  Wealth is built by using your savings and putting them in the right investments, and leaning on your knowledge to steward towards growth and acceleration.  The right investments will come out of the conversations you will be involved in due to your good networks.  Exiting on top in this quarter means that you are well invested, in good health and within a loving family environment.

In Quarter 4 (Q4), you have done what you set out to do in this world and you are now ready leave a legacy.  In this quarter, you are a peace maker; you want to make peace for other people and to make your own peace with your maker.  You want to leave a legacy of peace.

 

Having understood this framework then, it is easy to understand underachievement and overachievement.  If one consistently exists each quarter at below optimal level, then overtime, the overall result is a lifetime of under achievement.  On the other hand, if one consistently exists each quarter ahead of the pack, then the individual records a lifetime of overachievement. 

The overall objective across generations then becomes a yearning for moving further and further up on the overachievement side, and therefore successive generations will record higher achievements in each lifetime than previous generations.

The pursuit of Starch

Of all human pursuits, none is more present, more permanent, more repeated, more focused or more unifying that the pursuit of starch.  While food has long been recognised as a basic need and in some cases a basic right, the real culprit in this loaded word is starch.  Starch is the fuel that runs our bodies and even nutritionists will tell you that in the absence of starch, all other forms of foods are converted into a starch equivalent and broken into energy.

I travel a lot to many cities in Africa and beyond and there is no sight more frequent that that of people walking around and popping some starch in their mouths.  Whether it is Mandazi, roast maize, potato crisps, cassava crisps or a piece of sugar cane, our united pursuit of starch is apparent wherever you go, wherever you turn.  This addiction comes out in its raw form when we sit round the table to take in our regular thrice day meals.  At each seating, pounds of rice, corn, bread, ugali, Millie pap, bread, breakfast cereals, chapatti, roti, chips, cassava, matoke, cake, naan,or pilau are gladly ingested by eager mouths.  We have a collective addiction to starch and everyone around you is sitting pretty because they have recently had their starch fix, and they have a clear plan to their next fix.  In fact, none of us can survive without this regular fix.  Even one year old babies quickly clue on to this addiction and learn how to ask for it and to ingest it before they learn anything else. This addiction comes out in its raw form when we sit round the table to take in our regular thrice day meals.  At each seating, pounds of rice, corn, bread, ugali, Millie pap, bread, breakfast cereals, chapatti, roti, chips, cassava, matoke, cake, naan,or pilau are gladly ingested by eager mouths.

Since time immemorial, wars have been fought and kingdoms have come down because of starch.  The famines recorded in biblical history and the food revolutions recorded across the world all underline the central role that starch plays in our lives.

The other interesting link with starch is the conversion to alcohol.  All societies in history, whether modern or traditional, have discovered in their own ways the interesting link between starch and alcohol.  As I grew up, my first experience with alcohol was observing adults crashing sugar can into sugar cane juice to brew traditional wine.  I later learnt that other communities di the same by fermenting maize flour while even other sophisticated ones would ferment barley to make beer.  Again, how all societies figured out their own links between starch and alcohol remains a mystery.

So, the next time you stand aside and watch the world go by, consider the various starch plans that your passers-by are on.  What is your starch plan today?

Switched Off: The next frontier?

Is it really possible for electricity to be switched off?  If we significantly upset the environment and all the natural protection it provides the planet, is it possible that electricity could disappear?  If that were a possibility, and we can develop scenarios of how catastrophic it would be, would that make us take more care of the environment? On the other hand, is it possible that God could switch off electricity as He is recorded to have switched of other human comforts in biblical times, as a result of gross sin on the part of humanity?  Again, if it were possible, would it necessarily make the world change its ways?

If electricity could be switched off, what else could be switched off? Electricity is just one of many currencies enables exchange, transmission and storage of energy.  If this form of energy can be switched off, what other forms can be switched off?  If those other forms can be switched off, what kind of scenarios would emerge?

Our understanding of electricity is possibly less than two hundred years old.  It has contributed in the vast social and economic development of humanity in this period, and is the foundation on modern technology. Before its enormous power and potential was discovered, the world moved on running its business as usual.  What other similar life changing technologies are out there waiting to be discovered?  If electricity were to be switched off, what alternatives would be discovered to make the same, if not better contribution to humanity?  Can these alternatives be still discovered without waiting for electricity to be switched off?

http://www.amazon.com/Switched-Off-ebook/dp/B00472OA8U/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1373372413&sr=8-7&keywords=moss+mara