IT IS weird that I am using a brutal game of boxing where you have to physically beat each other, to illustrate my point, but being that we are soon closing the year, I found it most relevant to the message I have for you this weekend.

Recently, in boredom, I decided to flip through television channels and there seemed to be nothing particularly interesting for me on TV, so I settled for watching some boxing matches. At the start I didn’t think I’d take much interest a game for which I am not a fan, but this was until it reached this one specific boxer. He was the true definition of perseverance. 

Right from round one this guy was beaten but he never gave up till the end of the 12 rounds. Even the commentators commended him for his resilience. I had thought that by the 6th round he would have given up, but despite the bleeding in the nose and the shattered face, he stayed in the fight to the end. For me the lesson was clearly written on the wall: Life is a fight that we must fight to the end. 

Well, much as he did not win this particular match, I am sure that if he continues persevering like that, he might have many games to win in the future. This man did not want to take chances. He did not want to give up because of the failure and end up eliminating his chances of future success.

As we conclude the year, my message is that let us not stop any projects we started until we are sure that they are not the right projects for us. If you started the year saving money to buy a plot of land, and you haven’t managed to save even a half of what you need, don’t give up and decide to waste that money on partying just because you think you failed.  

A winner starts only projects he/she is willing to complete no matter the results. Research has shown that many Africans are so good at starting but not at completing. So you find so many half-way projects – unfinished houses, unfinished academic courses and so on. Some people start cohabiting planning to wed ‘soon’ only for them to remember to wed many years later when one is on the deathbed. 

We must develop the skills that will enable us stay on course. The ability to remain focused is one ingredient of success that we cannot afford to do without. We should always remember that we don’t really have a luxury of time because we are not here for eternity. You might think you are so young because you are 20 but before you know it you will be 30 and 40 and 50. So don’t hope to earn more money, save more money, invest more money tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or 10 years from now; the time is now.

This principle of completing is so important in the area of finances. Part of what I’ve been doing in my business this year is to build a team that has capacity to complete assignments that our customers give us in record time because without completing we cannot be paid the full amount. So the longer it takes us to complete a job the longer it takes us to earn from it and the reverse is true.

In staying on course, you will always have setbacks, but always look at those setbacks as temporary and instead focus on the big picture which is permanent. When I know I am chasing a permanent dream, I don’t fear any temporary setbacks. Like a determined boxer, we can purpose to fight to the end, with no retreat nor surrender as a popular movie title in the 1990s went.

Bake is the MD WORLD OF INSPIRATION & Founder, AUTHORS’ FORUM – bakerobert@yahoo.com / +256-704666851.