There is a tale I grew up hearing over and over again. It concerns a man who leaned his grazing stick on the tyre of the bus and boarded, only to reach his destination and be surprised that his stick was no longer where he had placed it. He nearly strangled the bus conductor. Little did he know that the moment the bus set off, his stick fell off and stayed at that very point. He was now looking for it in a very wrong place. 

It’s good to look for things we love, but we must look in the right places. A drunkard whose wallet fell into the hands of the bar girl at night might spend the whole morning looking for it in his compound. It’s futile to search for what we want in the wrong places. You cannot go to a eucalyptus plantation to harvest bananas nor to a fish pond to harvest rabbits. You cannot wait for a bus in your bedroom; you have to be in the right place – on the roadside, at the stage or in the bus park.

The principle of looking for things in the right places applies in everything we do – our work, careers, businesses, relationships and life generally. To get the money you need, you must invest first your time, energy and other resources in the right things, at the right time and in the right places. To succeed at business you have to in the right location, doing the right business. Don’t just choose to do a business just because ‘everyone’ else seems to be doing it. 

To become achievers in this life, we need to be surrounded by the right friends, right advisors, right role models and right business partners. If you want a wife/husband and you look in the long places, good luck. For instance, what kind of wife do you expect to get from a night club? 

Professionally, we also need to place ourselves in the right positions. There are people who could be struggling to become great sportsmen when the right ‘place’ for them is in the music industry. Others are miserable in jobs, waiting for a salary increment or a promotion when their right place is in business. This is where I caution young people in school to choose courses that match with their passions and natural talents so that they are in the right professions.

Finally, we should remain in the right class. Don’t be earning little and then try to put yourself in a higher class by spending more than you can. There are Africans who you find have just started earning but are already wasting their income on luxuries like fancy cars and partying. Some people spend their days lousing in bars arguing over which soccer club makes more money than others but expect to always have money on themselves. That’s as futile as a homosexual couple expecting a baby! 

Robert Bake Tumuhaise is the MD World of Inspiration & Founder of the Authors’ Forum in Uganda.