People of all ages must experience disruptions that transform into growth and strength. You may not know when or how they will come but you expect challenges as long as you live. Beyond the challenges, be they good or bad lies a new beginning and many other beginnings. Below is an excerpt adapted from “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” Take your time. Read it, internalize it and use it as many times as you need to remain committed to the future you hope for. Have you had life challenges that changed you e.g., life calamities such as heartbreak, loss of property/loved one, or had joyous disruption such as a new job or family? If you felt different, you had start your life afresh. It’s a new journey, and you definitely need the excerpt below. Please take your time and internalize it.

Regards,

Joshua Munywoki.

I have begun a new life.

Today, I shed off my old skin that has suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity.

Today, I am born anew in a vineyard where there is fruit for all.

Today, I pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and the fullest vines, planted by the wisest professionals who have come generation upon generation before me. And as I savor the taste of the grapes of wisdom, I swallow the seed of greatness therein and new life sprouts within me

Before me is a laden opportunity, and I know that many before me have failed in what I am about to do. I am certain that failure is alien to my life, and I have simply been tolerant of it. And just as my body got no tolerance for pain, I shall have no tolerance for failure.

It’s true that I don’t have the knowledge and experience to achieve greatness, and I have already stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity. It’s to my advantage that my new life is not laden with unnecessary knowledge and meaningless experience. Experience takes so much of your lifetime to make you wise, yet value gained doesn’t endure. Only principles endure. Experience is like fashion; what proved to work yesterday may become unworkable and impractical tomorrow.

I am prepared for wisdom and principles that shall guide me from the shadows to the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness beyond my most extravagant thoughts. These principles will teach me more about how to prevent failure, which is basically a man’s inability to reach their life goals, whatever they may be.

I am not scared, for I hold charts that will make it possible to get to where it seemed but a dream yesterday

I shall be patient, for the universe acts not in haste. I have lived like an onion (nine weeks) and it has not pleased me to be a seasoned writer, scientist, entrepreneur and leader. The king of all trees, the olive tree, lives a hundred years. I desire to become the greatest of writers, the greatest of scientists, the greatest of entrepreneurs, and the greatest of leaders.

I shall become a slave of good habits.  I know I am already a slave to my impulses and previous habits that threaten to imprison my future. My free will has succumbed to regrets, fear, toxic environments, love, greed, and worst of all – bad habits. Good habits that lead me away from failure won’t come easy. I must discipline myself, form good habits and become their slaves. It may not be easy at first, yet constant repetition of new habits shall make them easier to perform.  My enthusiasm will rise, desire to meet the world be stronger than fear, and end up happier in this world of strife and sorrow.

I shall not take these words lightly, and those of the other nine scrolls lightly. So many words have been written and rewritten to come up with such a concise piece.

I am now a new man, with a new life.

This has been adapted from the first of ten scrolls in the book: The Greatest Salesman the World. The scroll resonates so deeply with chaotic life circumstances and I decided to rewrite it for recitations. Hope you enjoy it, today and in the future.