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Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku Overcoming Buffaloes in Our Lives
Issue Number: Volume 1 No. 3 Publisher: Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku Date of Issue: February 28, 2002 © 2002 Overcoming Buffaloes in Our LivesAll Rights Reserved
http://WWW.KITUKU.COM What Satisfied Subscribers and Those Who Read Dr. Kituku Articles are Sayings:
“I am the Training & Development Manager of a large mid-west based company and I just finished reading your story in the Creative Training Techniques booklet. I would like to hear more of these stories, I find them very interesting how you relate something life threatening to the corporate world. I think that too many people over look how threatening the "corporate monster" can be! Thank You, R.B. (Bob Blau)
“Thanks for the "Slice of Hope". I live in Florida, so I use my "AC" often. Now I have a special story to remember every time I turn it on. Your comments are very valuable. Thanks again and... Have a Great Day!”
I just wanted to thank you for posting your inspirational articles up on the web. I subscribe to Creative Training Techniques and the September edition included one of your articles. After reading it, I was inspired to visit your web site and am so very glad I did. I found articles to share with my family which, I pray, will help them shed some light on "their storms". Nan
IN THIS ISSUE
2. WATCH! WATCH! WATCH what was it? Un-Used Air Conditioner 3. Top 9 Tips For Inspiring People for Peak Performance 4. Recognizing and maximizing what sets you a part in your industry 5. Focus:A Life Lesson Learned From Steers 6. Points to Ponder: From The Shawshank Redemption movie7. Stay Tune With Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku 8. Don’t Miss It! Dr. Kituku’s article, Unused Air Conditioner is in Special Edition of Bits & Pieces 9. Resources Available Kituku & Associates for Parents, Managers, Trainers, Pastors and Students ============================================================================== You Can Live With Less If You Have Something To Live Up To
You can live with less if you have something to live for. Quality of life, a life of purpose, is not the abundance of material possessions, state-of-the-art gadgets and an unlimited supply of modern conveniences. These aspects of life are useful, but I lacked them all, yet missed nothing.
I am told of the house I was born in. It was a small, circular hut with walls of vegetation materials, mud and a roof of grass. The house that is vivid in my mind was built in 1965. When it was first built, I shared this somewhat rectangular two-bedroom and one living room structure with my parents and three siblings. Four other siblings were born there. To create space for the new arrivals and provide my sister some privacy, my brother and I used the living room as our bedroom.
Our family shared this habitat with other species. The moment we opened the door, we were intruders in to rats domain. They stampeded all over as they scurried for cover. When their numbers were no longer bearable, my mother scheduled rat-reduction days. This was an episode to remember. Hot water was poured in one end of the rat holes by one of us while the rest waited with militant readiness at the other hole with one mission to accomplish. Kill rats as they ran from the hot water. "Muli! There, one is there, get it!" my mother or my siblings would scream at me. I had the reputation for being the sharp striker.
Our home was also the residence for rat predators; snakes and rat blood sucking ticks. We kept our drinking water in a clay pot that was positioned in one corner of the living room. This corner served as a cool haven for snakes as they waited patiently for their prey. Sometimes, when there was little water in the pot, and one had to tilt it in order to scoop water with a calabash or cup, a snake would sneak up its head looking for whomever was in its territory. The presence of a snake brought everything else to a standstill. It had to be eliminated. One serpent dared to crawl over my mother’s legs when she was on her knees praying her Rosary. When it finally left her, she called me, but she had taken care of the snake by the time I arrived with a rock.
Ticks seemed less dangerous and easy to combat. My brother, Kisingu had only one job…to pour water on the floor and thus make it harder for the ticks to jump. I would be the last to advocate for unwarranted destruction of natural resources. Ours was a matter of survival.
It was in this home that I learned; "You can live with less if you have something to live for." Hard work and school were priority in our home. My hard working father set up a small shop selling clothes, food stuffs and other items Kangundo folks. He demanded to find us reading when he came home at night. I remember him admonishing us on the importance of education in our future.
My mother brought another dimension to our lives—faith and folktales to our lives. She offered us a devoted belief in God, prayers before bedtime, meals and work. She sang church songs. The Easter ones were my favorites. At times, she told me folktales as we were cultivating or cooking. Often she would concentrate on school-related lessons. One day, while fertilizing our garden with composite manure, my mother taught me the secret of solving multiples.
The structure that we called our house was unstable and needed constant remodeling. However, love for children, encouragement, hope for a better tomorrow, hard work and the knowledge of the existence of God were not lacking. Rats, snakes, ticks, lack of shoes or sometimes missing a meal here and there were never considered as long-term obstacles.
By 1979, the year I dismantled our structure which by then served as a kitchen, Dad had transformed thoughts of a better future into a fenced compound with nine bedrooms, a water fountain and two sons in higher institutes of learning. He is a living example of the future which a person with vision, determination, and hard work can have irrespective of dismal resources available to him.
My mother’s God became my God on March 9th 1985. In 1996, I transformed the oral folktales she shared with me into the successful book, "East African Folktales for All Ages from the Voice of Mukamba." The American Libraries Association selected it as one of the top books in 1998. The proverbs she graced my life with appear in, "The School With No Walls: Where Lifelong Lessons Begin" a book published in 1997. Both titles are still in print.
Life is a journey with many hurdles to overcome. It isn’t what you don’t have that can help remove the hurdles in your life. Hard work, vision, determination, love for God and service to others remove all those hurdles, one at a time. You can live with less if you have something to live for. ============================================================================== = WATCH! WATCH! WATCH February, 2002 Special Issue Bits and Pieces included Dr. Kituku’s story, Un-Used Air Conditioner see full story at www.Kituku.com
============================================================================== Top 9 Tips for Inspiring People for Peak Performance
· Communicate your expectations clearly. After understanding the nature of your jungle and what needs to be done, communicate it concretely.
· Keep tasks, chores or jobs challenging. The absence of a winner’s thrill kills motivation. To win, there must be a challenge.
· Provide adequate training and retraining. The future is what we are all concerned about. Train for present and future survival.
· Be what you want others to be. The best gift one can give his/her children is to be a good example.
· Use the power of positive discipline. Understand that traditional threats, tactless discipline, minimal professional growth opportunities and other de-motivators in your home or your industry are short-term motivators. They make folks want “out.”
· Provide feedback on a continuous basis. As the herd moves along grazing, a mother giraffe stops here and there to encourage her baby (in their own language).
· Appreciation. It has been said, “Even eagles need a push.” Constant appreciation is the “Push” we all need. Try this: appreciate your spouse, child, parent, friend, co-worker or a stranger for something like making breakfast, brushing their teeth, helping with tuition or baby sitting, helping out with a project at work, or being there for you at your time of need. Chances are they will repeat the good deed or do a different one.
· Motivation begins with you. This is number ONE. If you are not motivated, no one will be moved by your words. Try showing a child how to clean their bathroom with a frowned face and obvious dislike of the job.
· Stick with it. Motivation is not just a TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) thing. Monday at 8.00 a.m. or a rainy/cloudy or a bad day are not an excuse to lower your enthusiasm. It should come from within, but not from material objects or things you cannot control.
Leaders must commit to personal and professional growth. Become a lifelong learner; be self-initiating; forget turf; learn to look, ask and listen; tap the richness of diversified teams and; learn to turn obstacles to opportunities.
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Recognizing and maximizing what sets you apart in your industry
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” Vince Lombardi
In whatever field you are in, your success will always be proportional to how you use:
============================================================================= Focus:A Life Lesson Learned From Steers
When I was growing up in Kenya, we prepared our land for planting during the dry season. The soil was hard to cultivate by hand, so we used draft animals. With yoked steers, we were able to plow large areas in a short time.
When I had the steers harnessed, I called my younger brother to direct the steers as I plowed. I had to put pressure on the plough in order to turn the soil thoroughly and remove weeds.
The smoothness with which the steers pulled the plow depended on the direction they were going, toward home or away from home. When they pulled toward home, they moved in a straight line. My brother didn’t need to put pressure on them. When they pulled away from home, they moved in a crooked manner, and pressure had to be applied to make them cut a straight line.
The hardness of the soil was the same, but the direction the steers were pulling made the difference. Their focus was HOME. That was their goal.
Focus—is the driving force that galvanizes all aspects that are needed to achieve an established goal at a given time with limited resources.
The force that significantly impacts the productivity of individuals and organizations is based on why and where they set their Focus, how they set it and when they set it.
We focus on what is beneficial to us. If it improves our finances, relationships, beauty or skills, then we channel our energy toward it. Focus can be either on the past or future, obstacles or opportunities.
Focusing on opportunities, and future needs dictates how resources are utilized for maximum results.
Benefits of focusing on opportunities and/solutions:
=================================================================== Points to Ponder
From The Shawshank Redemption movie, sent to me by a great friend and brother, Robert Beltramo
Andy to Red during their last conversation in prison: “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Letter from Andy to Red: “Dear Red - If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend, Andy.”
Red’s narration on the way to Mexico to join Andy: “I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
============================================================================ Stay Tuned With Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku
Stay Tuned With Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku, host of “Buffaloes in Our Lives" a TWO hour weekly radio program, aired in the Northwest area on KBOI 670 AM, Saturdays at 7:00 a.m. Read Dr. Kituku’s newest articles in, Zidaho.com, Idahopress.com, Idahostatesman.com, Argusobserver.com, Times-News Magic Valley. ============================================================================== Did You Miss It?
Dr. Kituku was featured in the Bits & Pieces, February 2002 issue
Dr. Kituku’s work was included in the same book, Families Can Bounce Back, Compiled by Diana James, with Tim LaHaye, Co-author of Left Behind. Dr. Kituku was recognized by National Youth Storytelling, November 2001 in the area of “Young Tellers” for his Book East African Folktales For All Ages From the Voice of Mukamba (August House publisher, inc).
The Dates are Set: May 23rd-24th at Boise Double Tree Riverside Hotel: Dr. Kituku’s Popular Seminar- Thriving in the 21st Century:How to Bring Success, Balance and Customers into Your Organization Don’t miss the early bird’s discounts and benefits. For more information visit WWW.KITUKU.COM or call (208) 376-8724
You can order Dr. Kituku’s books and tapes in any of the following methods: Call Toll Free 1-888 685 1621 or (208) 376-8724 (orders are mailed within 24 hours) (Visa and Master cards accepted) Mail order: Send check or money order to: KITUKU & ASSOCIATES, P.O Box 7152, Boise, Idaho 83707. Electronic Order: Order directly while you are here. Your information is confidential. Orders mailed within 24 hours after your information has been processed. You can also order from Amazon.com (Note: not all books and tapes are sold at Amazon.com). |
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