ADDRESS ON POSITIVE LIVING FOR FRESHERS AT THE FRESHERS SYMPOSIUM ON 20TH OCTOBER 2012 AT THE SCHOOL OF PHARMACY CONFERENCE HALL

The guest of honour, Members of parliament, District officials, Business community, civil servants and private practioners, MASU members ladies and gentlemen you are most welcome

I congratulate all the fresh men and women who have been admitted in Makerere University this year and all the continuing students for their successes in various fields of study and avenues of life

I would like to start my deliberations with a short story about the very popular proverb ‘reaping what you sow’

Once upon a time, an emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different.

He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today, one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and planted the seed and watered it carefully.

Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about 3 weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing.

6 months went by; Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing.He just kept waiting for his seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection.

Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot but his Mother said he must be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his Mother was right.

He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him.

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down.

He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.

Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But:

If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.

If you ask most people what is their one major objective in life, they would probably give you a vague answer, such as, "I want to be successful, be happy, earn a great university degree," and that is it. They are all wishes, here are some of the ways we would achieve a successful life around campus

Live a focused life

On the best sunny day, the most powerful magnifying glass will not light paper if you keep moving the glass. But if you focus and hold it, the paper will light up. That is the power of concentration.

Have a goal

Suppose you have all the football eleven players, enthusiastically ready to play the game, all charged up, and then someone took the goal post away. What would happen to the game? There is nothing left. How do you keep score? How do you know you have arrived?

Goals must be smart

S--must be specific. For example, "I want to get a first class degree." This is wishful thinking. It becomes a goal when I pin myself down to "I will get a first class degree by earning a course grade of 80 and above always."M--must be measurable. If we cannot measure it, we cannot accomplish it. Measurement is a way of monitoring our progress.
A--must be achievable. Achievable means that it should be out of reach enough to be challenging but it should not be out of sight, otherwise it becomes disheartening.
R—must be realistic. A person who wants to lose 50 pounds in 30 days is being unrealistic.
T—must be time-bound. There should be a starting date and a finishing date

Know where you are going/want to be

A man was traveling and stopped at an intersection. He asked an elderly man, "Where does this road take me?" The elderly person asked, "Where do you want to go?" The man replied, "I don't know." The elderly person said “Then take any road. What difference does it make?" When we don't know where we are going, any road will take us there.

Don’t be pulled down by what others say

So you have tried something and you have failed numerous times. You may have been told you have no talent, aren't cut out for "this business" or are never going to "make it in this line of work"The vice president of Columbia pictures told actor Harrison Fordthat he was never going to make it in the business, John Grisham’s first book was rejected by 12 publishing houses and sixteen agents, The Beatles were turned down by a recording company saying "We don't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out" , Charles Darwin was told by his father that he would amount to nothing and be a disgrace to himself and his family , Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas" , Thomas Edison was told by a teacher he was "too stupid to learn anything" , Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade , Albert Einstein wasn't able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would "never amount to much" , Isaac Newton did poorly in school and failed at running the family farm, F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers in the store he worked in because "he didn't have enough sense"

Stop thinking tiny thoughts

It is not what you are that is holding you back in life,it is what you think you are not,it is what is going on in your inner life that is preventing you from having all that you want

We are afraid to dream bigger dreams and do the things we fear we lose our vision and spend the rest of our days in limited zones of movement

Too many people lead very small lives, most of the limitations that hold you back from your dreams are self-imposed so stop thinking tiny thought and dream big for a change in west nile

Increase your value.

When you graduate and get a job or create your own job,the wages or any form of compensation derived will not depend on how hard you work but on how much value you add to the world around you

As a prospective engineer if I get employed after school and I get paid five million Ugandan shillings, I get this money not because I drove to work 30 days but because I have added five million worth of perceived value in 30 days

Monetary reward you receive is determined not by how long you work but by how much value you add

A Makerere university trained medical doctor may not be better and smarter than a Kisekka market steel welder, but because the doctor has accumulated specialized knowledge than a steel welder and there are only a few people who can do what he does so he is considered more valuable in the market place

Develop your talents

Even the weakest among the humans has a gift that is unique and when used well will be a blessing to human kind

There’s an abundance of potential and ability waiting to be awakened within us if we will only allow it to see the light of day

If you don’t use the best within you to its fullest capacity then you are doing yourself,the world and those within it who would have benefitted from your unique talents a disservice

Love your course

The most successful people in history lived satisfying lives because they loved what they did, I know of some student from westnile that got admitted in Makerere University to study Bachelor of Arts in Arts and while in second year he quit on admission that he didn’t like his course, he wanted something else

Be inspired

Being filled with a deep sense of inspiration and commitment to making a difference in the world is an important attribute of success

When you level of inspiration is below what you know it should be,start spending time with people who are passionate about what they are doing in their lives

I know of some man who scored 40 in ordinary level but after advanced level he had got 24 points and got admitted to Makerere University, he didn’t do that without a dose of inspiration