Good Stored Energy.

Last week, we hosted the Magical Kenya Open, Kenya’s biggest golf event. It was held at Muthaiga Golf Club. My fellow board members and I run around like crazy to ensure we stage a great event and showcase magical Kenya to the world. It usually is a ton of work. If volunteering were money, we would be tycoons by now. That said, it’s the one time of the year when I have reserved parking for a few days. I feel somewhat important even though I have often joked that we are paid with parking and mandazi. Anyhow, all for the love of the game.

I met a pal at Muthaiga who congratulated me and the team for pulling yet another Open. It was by the short hole 13, all water from tee to green. A resident family of Egyptian geese were calmly drifting in the pond. When my pal asked how the event had been so far, I had the perfect imagery ahead of me. We appeared all calm on the outside but were paddling like hell chini ya maji to move things along. As humans, we all have much more going on below the surface. That’s why we should be kind to people. May we emulate the Muthaiga geese. They move ahead without showing the effort they are putting in, working hard in silence and letting success make the noise. If more of us adopted this approach, then much more would be achieved with lesser kelele (noise).

Last week, I attended a breakfast for a program that supports members of county assembly (MCAs) and parliament (MPs) through coaching for them to deliver on their mandate more effectively and ethically. The keynote speaker was eloquent and delivered a well-prepared and relevant talk on the price of leadership. It’s refreshing to listen to someone who knows their stuff and is living it. He gave an analogy of the ice cube. When an ice cube is placed on a hot pan, it doesn’t melt immediately. It sweats polepole, taking all the heat in as it stands its solid ground. As temperatures increase and get to the boiling point, that’s when the ice cube gives in and turns to liquid form.

Life is funny like that. A good thing has to hibernate, cook or develop until it’s ready to be revealed to the world. Many of us don’t like this seemingly endless period of being approved in private, yet it’s a requirement for graduation, especially from the university of our second half. The narrative of the bamboo growing underground for 5 years applies here. We need to work (or be worked on) until we are ready for the position, blessing or promotion that we seek.  If our blessing comes before we are ready, then it can easily turn into a curse.

That explains part of the mess we find ourselves in at an individual and national level. Folks get into positions of power and influence through some luck or connection, then once there, they are like a deer in the headlights. Clueless about what to do. Soon, the trappings of power intoxicate them, and you know how the story goes from there. We need to befriend the period we are being prepared chini ya maji. We need to change our view of that place of nothingness, as I like to call it. Perhaps we need to see that period as a time when our good energy is not just being stored but developed for the assignment that lies ahead. Of course, that doesn’t come naturally because we live in an instant world where Google is our friend and we have instant coffee as we surf the net. Waiting is unnatural, yet it is a key requirement for a life of significance.

At the Kenya Open, I focused on delivering what I was responsible for without thinking much about how it would look in the end. When the gates opened on Thursday last week and people flowed in, that’s when it became apparent that we have staged yet another huge golf tournament against the odds. The lesson for me is that maybe when we are so focused on the task ahead, we lose track of time. Our energy is slowly turning into liquid from ice. When the job is done, we then pleasantly realise that we have been getting prepared for the moment of fame. Trying to melt the ice when the temperature is still low will not work unless you adopt my baby shark’s strategy, who crushes ice with their teeth. To them, waiting is overrated. Maisha will teach them slowly. Let’s slow down and put in the work, and the good stored energy will one day chomoka when it’s ready. And I’m sure it will have been worth the wait. I’m experiencing it now after going through my furious 40s. The scars are slowly turning into stars.

May we have the patience to store our good energy. For when the time is ripe to unleash your superpower, you will be glad you waited. As we have often been told, good things come to those who wait. So stay calm, work hard in silence, and your breakthrough will come when the time is right.