Chronicle EditorTerence Mapuka Cool Lifestyle Correspondent—
In life we either use or waste time. There are so many things ongoing that we can be caught up with those that do not build us or take us anywhere. Interestingly it is the exciting and seemingly entertaining activities that usually do not take us anywhere.The best that can ever happen to a young mind is to know the difference between time wasters and investments.
When you are investing you are spending your resources on something that will be beneficial to you currently or in the near future. As young learner the first investment you should cherish is your ability to learn.
The word investment is mainly used in the financial circles. In that field they say the most important thing is the earning ability.
A story is told that if all the billionaires in the world were to share their money equally with everyone on earth, it will only take a few years for that money to flow back to them. Why? Because they have a high earning ability. They have mastered the art of earning and they can easily come up with ideas that attract the money back to them.
Naturally humans are consumers and if you know what they need, you will get their money. This earning ability is learnt not just in school but through different ways. The earning ability is the subset of the learning ability.
As a young person, you should appreciate that school will not teach you everything you need to know about life. However, school helps you define your own way of learning things in life. It helps you discover how best you learn and how you can use it to learn in any environment you are in. It is just like with teachers in class, they are there to guide you in the right direction of what to study further on.
My history teacher used to say I am not here to spoon feed you, I give you the basics and you make out the rest. There are so many resources for one to study further on a matter, especially in today’s world of technology, search engines and the internet as a whole.
One has to be careful because there are so many distractions in this world, even on the internet.
When you set out to research on something, you can end up spending an hour distracted but what seems exciting and captivating. Making an investment is not easy but you have to develop a principled lifestyle. You should not allow yourself to be swayed by anything and everything, pay attention to what you are learning.
The ability to learn comes into play when you have to forego other things that might be interesting to focus on what you need to learn. It is like with the earning ability, you forego spending on a lot of things and focus on your earnings.
For you to build on your learning ability you need to be a reader. Reading widely opens your mind to learning different things that enhance your ability to learn.
You also need to write it down. All that you learn that is of interest to you write it down, follow up on it and soon you will see how your interest in it turns into mastering the subject.
When you invest you give your time, self and other resources to make sure it is successful. For you to build on your learning ability, give it time and other resources to make sure you have developed something that will help you make a difference in your living for the rest of your life.
Terence is with zwTEENS an organisation which deals with teens and issues affecting them. You can reach Terence on 0772101601, WhatsApp 0772128170, [email protected] or visit their website www.zwteens.com
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