Tracking Progress

Do you remember the August of 1998 when Osama bin Laden humbled America, the world's mightiest nation, by having its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed? And do you remember the hotly contested presidential race between Al Gore and George W. Bush in the 2000 U.S. elections?

As for me, I remember those events like they happened yesterday. I was ten when the American embassy in Nairobi was bombed. The following day, while a priest called Fr. Munishi drove my brother Paddy and I to a certain wedding, I heard on the radio how the tragedy was unfolding.

And I was twelve when George W. Bush was declared president by the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2000. I was happy that Bush became president. Something about him made me one of his fans.

In 2012 after Barack Obama was re-elected U.S. president, I recalled the hotly contested race between Al Gore and George W. Bush in the year 2000. Perhaps surprised by how fast time flies, I emailed my friends a story about what I wanted to achieve in my life.

Still believing in the power of goal setting, I wrote in 2014 a blog story about what I desired to attain by the year 2020. That was after a friend of mine, then an undergraduate student at the renowned Stanford University, asked me where I saw myself in five years.

Because I deleted all my emails in 2016 after I stopped the bad habit of lying, exaggerating and plagiarizing, I have no record of the goals I wrote in the email I sent to my friends in 2012. But I am quite sure I have achieved none of them, twelve years later.

And because my web hosting company deleted all my stories in 2016 after my blog became inactive for several months, I also have no record of the blog story in which I listed what I desired to attain by the year 2020. But again, I am quite sure I have achieved none of the goals, four years after 2020 ended.

Judging by my story so far, you might conclude that I am a born loser. Look, I have actually grown in leaps and bounds. One way I have grown is blogging consistently. And the quality of my blog stories has greatly improved if the feedback I have received from my brother Paddy is anything to go by.

You see, Paddy is a brilliant guy. When I started blogging more than a decade ago, he didn't think I could make it as a blogger. He would therefore pester me to get a job and go back to university to acquire an undergraduate degree.

In recent years though, Paddy has evolved into one of my cheerleaders. He has complimented me for sharing excellent blog stories. That I am earning his approval shows I have been making remarkable progress in my blogging career. Isn't that something to write home about?

Besides blogging consistently, another way I have grown is becoming virtuous. I used to be lazy, perverted, impatient and untruthful - vices that the Bible condemns. Due to my sinful nature, I often felt guilty, insecure and fearful.

Thanks to God and support from my family, I have moulded myself into a diligent, upright, patient and truthful young man. As a result, I now think clearly and feel at peace with myself. Isn't that also something to write home about?

Indeed, I have grown in leaps and bounds. And the progress I have made has laid a firm foundation upon which I aspire to build lasting success. Much as I will continue working hard to achieve such success, it'll be up to God to order my steps. And I am ready to accept His will for my life.

My beloved reader, I beseech you to also assess where you are and envision where you wish to see yourself in five years. Then work hard to fulfill your vision. Don't be discouraged when you seem to be making no progress. Just keep grinding. With time, you will discover you scaled a mountain as you look back and realize how much you have grown.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on tracking progress, you might also enjoy another one on "Celebrating Progress" which I wrote sometime back. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.