Kathie Gifford, a famous media personality in America, is quoted to have asked, "Wouldn't it be a wonderful feeling to wake up in the morning and understand that no matter what goes on today, God can make something good out of it?"

That quote by Kathie Gifford has inspired me to make each of my days count. I just don't want my days to be like they were in 2009. Okay, let me tell you more.

If you don't know my life history, let me inform you that I matriculated at a local university called JKUAT in May 2007 to pursue a degree in Electronics & Computer Engineering. Somehow, I messed up at the university in my second year. That made me repeat class in 2009.

When I repeated my second year at JKUAT in 2009, I suffered from bouts of regret and loneliness. Regret for having messed up the previous year and loneliness for being surrounded by new faces in class while my former classmates had forged ahead with their studies to third year.

Due to that unhealthy dose of regret and loneliness in my soul, I felt very unmotivated. Unlike the previous two years, I didn't read avidly, play the piano or attend church as I repeated class in 2009. The little I read were the course books whose knowledge didn't sink into my mind because of my lack of motivation.

My parents were unaware of the emotional turmoil I was going through at JKUAT in 2009. They thought I was hard at studies. For how else can you explain that my father bought me an expensive and voluminous book on electrical measurements?

But how wrong my parents were if they thought I was hard at studies! I was actually infernally lazy, often spending my time sleeping, surfing the internet aimlessly, hanging out with feckless friends and watching the FIFA Confederations Cup. Not surprisingly, I dropped out of JKUAT in August 2009. And that made 2009 look like a wasted year for me.

In 2010 while I stayed at home pondering on what to do next with my life, I feared the year could also go down the drain. But then, I picked John Mason's Conquering an Enemy Called Average. And wow! The book invigorated my spirits and reconnected me to my true self.

And when I enrolled at the University of Nairobi (UoN) in September 2010 to pursue a less demanding degree than the one I had studied at JKUAT, my enthusiasm soared higher. I enjoyed learning my new course and interacting with the friends I made at the university.

Although I didn't finish my degree course at UoN due to financial constraints, at least I discovered I had a talent for writing while at the university. It was during my time there that I set up my first blog. And since then, I have never looked back.

Blogging has infused me with a zest for living. I love connecting with people all over the world through the stories and videos I post on this blog. And I hope some youngsters out there get inspired by my blog the way John Mason's Conquering an Enemy Called Average invigorated me in 2010 when I was at a low ebb.

Over the past seven years since I rebranded this blog to what it looks like now, I have felt my years become more meaningful. They have not been like 2009 which was more of a waste for me.

After being inspired by the words of Kathie Gifford I have quoted above, I recently thought it wise to shift my focus from years to days by making each of my days count and letting the years take care of themselves. I have therefore resolved to keep rising before dawn every day to engage in my hobbies regardless of what has happened the previous day.

It has dawned on me that we often lose ordinary moments of living by focusing too much on the big events of our lives. But life is too precious to let any day go to waste. That's why I have resolved to make each of my days count. I will seize ordinary days and make them extraordinary.

My beloved reader, I challenge you to also make each of your days count. Don't idle at home or in your workplace. Instead, perfect your work or find a meaningful hobby to occupy your time. Or to borrow the words of Kathie Gifford, make something good out of each day. Ciao!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on making each day count, you might also enjoy another one on "Some Bad Days I Once Had" which I wrote about five years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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In his inspiring book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Sean Covey enlightens teens that it doesn't matter much which degree course they pursue at the university. What matters most is how well they can think at the end of their university education.

I couldn't agree with Sean Covey more on his assertion that what matters most in our lives is how well we think. And I hasten to add that it is thinking ability that separates winners from failures because we all have the same 24 hours each day. Take, for instance, the case of my high school classmate Lawrence Sikuku and I.

Sikuku was always either position 1 or 2 in our class in every end-term academic results of our high school years. I, on the other hand, started out at position 32 in our first term in high school. And even though I did gradually improve academically as our high school years wore on, I never managed to appear among the top 5 students in our class.

What is interesting to note is that Sikuku and I ate the same food in the dining hall and we were taught by the same teachers in the 7 subjects we did in common in senior high school. We also read the same course contents. Actually, I think I read more than he did.

In the English subject for example, I studied while in Form Two all the three set books we were to be examined in the final high school exams known as KCSE. And you know what? In spite of my zeal in studying the set books in Form Two, I didn't score an 'A' in English when I sat for my KCSE exams two years later.

Sikuku got an 'A' in English in his KCSE results. And I never saw him begin studying the three English set books as early in our high school career as I did. Isn't that an interesting observation?

Since I read more than Sikuku did, how is it that I never managed to trounce him in exams throughout our high school career? It's because of the way we thought and processed knowledge. Sikuku not only thought more clearly than me, he also had superior reasoning skills.

Talking of my high school learning, I finished high school in November 2005 loaded with a lot of knowledge. I could solve simultaneous equations, balance chemical equations and explain why the banking system in Switzerland is well developed. The mean grade 'A' I scored in my KCSE exams was well deserved.

Yet even with all the knowledge I had in my head, I couldn't think clearly. I was often confused. And the SAT exam brought that out unmistakably when I sat for the exam thrice in 2006 and 2007. (The SAT is an American exam that tests the reasoning ability of students.)

It was like my mind was programmed to think confusedly when I was finishing high school in November 2005. For how else can you explain that people accused me of being mentally mixed-up even when I was at the university in 2007?

Having realized how profound a difference our thoughts make in our lives, I have been striving to develop my thinking ability. Just like my mind was programmed to think confusedly when I was leaving high school, I am now programming it to think clearly, creatively and positively. And my efforts are bearing fruit given the peace and mental clarity I am feeling most of the time.

Yes, our thinking ability makes a profound difference in our lives. It is what separates winners from failures. It is what made Sikuku outperform me in high school exams. And Science has proved there is a correlation between our physical health and the nature of our thoughts.

Because our thoughts have such a profound difference in our lives, I urge you, my beloved reader, to also develop your thinking ability. And I can think of no better way of improving our thought life than by reading, meditating and writing consistently. So read, meditate and write as often as you can. Adieu!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on developing our thinking ability, you might also enjoy another one on "Developing Mental Clarity" which I wrote more than five years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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