inspiration

Never underestimate your influence

A few years ago I was traveled with my coworkers to Duncan’s Trelawny on the yearly heritage tour.

Our first stop was Duncan’s All age school. Just before the presentations started a teacher came up to me introduced herself and said she wanted to meet me.

The reason was because she listened one of the radio programs I produced at the time called Jamaicas promise. She also commented on the work that I was doing and that she listened every week.

This came as a surprise to me because feedback on the work I do is very limited if I hear anything at all. So to get that positive feedback was encouraging.

The point I’m trying to make is this never underestimate the influence you have on people even when you never hear it. People are watching you from afar, taking notes and adjusting as they go along.

If you drop the ball, or don’t even realize how much impact you have, even it’s small what you do matters to somebody.

Never underestimate the value you bring to others. Something to think about….

Ps. The picture is one of the main thing that caught my interest at Duncan’s All age.

Never give up on your dreams

For many years I always had a deep desire to play piano in church. For many years I sat at the back or on the drums with an image of being able to play by ear.

I asked for help many times from other musicians but somehow I didn’t get all the information they were telling me.

I bought courses, books and watched countless YouTube videos to learn. Until I found a simple system that helped me get the basics. With practice I got better, being able to pick up songs by ear quickly.

I eventually got an opportunity to play piano occasionally in church. I wasn’t as good at first and I was nervous as hell.

I pushed past the feeling of embarrassment and feeling of failure until I got comfortable and learnt from my mistakes.

I got better, even though I may not be like other keyboard players I know. But I reached my goal. What I imagined all those years ago is now reality.

The take away is this, never give up on your dreams. Keep pushing until you figure out what will fast track your growth.

See value in what you have

When I was a teenager I never knew that my tinkering had a name much less be a carreer option.

A few years ago I got the opportunity to work at my church’s national men’s ministry conference. All I was doing was recording the various presentations so that anyone who want to relive the conference can do so.

Looking back what this and other experience has taught me is that, value what you have. No matter how insignificant you might think the skill is someone will find it valuable.

Learn all you can about it and how to exploit it because you may never know where that skill will take you.

For me from messing around in my bedroom to working with the national media team in my church. I’ve also used this same skill to work in government media, rubbing shoulders with 3 Prime Ministers and various Ministers of government.

If what I initially thought as useless is an actual career what say what you have. Imagine if you took that seriously you may never know where you’ll end up.

The lesson is this learn to value what you have.