Times Of Swaziland: LESSONS ONLY FAILURE  CAN BRING

LESSONS ONLY FAILURE  CAN BRING
================================================================================
By Nontobeko Tshabalala on 27/01/2018 03:07:00


Last year my alma mater, Sisekelo High School, invited me to be the guest
speaker at the valediction ceremony of the matriculating class of 2017.
I spoke to them the way I wish someone would have spoken to me. I am fascinated
by failure and the lessons of rock bottom and the inevitability of it that I
learnt to find the lesson in it. I’d like to share the speech I shared with
them.
“12 years ago I sat where you’re sitting today. I was filled with such
optimism and was ready to joke about how stressful unemployment was as soon as I
finished writing my final exams and was waiting to go to university after my gap
year. Much later unemployment did come but the jokes did not.
I was an average student when I was at Sisekelo. I was smart I guess but I did
not really work hard. Which is why I was very shocked when the school contacted
me to speak to our school leavers today.
All I did was be a great athlete, go hard in English and History and distract
people during prep. I did not enjoy struggling.
Science and Maths, for instance, were horrifying academic experiences for me and
I just could not be convinced to put in the extra effort that I needed to in
order to grasp the concepts.
I put in enough work to pass, but never to excel if it wasn’t easy. And I want
to let you know today that life is unkind to people who are entitled to easy.
I want to talk to you today about two things, two things I wish someone had told
me when I was standing on the cusp of my future; purpose and failure.
There are many days that will be memorable in your lives - one of those will be
the day you discover what your purpose is.
I was in my second year of university, again doing just enough to pass my Media
Management class, I had procrastinated and I had an assignment due the next day.
I did not make deadline.
My lecturer calmly looked at me and said “Oh that’s not a problem Nono for
every hour it is late I will deduct 10 per cent off your final grade.”
That was the last time I ever submitted a single thing late.
It was as though a light switched on and my approach to the quality of work I
produced was never the same again. If it is going to be attached to your name
you have a duty to make it excellent.