“Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.” Albert Camus
There is something about people who have the power to stay at it.
They meet hurdles in their journey yet they just carry on.
Theirs is often a long tedious walk before they reach the peak , yet they keep going towards their distant dreams.
They have a stellar resolve to succeed.
They show us that success ought not to be hurried, they show us that small steps when taken over a long period of time lead to great results.
Most of us can identify with them because their lives reflect our own stories.
Their lives aren’t based on the myths of overnight success.
They teach us there is still something magical about longevity.
I don’t know if you know who Tebogo Motswetla is.
He is one person who has found his own path to building Mabijo cartoons as a brand over the years- cartoons that started appearing in public domain in 1989.
In his own way he has left a mark in the souls of many locals.
I said in my last post that as my country turns 50 years of independence I choose to celebrate the gritty ones- the one who just carry on, just carrying on.
And Tebogo is one such person.
Since 1989 he has been sticking with it, he is in it for the long run.
I choose to celebrate him.
He has transformed what begun as a hobby into a business.
Tebogo has grown Mabijo from just being a cartoon strip, to comic booklets.
He runs Mabijo Company where they offer Graphic Design/branding, illustrations, cartoons and animation.
He runs a facebook page with more than 90,000 likes and also has web presence.
He begun his career as a secondary school teacher and he is currently working at the University of Botswana as Desktop Publishing Officer.
I always vouch for education and I know opportunities opened for him not just because of hard work but also because he combined hard work with education.
Yes this is where I point out that he graduated with BA (Hon.) Design; Illustrations at the University of Plymouth, UK and he read for Masters’ Degree in Two Dimensional and Digital Design at Edith Cowan University in Australia.
(And I point this out because in my world “education” is a winner)
In 2014 he traveled to the US for an art exhibition sharing a platform with renowned cartoonists where he was also invited to contribute a book chapter .
Tebogo understands and appreciates that to succeed you need people who can lift you along the way- he is quick to point out such an opportunity to exhibit at an international platform was enabled by Professor Peter Limb of Michigan State University.
What I know about people like Tebogo, is that their achievements were never hurried.
They came as a result of toiling and not giving up.
They came as a result of doing what they love and staying with it.
It is people like him who are a testimony to many of us who go through life hurrying the growth process that success isn’t an over night event.
With this rock star, there is so much to learn. Here are three things he teaches us;
1. That our jobs can be launch pads to our dreams.
He started Mabijo out of passion and his first job at Department of Information and Broadcasting that became the launch pad for Mabijo.
It was there that he was first given a chance to show case what he can do in the area of cartoons and his first attempt impressed the editor for the government Daily News paper.
This is what “to bloom where you are planted” means.
For the ones hating their jobs thinking it is a waste of time and delay of dreams, you just may be missing an opportunity to launch your dream.
2.That you don’t have to wait till you retire from your day job to start your side hustle
With every job he has taken up Tebogo has continued with the craft and he is still at it.
People like Tebogo teach those of us in full time jobs that you don’t have to wait till the end of your journey to start writing books and running blogs or any of your side hustle.
They teach us that the 15 minutes you devote to the craft can make a whole lot of difference.
Yes your journey will not shoot to success like a peeble from a catapult but how much better are you than the one waiting forever.
3. That sometimes you have to work like you don’t need money
Over the years Tebogo followed his passion because he loved it and even when he was not making money out of it he carried on, on just carried because of his devotion towards the craft.
As Satchel Paige says work like you don’t need money (sometimes …as I add).
Many of us push the money agenda but sometimes we need to carry on, just carrying on even without the money reward.
I hope Tebogo’s life speaks to you the same way that it has spoken to me, that we ought not wait for ideal circumstances to live our dreams, that steps no matter how small they are, they can serve to the fulfilling of our dreams.
Our biggest assignment is to be doers and to keep on doing.
Life well lived is not just for those who hit jackpots in the journey of their dreams, it is also for those who over long periods of times they carry on, just carry on with their dreams.
Go out there and be a doer, one small step at time, be gritty, take the marathon not the sprint.
” Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day-in, day-out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint. ” Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth