In various stages of my life, I found different purposes that I wanted to commit to. Growing up poor made me conscious of the power of helping others. I remember all the moments when relatives and strangers would offer help to me and my mother. It meant a lot. Helping people has been one of my life purposes.

I fell in love with the power of knowledge when I was about ten or eleven. I saw how it could change a person and the world. When I joined the regional library, I found books on nearly every topic in life. I committed myself to knowledge as another purpose of my life.

Living near a few neighbours running their own businesses made me want to be an entrepreneur. I didn’t know much about entrepreneurship or how to start. Still, I promised myself it would be my life’s ultimate purpose. I find it fascinating how entrepreneurs solve problems, create value, and have got the resources to do even more.

My friend did an internship at one of the big four auditing firms in their second year. This sparked my interest in doing the same. During my four-month internship, I realised I wanted to try corporate life for a few years before starting my own business full-time.

Growing up in a broken home, I saw my single mother struggle with child support issues. This made me want to build a stable, loving family filled with peace. I wanted to date the right woman, grow, and experience love to the fullest. I committed my life to learning and understanding love.

I never wanted to play football professionally. But if there’s one sport I’d stick with for life, it’s football. At a certain time, I committed to always finding some time and flexibility to play football.

Now those are many things that I have committed myself to do in this life. Growing up, I believed I could do anything in life. And I also believed I could do everything too at the same time. I did my best to navigate then until I realised I could not.

Early on I realised that when I play football in the evening I would be too tired to go to the library. If I don’t go to the library I would not improve and get better in knowledge. That was a dilemma even when I started working as an auditor. Football time was work time. My corporate life didn’t allow enough flexibility for football. I had to choose one.

I loved helping people with resources as much as I could. I would save my small income, organise my clothes and items, and contribute them to charity. I would go the extra mile to help friends when they asked for loans. 

I would cancel all my timetables to listen to people with their problems and offer some advice and help. But I realised I don’t have enough resources to help as many people as I want. I had limited money and time. I also realised that to help the people I want, I will need to earn a lot.

I loved entrepreneurship and doing business when I started with my first company. The challenge was that I had limited capital and skills to run a company. The growth was limited, and I would be better off finding a job. 

When I got a job, I had some money to start the company. But I soon realised it wouldn’t grow because I didn’t have enough time to focus on it. I decided to quit my job and focus on the business full time.

All those experiences taught me one thing: you can do anything in life, but not all at once. You will need to plan and keep priorities for your limited resources.

Some things will help other things get done when they complete first. For me, I realised that if my business was doing well, I would have resources to help more people. I would be flexible enough to seek knowledge, play football, and build the lovely family I dream of. So I committed to business; then everything else would follow.

Wherever you are now, know that one thing you have to start is to commit to it. As much as you might have hundreds of things you want to do, accept that you cannot do all of them at once. No one can, at least when you are starting out.

You can chase your dreams and goals, but focus on one at a time. Juggling two things can be distracting. You can’t try to help yourself while helping another person at the same time; you have limited resources. 

Pick one thing in life that will help you to do the next thing. Then repeat the process. You can do anything and everything in life, just not all at once. 

#iThinkSo

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you find peace and joy.

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Rogers Katuma

Financial Artist, Senior Adventurer, Occasional Storyteller, and Amateur Golfer