“The only thing that stands between you
and what you want from life,
is simply the will to pursue it
and the faith to believe that it is possible.
You can have anything on earth that you want,
once you mentally accept the fact that you can have it.
If you want success, begin thinking of yourself as a success.
The feeling of being successful has to come first.
If you have a deep inner conviction
that you will always have all that you need,
if you actually feel prosperous, it will be so.
Only your mind sets your limits. ”
This is a quotation from author, leadership trainer, motivational speaker and founder of Intelligent Motivation, Inc., Biagio Sciacca.
On Page 13 of today’s edition, we reproduce a feature article by State House Communication Officer, Sanna Camara,on the return of President Adama Barrow, 40 years later, to his alma mater Koba Kunda Primary School in the Upper River Division. It is a heartwarming story about how a simple son of a provincial farmer became head of state.
The president, in his element, went up to the students and narrated to them his story: The rigours of his childhood; his search for the golden fleece that took him to the Komboshundreds of kilometres away from his parents; his struggles as a young adult to make it; his foray into business; and his eventual success in becoming head of state. He exhorted the impressionable young students to have discipline.
Indeed discipline is the mother of all virtues because it engenders constancy of purpose, focus and determination. And determination is the mother of success. “Be discipline. You are the leaders of tomorrow. This is proven. I have been a student here [Koba Kunda]. Today I am the president [of all Gambia]… Who would have ever thought a poor boy from Koba Kunda School would become president of the country?” Barrow expostulated.
Indeed, what the president is underlining is that if he can do it, then those young boys and girls in Koba Kunda, and by extension all the young people of the country, can rise to their optimal potential.
This is what we want of our president. To be the Inspirer-in-Chief. Our youth need it. The country needs it.
