When greatness means sacrifice

byJHawumba

290 followers

3 years ago

As part of my training assignment, I was required to write a blog post for the Wealthy Affiliate community. I have been extending this for some time now thinking about what to share with members on this platform, and such a message with values espoused by this community.

I remembered my days way back in secondary school when I was obsessed with being the first in almost everything and the lesson I learned when I was chosen to oversee the school cafeteria. At that time, I was in Senior Four [following the British Education system], which happened to be also my final year of secondary education.

But before that, we were known to be the first to be served food in the cafeteria, even when we came out of class later than others!! At least we could somehow circumvent the system and get served first. The time came when the school prefects would not bother us. I was in such a state for two years i.e., from Senior two and three.

My obsession with being first was not only confined to eating but also with academics to the extent that we used to wake up very early before the official class hours, go and pass through the windows of the class and start reading. This practice used to be called “Night College”. To be able to do this we made sure that we did not properly close the window, where we would pass, for night college.

Back to the subject. How is what I have so far said related to it? In Senior Four I am appointed a Prefect in charge of the cafeteria. Everyone was amazed and wanted to see how I will handle “my group”. I had already made a name in the school for being first, and will I continue to be such with the added responsibility?

To cut the long story short, this is how this responsibility turned out. As the Leader, I was supposed to ensure that every student has been served and of course, eaten before I could sit down to eat. The first weeks were a bit hard for me but with time It became normal.

The first lesson started to sink. I must understand that being a leader does not mean being the first to be served but rather serving and settling down when the work is done!!

Now came my second one!! What was it? You may ask. On this particular day, as usual, I and fellow student leaders go to the cafeteria and supervised the distribution of food. Now we had served all the food and this time it was super. As I was reclining at the table to eat, there comes a student to be served! What should I do for this student?

Should I ask her to go and wait until tomorrow morning when we shall be serving breakfast? I had to make a bold move. I surrendered my food and there she went and had her super. I was the one to go through the night “fasting”!! My second lesson sank in. Being great may entail making sacrifices, which in many instances will never be acknowledged.

Back to the WA community. What I have learned from whatever training I have undergone is this advice: “Focus on the audience and not on the reward”. The reward, which in our case is revenue, will come when one does the right thing. In other words, the greatness of our respective websites hinges on how devoted are we to our audience.

Cheers