Category Archives: Personal Development

– Something’s got to give, #Improvise

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Rarely can anyone have all aspects of their life going swimmingly without loss, pain, or suffering. There’s bound to be something else that acts as a reminder that one cannot always have what one wants.

Then, we should be ready to improvise and make the most of what we have despite difficulties and setbacks.

Joy and pain are intertwined. You can’t have joy without having experienced sadness, and even if one is joyful, pain is what will erode that joy. Sounds obvious but when we’re in the thick of things, we tend to forget that we can’t always have what we want. We need to learn to make do with whatever we have, while doing our best to overcome our discomfort.

With so many lives dependent on the President, we can learn, though still early, from President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa to make the most with little desirables we have. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 28 February 2018. Continue reading →

– The Small Business Pricing Conundrum

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The biggest undoing of small businesses is their inability to configure, package and price products into different offerings. Of greatest concern even, is the failure to publish prices of their offerings, preferring, instead, to treat every sale as a special deal and quoting the price separately. Generally, there are times when it would be appropriate to adopt the auction-styled pricing strategy and others where upfront display of the price would be preferable. The key to success is in knowing and understanding the company’s target market and the appropriate response to meeting their needs. Growing small business managers need to perfect their pricing strategy to avoid inadvertently turning away potential customers. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 January 2018. Continue reading →

– South Africa is awash with #Talent

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As the new year dawns and many reflecting on their lives and making new resolutions for the new year, take the time to look at your surroundings and people you encounter this festive season with an additional different lens. You may be richly endowed to tackle your new challenges with confidence and zeal. South Africa truly has talent. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 December 2017. Continue reading →

– We are vessels, the sooner we learn that the better for us all

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We learn in different ways. Aside from formal education, some receive enlightenment in their solemn meditation moments, others learn through the benefit of hindsight, some through observation and others through their skin. Sadly, some refuse to learn and are burned.

One lesson we should quickly learn, lest we do so through our skin someday, is that we are “vessels” and perhaps tessellations of some design by unseen divine power beyond our human senses. I refuse to believe all that defines our lives is to eat, sleep, learn, grow, earn, have fun, retire and pass on. There’s more to this circle of life than meets the eye. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 29 November 2017. Continue reading →

– You have more inside you than you can get from outside

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We are told, ours is among the most progressive constitutions in the world. Yet, many do not seem to experience most benefits of rights enshrined in our Constitution. From an economic perspective, “we have it all” in South Africa: the Industrial Development Programme, Black Economic Empowerment, Automotive Investment Scheme, Film and Television Production Incentive schemes, just to name, but a few. But there are many more such programmes, mainly offered by the public sector.

One department alone, promotes many more such programmes. Visit theDTI website to see how progressive many of government’s well-intentioned incentive programmes there are. These programmes aim to provide support in resources and technical expertise across different sectors of the South African economy.

Notwithstanding, there many other organisations such as the Public Investment Corporation, the Land Bank and Development of South Africa, among others also offering some form of assistance.

Despite the vastness of progressive intervention programmes, our economy is not performing and unemployment and poverty levels are worsening daily.

What is the problem? Why is there so much support yet so little improvement in many ordinary people’s welfare? Why, in the era of unprecedented number of graduates in the history of South Africa, do we still have so many unemployed? By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 October 2017. Continue reading →

#Beliefs – Be careful what you believe, your life depends on it

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Without beliefs, we have no principles. Without principles, we have no convictions and are not anchored. Without anchors, we are drifting away. And with drifting, we have no control of our destination. Without control, we are at the mercy of life situations.

Surely such life leads to hopelessness.

Control your thoughts, avoid calamities and live better. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 28 September 2017. Continue reading →

#Disaster – How resilient are you against major setbacks?

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The recently released report by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on “Poverty Trends in South Africa” in the period between 2006 and 2015[1], shows that life got more difficult for many South Africans. The hardship in question is experienced at the core or foundation of life where one does not know where one’s next meal would come from. If ever one was unsure about what disaster looked like, this is it, more so considering wastages we see in many aspects of our lives.

 We live in a part of the world full of valuable natural resources. It is shameful that many are highly impoverished in a country such as ours with vast resources and technological and developmental advancements. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 August 2017. Continue reading →

#JobSatisfaction – Are you happy with your profession, job or business?

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At some point in life we’d question our purpose and value in, if not to, society. Taking responsibility for one’s life is a lifelong goal. Finding the harmony between what one desires and one ought to do isn’t always a straightforward peaceful exercise.

If it were easy to earn an income from doing work one enjoys, everyone’s life would be blissful. Circumstances of our lives sometimes goad us into making decisions and choices we would naturally not make.

Tools are available to help us resolve conflicting experiences and circumstances in making such choices. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 27 July 2017. Continue reading →

– Which side are you on?

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In one of the many phrases the former US President George Bush ever uttered is the one he said in a joint 2001 address with then French President Jacques Chirac. In his call for nations to provide substantive material support in the fight against terror, he sternly said, “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror.”

The line was drawn in the sand. In his mind, the time for neutrality was over. Nations had to decide whether they favoured the US military action against identified enemies or were collectively seen as part of those opposed to the US. Neutrality was seen as indirect support for forces against the US coalition.

Sometimes our experiences put us in the same situation. We either garner strength to be against forces of evil, negativity, polarisation and selfishness or we join forces to advance everyone’s welfare. In other words, we are either a problem or a solution. No fence-sitting. Which side are you on? By Nimroth Gwetsa, 27 June 2017. Continue reading →

– Beware of Distractions

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Despite the hardship fuelled by today’s economy where blue, white and pink-collar workers experience job losses, the digital economy presents us with opportunities to make a living from many activities. Many jobs people do nowadays would, in the past, not be regarded as “real” jobs.

The fullness and diversity of life make us appreciate the many offerings and activities people get involved in and reward them for doing so. Today’s ordinary person is one familiar with, if not adept at, many aspects of life. Gone are the days when people were ignorant in activities not central to their paid jobs. A typical urbanised member of society knows more about the environment, economy, politics, science and technology, health, law and art among others than, perhaps, what their past century equivalent was.

In this light, the rise of digitisation makes it easier for one to be easily distracted from doing one’s job for which one is hired and paid to do, to focusing on doing another’s job. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 29 May 2017. Continue reading →