Its been quite a while since I last posted anything here. I admit it’s been a crazy emotional time for me. I’ve been borderline depressed for over 2months actually. You see, even though I share alot of ‘wisdom’ on this site about being a man, living your best life and all,  I’ve found lately that being true to what I preach isn’t so easy. I came to realise that I am certainly not walking my talk or in this case, blog.

Truth is, I’ve been living way below my potential as a man, simply whimpering in the dark sewers of manliness while hiding behind brave words and polished blogs; nothing more than a whiny sack of narcassitic negativity and complaints.

There. I said it. I’m certainly not proud of it. But I have to be honest with you. And it’s time to stop!

I owe it to you my readers and more importantly myself, to live up to everything I write here. While I have never professed to be the ultimate man or a guru in all things manly, I hate the hypocrisy and disparity between what I write and my real life. So I have been seriously reconsidering my life, my marriage, my work, my mission. I shared with you in a past article  the importance of always questioning yourself and your motives.

But.… a lot of times, it’s really hard to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, “what the eff am I really doing with my life, forget what I’m trying to make people think?”

So, from now on, it’s all about authenticity. I will not write anything here that I don’t personally believe or practice in my own life. I will work on every area where I am living beneath my dignity. And I will share with you my journey and lessons as I become more manly. That’s the promise of the Apprentice blog.

It’s not about having arrived. Its about getting there; the daily, dirty unglamorous struggle for all of us to be the men we know we can be and maybe, just maybe even greater than that.

How about you join me? Lets get back on the horse and start living to the maximum of our potential. Screw status quo. Lets rock this thing.

Let us be men again!

Wow, we’re ever coming closer to completing this series on the 9 habits of Millionaires. I am blessed that you guys have been continually following with me as we explore these fascinating habits. I am glad that you guys like me, really want to turn our lives around for the better and not be just average. So right to it then.

Habit 6: Acting with Integrity

Integrity is about being totally honest with yourself, with others and holding a high moral standard. It’s about doing what you say you will and acting consistently with what you say you believe. When you act with Integrity, everyone around you, your family, friends, customers, staff will trust endearingly in you. That’s because they always know where they stand with you. Your customers will always beat a path to your doorstep because they know you’ll give them the highest value for money and not cheat them. Integrity means fulfilling your promises even when it’s going to cost you to do so. It means actaully working 8hours a day that you are paid to and not just playing with facebook, blogging and reading newspapers on the job. 

I must confess, I am appalled at the lack of integrity in Uganda today. It’s extremely maddening that people will lie and cheat like they eat & breathe. Even kids now have no problem in cheating on their exams and copying each others courseworks. If there is a reason why Uganda’s progress has slowed and even seems to be reversing, it’s because of a great lack in integrity. Reputation means nothing to people anymore. Look at your global funds, GAVI, election fraud, massive corruption. I wrote about this last year here.

Millionaires are people of Integrity. The word of a millionaire is worth millions. Sure there are a few(an in our case, seems like the majority) of millionaires who have lying, cheating, scum of the earth but as a rule of thumb their wealth will not last. The book of Proverbs 13:11 says

“Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.”

I’m personally learning each day to live with Integrity. It’s not easy but it must be done. In a country like ours, the millionaires are going to come from the few individuals who are absolutely trustworthy in the midst of the insane dishonesty and corruption. I am working to make sure that I am one of the few, how about you?

I’ll close with this interesting fact. In the bestselling book ‘The Millionaire Mind’, author Thomas Stanley interviewed 733 multi-millionaires and asked them what were the key factors that contributed to their wealth. Ranked number one was ‘being honest with people‘. This factor was ranked way ahead of factors like ‘making wise investments’, ‘working hard’ and ‘having a competitive spirit’. Think about that till we next meet to discuss habit 7: Be 100% Committed.

 Shalom

“Integrity is the essence of everything successful” Richard Buckminister Fuller