How Our DSTV Dish Taught Me Vital Life Lessons

Since June 12, when the World Cup started, I’ve only watched 2 matches because our DSTV was not connected and we hadn’t subscribed. Several attempts to get the Satellite Technicians to come help us connect it proved futile. Each time we called, they’d give one excuse or the other. I even missed the Netherlands versus Spain (5pa1n) match because of this. Subsequently, I started becoming irritated with the situation. Partly because all we had to watch at the moment were religious channels (of which I’m not a big fan), and because my parents were seemingly not as determined as I was to watch the World Cup (a lie I succeeded in telling myself repeatedly). My irritation started guiding my behavior and my parents were obviously not happy with the situation. So, in order to quell the annoyance in the air, I decided to engage in a DIY. I spent several minutes outside my house, figuring a way to fix the dish and connect it. I finally had a Eureka moment.

The next day, I got a ladder and mounted it, in a bid to watch my most anticipated World Cup game, Nigeria’s first match.  After spending almost an hour climbing up and down the ladder, I was able to connect the DSTV dish and put the technicians to shame. My ordeal taught me several life lessons that I’ll like to share with you:

1. First, it taught me that in order to succeed, you must persevere. You will face failure many times. That person who said “no matter how many times you fail, try again” knew what he had faced. Finally, I can boldly declare that I empathize with that statement. Several times I had to remove one LNB cable or the other and fix it elsewhere. I almost gave up. But a ‘one last time’ attempt and voila! The connection was establish. I danced like a child who just won a Disneyland ticket.
2. Another lesson I learned was determination. I was so determined and I was driven by a clear goal: to connect the dish so I could watch Nigeria’s match. Many times in life, people fail to succeed because they do not have a clear goal about what they watch to achieve, a clear goal is essential to success. It drives you and fuels your determination, just as it did mine.
3. Also, it is important to be fearless. To be honest, until today, I had never climbed a ladder so high. But because of what I wanted to do, I swallowed my fear and got up on that ladder. My mind tried playing tricks on me by reminding me that I could fall at any time. However, I chose to ignore it and focus on my goal.

For you, it may not be a satellite dish that you want to connect. It may be a girl you want to get, a book you want to read, a project you want to complete or a work assignment you want to finish. The same principles apply. Persevere, be determined and be fearless. This way, you can accomplish anything you want, easily.