Excuse me, folks, if I may.

In this series, my intention is not indoctrination but companionate.

As a brief reminder, I went for a year without partaking in mainstream social media. I learnt a few lessons along the way, and I feel compelled (through the promptings of a ‘power’ beyond my scope) to share them with you, gentle reader.

The first lesson I learnt was the importance of DISCIPLINE in achieving success.

The second lesson is the merit of CONVICTION. For relevance, I have chosen the controversial term ‘FAITH’ as its synonym.

I have realised that it is invariably impossible to reach any goal without one believing in the value of that prospect.

 Here, allow me to give homage to my role model, Jesus Christ. I am well cognisant of the disparaging fact that I have already lost a sizeable chunk of my readership at the mere mention of this name.

The gentle reader can recall that that 30-something-year-old Man was so influential in world history that He split not just the concept, but the application, of time into two. Before His birth, time was forever termed “Before Christ” (BC) and after His birth, “Anno Domini” (i.e. AD, a Latin term for ‘in the year of the Lord’). Notwithstanding the recent move to change that phraseology to BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era), respectively, Jesus’ significance in world history remains infallible.

As human beings, we have a lot to learn from Him.

Even the staunchest agnostic or atheist, within the pages of history, have derived their success (and greatness) from their unwavering dedication to their beliefs. I dare you, gentle reader, to look at the lives of your success template and tell me that CONVICTION/FAITH was not a key ingredient in their success!

If you are a scientist, can you deny that Einstein’s success arose from his strong belief in the “Unified Field Theory”?

If you are a journalist or media publisher, remember that Joseph Pulitzer strongly believed in sensationalism (i.e. yellow journalism) as the bedrock of ‘outstanding journalism’.

For politicians, the examples are myriad.

For the sake of Liberation-era apropos, allow me to evoke Karl Marx. Dear ZANU-PF (i.e. Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology teachers), was Marxism not about a strong belief that societies develop through class conflict?

On the other hand, dear democrats, have not the foundations of “representative democracy” from the ancient Greeks to Obama, been enshrined in the unstinting belief that the masses, with all their flaws and merits, aggregate to form a society founded on credit (including criticism)?

As for my esteemed colleagues, Doctors, remember our initiator, Hippocrates? Was he not propelled by his CONVICTION, “primum non nocere“? (First, do no harm).

Whatever your faith, whichever your profession, the fact remains that FAITH is the fuel to your success.

As I journeyed through my year of solitude, I slowly realised that without believing in a cause, all effort, however disciplined, will amount to failure. Discipline is relative. It is conviction/faith that gives it relevance and direction.