Atoms Smashing Power of Mind: Without a Goal It Is Difficult to Score

By Hloniphile Dube

I wrote this book, Atoms Smashing Power of Mind, because I feel like the next future leaders of this country, young people, are dying. Theyre dying because of being ignorant and because they are too afraid to step up. Theyre ignorant about their lives, and they tend to give up easily on things that are very important and very beneficial for their future purposes and focus on whatever that will destroy their paths, and they care too much about peoples negative opinions and discriminations. People will always bark, and thats one thing we should keep on reminding ourselves, and that shouldnt stop one from doing certain things. And again theyre too afraid to take an action or actions that would benefit their future purposes. As a result, our country might end up having leaders from other continents or from other countries because we cant simply take good care of our country. By achieving youre not only doing it for yourself but youre doing it for the country because that 1 per cent of change youve made into your life does count. Those who have done economics will understand me better. Let us work hard and hard to uplift our careers, our lives, ourselves, and the economy of our country and above all be daring to be strong and willing to take an action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Dec 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482825763

Hloniphile Dube

Hloniphile Precious Dube was born on 2 December 1997 in Soweto at Tshepo-Themba Hospital. When she was nine months old, she moved with her family to Thokoza, Everest, where she was raised by her grandmother most of the time because her mother had to work for a living. She started school at Khehlekile Primary School, and now, she’s currently studying at Tiisetsong Secondary School as a grade-12 learner. She realised her talent in writing at the age of thirteen, when she was in grade 8, when her Zulu teacher, Mrs Nhlapho, made her enter a competition called pan-pulse, where they had to write about the things that are affecting the economy of this country, such as crime, teenage pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, poverty, unemployment, etc. She decided to write about teenage pregnancy because she couldn’t understand why kids should fall pregnant at such an early age while still at school even. In most cases, getting pregnant at an early age can lead to poverty since other girls drop out of school once they find out that they’re pregnant and even have to take care of their kids. After her accomplishment in writing that short story, she then won a certificate of ‘Story Writing’ from the district and a book from Juda Education. After months and months of spending time on reading, she associated herself with positive-minded people and always watched positive programmes from the television and listened to her favourite radio station, Metro FM. That also inspired her a lot, especially the show Sound Revival by DJ Sbu, because, according to her words, she loves the fact that Mr Sbusiso Leope cares so much for the youth and always motivates and gives advice to the youth to keep pushing and, most of all, gives them the chance to still be educated. And by that say, that has always kept her going. When Mr Sbusiso Leope launched his book on her birthday (which was on 02 December 2013), when she also saw him on his 2014-204me advert around January 4014, and when he was invited by Tshepo Ledwaba (who loves helping people, more especially students, by making sure that they get enough motivation as possible so that they would never lose their way in life and achievements) to her school with his Leadership 2020 team to motivate the students, she felt like all that was a sign for her that she must do something with her skill—not just about her skill, but about changing the mindsets of the youths and teens who are still struggling to break the shell and chase what they have to and also to enhance the world into a better place. Because she did follow her dream and passion and worked hard, today she’s the second person to be an author at the age of sixteen here in South Africa. Actually, she’s the first female to be an author at the age of sixteen here in South Africa, and she’s the second person in our country to have a published book at the age of seventeen, the book called Atom-Smashing Power of the Mind.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Hloniphile Dube.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1   Sharp-Sharp

2   Live to Play with Fire!

3   There’s Never a Right Time Than Now

4   Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone

5   African Languages and Cultures

6   Show Courtesy to Our Queen Bees

7   Show Courtesy to Our King Bees

8   Dare to Be Different

9   Education Is Wealth

10 Success Is You

11 Fish Out of Water

12 Acquaintanceship

Done Surviving, Now Thriving

• Thembinkosi Nkosi

• Samukelisiwe Mbatha

• Lesetja Ramaoka

• Margaret Mokoena

• Nandi Sharon Dube

• Sifiso Dube

• About the Author

To my family and friends, teachers and elders, and everyone who had an impact in my life, thank you for a lifetime of love and support.

Acknowledgements

W riting this book has been a great experience, and there were so many people who helped me to complete this book today, either through their direct professional assistance or indirect personal assistance. As we all know, most people get influential through social networks or just technology, and it happened that I was one of those people. Well, here’s the thing: not everything and anything is bad regarding technology or social networks for that matter.

Growing up, I’ve always looked up to DJ Sbu, who is now known as the businessman Sbusiso Leope. He is the guy who made me go after my goals. Even when I felt like giving up, seeing him on television, listening to his voice on the radio, or just reading about him on a certain article always and always lifted my spirit up as if he’s saying to me, that ‘You know what, Hloni? One day I am going to be what I want to be.’ And note this: I didn’t have to meet him in order to feel inspired or motivated; he did that to me before I even met him. Well, I know I’m not the only person who was inspired by this amazing man, and for that, I’d love to send a big thank you to the respected and honoured Mr Sbusiso Leope. He really played a huge role in my life.

Thanks to my forever strict yet caring family that I have, the family who taught me to be a lady that I’m yet to be in the future, the family who always taught me the proper steps in life (now that’s what I call family): Nelisiwe Dube (my mother), Nonhlanhla Dube (my little sister), Sarah Nyembe Dube (my grandmother), Sifiso Dube (my uncle), and not forgetting my late father, Bheki Dube. He might not be with me any more, but every day, I do feel and know what he wants me to do.

Thanks to Tshepo Ledwaba, who always believed in my dreams and always sacrificed his time just so I could turn my dreams into a reality.

A special thanks to one of my male friends, Sifiso Mdluli, who also contributed to make this book a success.

Thanks to my friends Mamohau Nyaba and Lerato Mahlangu, who always had my back and supported me all the way in my journey and gave me the best advice and persuaded me to do good even more.

To my lovely vernec teacher, Mrs Nhlapho, who made me discover my talent of writing and for being more than just a teacher towards all her students, thanks a lot for your love, care, and patience.

Thanks to all the people I didn’t know whom I used to come across in the streets and by just by looking at them or looking at their situations, I could always find something that inspired me to write and that I wanted to share with the people now reading this book. And of course, thanks to the people who were willing to share their personal experiences in this book.

Last by not least, big thanks to my darling, Nico Ramaoka, who had always been my pillar of strength 24/7, gave me the best advice in the world, and showed me proper guidance every time I seemed to lose track of myself, your pure love and joyful spirit have taught me so much about what being a true success is all about!

Without any of you, this book wouldn’t be a success. Thank you.

Introduction

T here are thousands of books on success and guideline books on life and other things, but that didn’t stop me from writing what I believe will help others who seem to be still puzzled on certain issues and those who have lost their purpose in life and, of course, from sharing my personal experiences and the things I see daily in the streets or just what happens around my space at a particular time.

I wrote this book, Atom-Smashing Power of the Mind, because I feel like the future leaders of this country, the young people, are ‘dying’. They’re dying because of being ignorant and because they are too afraid to step up. They’re ignorant about their lives, and they tend to easily give up the things that are very important and very beneficial to their future purposes and focus on whatever will destroy their paths; they care too much about people’s negative opinions and discriminations. People will always bark; that’s one thing we should keep on reminding ourselves, and that shouldn’t stop one from doing certain things. And again, they’re too afraid to take any action or actions that would benefit their future purposes.

As a result, our country might end up having leaders from other continents or from other countries because we can’t simply take good care of our country. By achieving your goals, you’re not only doing it for yourself, but you’re doing it for the country because that 1 per cent of change you’ve made in your life does count. Those who have done economics will understand me better. Let us work very hard to uplift our careers, our lives, ourselves, and the economy of our country, and above all, dare to be strong and willing to take action.

Now I haven’t lived very long, but I’ve lived long enough to know this. Being ignorant about your life will not only affect you but also your whole family, friends, relatives, and the economy. I’m from a township; I’m a township girl, and I see young people being involved in so many bad things, putting themselves and their lives in danger. As part of the community, I feel concerned deep down within me about the future of our community and our country with such behaviour from our youths. These are the same people who are supposed to pay back their families after they’ve done a good job of raising their kids. These are the very same people who should be so excited about life and achieving their goals, yet when they have to deal with the consequences, they blame everything to the government. I know there’s no such thing as perfect, but let’s try to seek perfection in our lives by achieving our goals! You don’t need to achieve something big; even the little things do count.

So I came up with a strategy: to use one of the skills that I have to communicate with each and every one of you because obviously I can’t go around saying this and that to every individual in this country or the world. So the best way is to introduce to you Atom-Smashing Power of the Mind.

This book is more like a guideline and a wake-up call. It will guide you to find yourself once again if you think you’ve somehow lost your purpose, and it will make you be more ambitious. Your intellect will be on the next level once you’ve finished this book or even while halfway through the book.

Here are my words for you: learn to follow your heart and do what you love.

If you feel like you want to be this hip hop star, then do it. If you feel like you want to be an architect, do it. If you feel like you want to be a designer, then do it. Nobody will jump out of nowhere and tell you what you need to do. You know what you want. You know what you need. You know what you need to do. We’ve all got dreams, and we all want to be successful, but everything needs extra effort in order to be a success. Stop enjoying sitting at the corner and discussing people while they’re passing by. Start discussing your life, your future, your career, and that might lead you to take action because as we all know, it starts with the words and it starts with a talk.

This inspirational book shall change the negative atoms of the mind to positive atoms of the mind and the positive atoms of the mind to an extra intellectual swag.

Atom-Smashing Power of the Mind is for everyone—from teenagers to youths, from parents to abusive parents, from being sugar daddies to how you can level up in terms of becoming a success in your life, etc.

Chapter 1

Sharp-Sharp

W henever people greet us, we say ‘Sharp’ or ‘Sharp-sharp’, but what’s this ‘Sharp-sharp’ exactly? ‘Sharp-sharp’ has become the new way of saying you’re okay or you’re good among young people in most cases. Even among old people though, it has become a way of describing a feeling that is felt at that moment. But majority of people often say ‘Sharp’ just to say ‘Sharp’ even when they’re not emotionally or physically okay.

From this ‘Sharp-sharp’, I’ve created my own definition. In my world, each letter of sharp has a different definition.

SHARP

S for Self-Respect

Self-respect is essential to every human being. Throughout a person’s life, he develops a certain degree of self-respect. No one can teach him self-respect. Self-respect comes from within a person. He has to learn it for himself. Alfred Whitney Griswold put it best when he said, ‘Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is not for sale. It can never be fabricated out of public relation. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realise that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth, we have spoken it.’

Self-respect is a quality which is extremely important for the dignity, confidence, and personality of an individual. People with self-respect have the courage of accepting their mistakes. They exhibit certain toughness, a kind of moral courage, and they display character. Without self-respect, one becomes an unwilling audience of one’s failings both real and imaginary. To live without self-respect is to live counting one’s omissions and commissions; it is like lying down on an uncomfortable bed that we sleep in. It depends on whether or not we respect ourselves.

A self-respecting person accepts responsibilities for one’s own life, and it’s this source from which self-respect springs. Such people are always willing to accept risks. They invest something of themselves in what they undertake to do, and when they play, they know the odds. Self-respect is a kind of discipline, a habit of the mind that can never fail an individual. It is the kind of ritual which helps us to remember who and what we are. It is a sense of one’s worth. It gives a person the ability to discriminate, to love, and to remain indifferent when one is faced with failure. Without self-respect, one is locked within oneself and is incapable of either love or indifference. If we do not respect ourselves, we, on one hand, are forced to hate those who have it and, on the other hand, become blind to our weaknesses.

If one does not have any self-respect, then one cannot make any decision for oneself. There will be people pushed into situations they either do or don’t want to do. People will also take advantage of them, and eventually, those persons will end up being cheated. I remember one day, Nico and I were just chilling and chatting. He told me how the party life is like and that it’s where you see most people who do not have respect for themselves—and not just any people but teenagers. His peers during the time he was still a teenager were among those people as well, but it depends on the environment and people, of course.

He said, ‘I’m not a party person, but I used to go out with my cousins and friends, sometimes for a long while. And besides, I was still young, and you know how it is like when you’re young. You want to experience everything right now, and you want to be the best at all times with peer pressure right there. So going to parties at night was one of those things we wanted to experience. I could say that I didn’t party for a very long time. It was just for a short period because the things that I saw at those night parties made me realise that I didn’t exist there and that I didn’t deserve that kind of life. I’ve got a bright future ahead of me, and I still wanted to see myself as a respected person. And not only that, I wanted to be a great example to my kids one day, and I wouldn’t dare marry someone from that environment because that person would’ve lost much dignity, respect for others, self-respect, respect for our relationship and humanity.

‘Well, that’s how most of our peers are like during that experience. They tend to forget everything at any time the minute they are introduced to that environment, the minute they set foot on that environment. They forget their true selves, their roots, and everything that made them complete and who they are, and they adapt the behaviour of a party life. Nightlife does change them to different personalities. I know people do change but somewhere somehow change isn’t necessary especially for the