A few nights ago I sat with a millionaire in front of a house he had built for his son, and he told me his story. He had started off milking cows decades ago, to now own one of the most well known tyre (tire) empires in Trinidad and Tobago. All the magic and mysticism of success was laid bare in what he told me- and out of all that he shared, one part of the story stands out.

He found a piece of property in a very high traffic area, but it was swampland. He spent the money and filled it up so that he could build on it - something he did with cash he had built up over the years of selling tires. He was desperate for cash, trying to leverage what he had into what he had as a goal - a large tire shop in a high traffic area that, in time, would not only pay for itself but also pay for much more. He had to sell some property he had to get some cash, and he used that to start the building. No corners were cut, and because of that the foundation was solid but the cash was low. { Read more }

If Life were a game of 10 ball, I think the table would be surrounded by people with cues taking shots at random - sort of like that game 'Hungry Hungry Hippos', but instead of capturing and pulling the balls it would be a lot of cue balls being shot onto the table with the hope of sinking a ball. When you're younger, I think, you just keep shooting randomly and hoping for a result.

As you grow older and, hopefully, more experienced, you start planning your shots and waiting for the balls to line up in certain ways before taking a shot. This requires patience and the skill and experience that should have been acquired from the seemingly random and even spastic attempts before. You can wait for a long time for shots to line up - a very long time. Maybe you pull a chair, read a few magazines and books, watch some televisions and movies and just sit there and wait. You may even lose faith in the balls ever lining up au jus.

Then, when you least expect it, you see a shot. It could be a straight shot. It could be a combo, where you might have to transfer energy from a few balls to others to sink only one ball - or maybe you get a split and can drop two or more balls at the same time. Or maybe it is both.

Maybe you sit there and wait, pondering - and the table changes, the shot leaves.

Or maybe you line up the shot quickly, and you take it and hope that skill and experience reward patience.