#6 "It's gonna be a movie"

You don’t have to be famous to be significant!

  Meet Thabo…he reminds us that every experience is an opportunity to learn.  He reminds those of us who are still searching for our passion, that it won’t magically appear but rather, it is something you must actively chase.  We love how Thabo reflects on the values and truths he has learnt from his mother and how these have helped him to find the courage to live intentionally. 

I want to start by saying, thank you so much for this incredible honour to be featured on Salt & Earth.  The single driving force in my life is generosity – to be able to make an impact by giving of myself and my experiences is what makes me jump out of bed every morning.  Your generosity in curating these stories in a real, authentic way to give people a fresh dose of inspiration to not just exist, but live intentionally is more admirable than I would ever be able to express.

I think that I am someone who lives intentionally because of my courage to always pursue things that matter even if it is unpopular, or makes people uncomfortable, or does not fit in with societal views of what success or significance is.  I was fortunate to discover very early in life that passion is something you create.  Many people are simply just existing because they are waiting for life to happen to them but from an early age I did everything from selling lollipops in school to becoming a DJ and sound producer, to creating a book shop for my local church because creating, connecting & selling made me happy.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my name literally means happiness since happiness has always been my biggest motivator.  I proactively seek happiness by constantly doing the things I care about even if it means building something from the ground up.  And that’s how I have continued to create passion.

My biggest role model and inspiration has always been my mother.  She is the epitome of strength, generosity and faith. My mother was a police-woman with superhuman strength and unmatched aiming abilities!!  I have a lot of energy now, but I was even worse as a kid, haha! I would often find myself in all kinds of trouble. Whenever I got caught being naughty, I would try to run out the house for safety and my mom knew I had energy and speed, so she wouldn’t bother chasing me but would grab the nearest book, ornament, shoe or pot and throw that at me from afar with unbelievable force that would wipe me out.  Even if I was on the other side of the room just about to exit, she never ever EVER missed!  I grew up and realised it was pointless trying to run away from one’s fears because you only end up getting the back of your head hit with a book and crash into cupboards.  Even when my father lost his job, committed infidelity in front of me, left us, came back and got really sick, my mother taught me that ultimate strength is about resilience and forgiveness of self and others. 

Growing up in the township of Vosloorus we didn’t have much but whenever you visited our home my mother would refuse for you to leave empty handed.  From an early age I discovered the power of perspective and how if you focus on what you don’t have you will be crippled by your limitations.  On the other hand, if you are grateful for the little you have you grow resourceful and can use it to create abundance.   

My mother had incredible faith in me and taught me that if you dream big and work hard, you’ll find incredible opportunities.  Having received numerous academic awards including university bursaries, having worked as a business developer in a corporate finance company, having worked as an account manager in a market leading multinational and having worked as a senior banker in specialist private bank, I can attest to my mother’s simple yet profoundly truthful lessons.

I was doing very well in my job, had doubled my salary in 3 years and was poised for growth into an executive position so leaving the company this year was one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make.  Ultimately, I needed to give myself room to grow into the person I want to be by giving myself space to do work that matters.

Today I own and run my own production company that specializes in creating video content with the aim to push myself and the people in my community to connect deeper, share more & live everyday creating a narrative of their lives that’s worthy of the “big screens” (If you have heard or seen the tag line “it’s gonna be a movie” in my videos now you know where it comes from).  I also recently founded a digital marketing start-up that uses digital content, Internet technologies and data insights to connect small township businesses to larger corporates in a way that facilitates the creation of real sustainable value.

Juggling being a speaker, content creator, videographer and running two businesses is very demanding and requires an extreme level of focus, discipline, the ability to work both hard and smart, as well as copious amounts of drive and passion.  I recently decided to leave an amazing job as a banker to focus full time on my businesses.  What helps me do all that I do is an unrelenting devotion to my values.   If it has nothing to do with impacting communities around me and inspiring people, then I’m simply not interested. 

I stopped asking what the best way is to make money and started asking what the best way is to spend my time!

My 2 businesses are founded solely on this premise and that’s why they work so seamlessly together. I wake up at 4am every day, meditate for at least 30 minutes, read for at least an hour and exercise for at least another hour.  This daily routine helps position me for maximum levels of execution throughout the day.

The most important ability you can cultivate is your ability to learn.  I am obsessed with learning and believe it to be the one thing that will lead to ultimate fulfillment in life.  I didn’t go to any formal film and production school but my unrelenting desire to learn enabled me to take the small steps necessary to get started.  I think people are scared or don’t know where to go because they haven’t devoted themselves to learning.  As soon as you start reading about failures of others and the lessons they drew from their failures then all of a sudden the fear of failure stops paralyzing you from taking action and you start getting excited by failure because failing means you are learning and making strides.

So, my advice to unlock happiness is to take action towards the pursuit of passion.  If I could say something to my younger self, I would tell him to pick up more books, listen to more empowering pod casts, watch more educational videos and learn as much as possible as often as you can.  The other thing is to surround yourself with as much support as possible.  The loss of my father this year was a painful experience that showed me the importance of prioritizing quality time with family.  I am grateful for my girlfriend and my daughter who put up with all my craziness and above all give me all the love and support in the world, without them none of this makes any sense.

I don’t have a life motto, but I have a life declaration that I hope more people will declare to themselves when they look in the mirror and think about their lives: 

                                  “It’s gonna be a movie!”