{"id":52523,"date":"2021-04-12T05:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T05:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/?p=52523"},"modified":"2021-04-12T05:17:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T05:17:34","slug":"modu-if-you-want-something-figure-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/?p=52523","title":{"rendered":"Modu: \u201cIf you want something, figure it out\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead in French<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When I was 19, my aunt took me with her to New Jersey, in the US. Once we got there, she took me to another aunt, who ended up kicking me out a month later. Slightly confused, I jumped on a Greyhound bus to crash at a friend\u2019s in Nebraska. At this point, I barely spoke English, so I couldn\u2019t get a job right away. I called my mother to ask for some money to keep me afloat, but she gave me some tough love. All she said was \u201cNo. Figure it out.\u201d It took me years to understand not only why she had done this, but also what a powerful life lesson this had been: if you want something, figure out how to get it.<\/p>

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I am not going to lie; it was tough, and the first weeks felt like hell.\u00a0 But as the proverb goes, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t close the doors and the windows\u201d. I finally landed a job at a burger joint, and then at another, and I started working ninety-hour weeks to save money for college. Ever since my aunt threw me out, I had never really entertained the idea of going back home to Senegal. Moving to the US was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I didn\u2019t want to disappoint the people who had invested in me like the aunt who brought me here. So, the least I could do was to show them that I was worth it.<\/p>

My entire childhood had been that way: I chose the path that would make my mother proud. I was born in Dakar, Senegal, on the very same day my father passed away. So, from a very young age I felt like I had to be a good kid, the kind of kid who never did anything that could worry his mother. I steered clear of trouble and focused on school, soccer, and then basketball. Sports made me feel alive, but she wanted me to concentrate on my performance in school, so I did.<\/p>

You see, in the US, things weren\u2019t that different at first. I got my bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science and worked a as a programmer and model at the same time. Truth is, I had the career I worked hard for, earned good money to help my family, but I wasn\u2019t living my dream. For a long time, I had wanted to work in fitness, but I knew this wasn\u2019t a path my family would easily support. I struggled so much with the idea of failing them by giving up on the job I fought so hard to get.<\/p>

\"\"It took me eight years, but in the end, I quit. I just had to do what I loved, even if it meant that I would be making less money. At the beginning, this choice put a strain on the relationship with my family because I couldn\u2019t send money home anymore. I made a three-year plan to develop my own brand of gyms, supplement and clothing lines. This is how Moduvated<\/em> started. I now manage six successful Fitness Clubs in Cabo St Lucas, Mexico and decided to expand to Senegal in 2019. The funny thing is that people are now willing to pay me more than when I worked in IT. Before, I used to struggle to make it through an eight-hour workday but now, I constantly have a smile on my face and the long hours fly by. In the end, passion is a much more fulfilling driver than money.<\/p>

In life, most of us get handed nothing, so we have to shape our own success. That said, many people work hard and never get opportunities, especially where I am from. For that reason, people tend to think that things are easier outside of Africa but the truth is, wherever you land, you have to focus your energy towards what you love and keep a strong mindset or nothing will happen for you. I am blessed to have grown up without a head start because I never took anything for granted.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Back in Senegal<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Modu: \u201cSi tu veux quelque chose, d\u00e9brouille-toi”<\/span><\/h2>

Quand j’avais 19 ans, ma tante m’a emmen\u00e9 avec elle dans le New Jersey, aux \u00c9tats-Unis. Une fois l\u00e0-bas, elle m’a conduit chez une autre tante, qui m’a jet\u00e9 dehors un mois plus tard. Dans la confusion, j’ai saut\u00e9 dans un bus Greyhound pour aller squatter chez un ami dans le Nebraska. Je parlais \u00e0 peine anglais \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque alors je ne pouvais pas trouver de travail imm\u00e9diatement. J\u2019ai appel\u00e9 ma m\u00e8re pour lui demander de l\u2019argent pour me maintenir \u00e0 flot, mais elle m\u2019a servi de l\u2019amour vache. Elle m\u2019a seulement dit : \u00ab\u00a0Non. D\u00e9brouille-toi\u201d. Il m’a fallu des ann\u00e9es pour comprendre non seulement pourquoi elle avait fait \u00e7a, mais aussi quelle le\u00e7on de vie formidable \u00e7a avait \u00e9t\u00e9 : si tu veux quelque chose, trouve un moyen de l’obtenir.<\/p>

\"\"Je ne vais pas vous mentir, \u00e7a a \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9prouvant, et les premi\u00e8res semaines ont \u00e9t\u00e9 un v\u00e9ritable enfer.\u00a0 Mais comme dit le proverbe, “Dieu ne ferme pas les portes et les fen\u00eatres”. J’ai finalement d\u00e9croch\u00e9 un boulot dans un fast-food, puis dans un autre, et j’ai commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 travailler quatre-vingt-dix heures par semaine pour \u00e9conomiser de l’argent pour aller \u00e0 l’universit\u00e9. Apr\u00e8s que ma tante m’ait jet\u00e9 dehors, je n’ai jamais vraiment envisag\u00e9 de rentrer au S\u00e9n\u00e9gal. S’installer aux \u00c9tats-Unis \u00e9tait une opportunit\u00e9 exceptionnelle, et je ne voulais pas d\u00e9cevoir les gens qui avaient investi en moi, tels que ma tante qui m’avait amen\u00e9 ici. Le moins que je pouvais faire, c’\u00e9tait de leur montrer que j’en valais la peine.<\/p>

En fait, toute mon enfance a \u00e9t\u00e9 comme \u00e7a : J’ai tout fait pour que ma m\u00e8re soit fi\u00e8re de moi. Je suis n\u00e9 \u00e0 Dakar, au S\u00e9n\u00e9gal, le jour m\u00eame o\u00f9 mon p\u00e8re est d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9. Alors d\u00e8s mon plus jeune \u00e2ge, j’ai d\u00e9cid\u00e9 que je serais un bon gamin, le genre qui ne fait jamais rien qui puisse inqui\u00e9ter sa m\u00e8re. J’ai \u00e9vit\u00e9 les probl\u00e8mes et je me suis consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 l’\u00e9cole et au football, puis au basket-ball. Je me sentais en vie gr\u00e2ce au sport, mais ma m\u00e8re voulait que je me concentre sur mes r\u00e9sultats scolaires, alors c’est ce que j’ai fait.<\/p>

Au d\u00e9but, les choses n’\u00e9taient pas tellement diff\u00e9rentes aux \u00c9tats-Unis. J’avais obtenu ma licence en informatique et je travaillais comme programmeur et mannequin en m\u00eame temps. J’avais la carri\u00e8re pour laquelle je m’\u00e9tais donn\u00e9 \u00e9norm\u00e9ment de peine et je gagnais un bon salaire qui me permettait d’aider ma famille. Mais la v\u00e9rit\u00e9 c’est que ce n\u2019\u00e9tais pas mon r\u00eave que je vivais. \u00a0Je voulais faire carri\u00e8re dans le monde du fitness depuis longtemps, mais je savais que ce n’\u00e9tait pas une voie que ma famille soutiendrait volontiers. J’ai beaucoup souffert \u00e0 l’id\u00e9e de les laisser tomber en abandonnant le m\u00e9tier pour lequel je m’\u00e9tais tant battu.<\/p>

\"\"Il m’a fallu huit ans, mais j’ai fini par d\u00e9missionner. Je devais absolument faire ce que j’aimais, m\u00eame si cela impliquait que je gagnerais moins d’argent. Au d\u00e9but, cette d\u00e9cision a mis ma relation avec ma famille \u00e0 rude \u00e9preuve, car je ne pouvais plus leur envoyer d’argent. J’ai con\u00e7u un plan sur trois ans pour d\u00e9velopper ma propre marque de salles de gym, de compl\u00e9ments alimentaires et de v\u00eatements. C’est comme \u00e7a que Moduvated<\/em> a commenc\u00e9. Aujourd’hui, je g\u00e8re six salles de gym \u00e0 Cabo St Lucas, au Mexique, et je me suis \u00e9tendu au S\u00e9n\u00e9gal en 2019. Ce qui est dr\u00f4le, c’est que les gens sont d\u00e9sormais pr\u00eats \u00e0 me payer plus que lorsque je travaillais dans l’informatique. Avant, j’avais du mal \u00e0 supporter une journ\u00e9e de travail de huit heures, mais maintenant, j’ai constamment le sourire aux l\u00e8vres et les longues heures d\u00e9filent. En fin de compte, la passion est un moteur beaucoup plus gratifiant que l’argent.<\/p>

Dans la vie, la plupart d’entre nous ne d\u00e9marrons de rien, alors on doit se forger notre propre succ\u00e8s. Cela dit, beaucoup de gens travaillent dur et n\u2019ont jamais d’opportunit\u00e9s, surtout l\u00e0 d’o\u00f9 je viens. Alors on a tendance \u00e0 penser que tout est plus facile en dehors de l’Afrique. La v\u00e9rit\u00e9, c’est qu\u2019o\u00f9 que vous vous soyez, vous devez concentrer votre \u00e9nergie sur ce que vous aimez et faire preuve d’un \u00e9tat d\u2019esprit solide, sinon vous n’arriverez \u00e0 rien. Avoir grandi sans aucune longueur d\u2019avance a \u00e9t\u00e9 une chance, car cela m’a permis de ne jamais rien tenir pour acquis.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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De retour au Senegal<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read in French When I was 19, my aunt took me with her to New Jersey, in the US. Once we got there, she took me to another aunt, who ended up kicking me out a month later. Slightly confused, I jumped on a Greyhound … Continue readingModu: \u201cIf you want something, figure it out\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senegal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52523"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52544,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52523\/revisions\/52544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}