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Locate, address your mental bias

24 Sep, 2016 - 19:09 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Milton Kamwendo Hunt for Greatness
STOP fighting, blaming and kicking other people. They most likely will be shocked to learn that you think they are your nemesis. The person standing between you and your greatness is usually yourself. Nothing can stop a person who knows where they are going, is humbly working to get there and is willing to face the brutal realities of the journey.

In the world of greatness, your biggest enemy is not outside you. What is happening in your mind is more important than what is happening outside you.
The way you think and process information is important. The person who is standing in your shoes right now, thinking your thoughts and reading this article could be your worst enemy.

Stop fighting against yourself and sabotaging your greatness. Until you change your thinking, very little will change. The way you process information could either limit you or empower you. Your bias is the silent filter that colours your perspectives. Your cognitive bias could easily be silently working against your good intentions for greatness.

Be aware of the biases you may be harbouring. That is the first step to a great breakthrough.

Bias for negativity
You are afflicted with the bias for negativity if you always think in negative terms. You always have intimate details of how bad things are, how nothing will ever work and no one ever works.  For those with the negative bias, the glass is always half empty, the thorn has a rose and every person is either a user or abuser with a hidden agenda.

Nothing ever seems to add up because you feel that the world is always rigged against you. Change your bias and challenge your negative beliefs. Indeed life is not rosy. The difficulties of today are not enough evidence that everything is fatally evil, bad, pathetic and sickly. You are able to go through what you are going through. There are possibilities beyond your wildest dreams. In the midst of the mud there is opportunity. We may all be in a hole, but others are looking up to see the stars.

Inside your scars lie the great stars of possibilities. In your most difficult moments lie the seeds of your greatest opportunity. What things are is not what they will always be.  See yourself in a new light and see possibilities. See your greatness once again for the seed of greatness was always in you and never left you.

You may have forgotten how great you are but that does not change the fact that greatness lies in you.
Suzy Kassem in her poem, “Remember Your Greatness,” wrote:
“Before you were born,
And were still too tiny for
The human eye to see,
You won the race for life
From among 250 million competitors.
And yet,
How fast you have forgotten
Your strength,
When your very existence
Is proof of your greatness.
You were born a winner,
A warrior,
One who defied the odds
By surviving the most gruesome
Battle of them all.
And now that you are a giant,
Why do you even doubt victory
Against smaller numbers,
And wider margins?
The only walls that exist,
Are those you have placed in your mind.
And whatever obstacles you conceive,
Exist only because you have forgotten
What you have already
Achieved.”

Bias for blame
You know you suffer from this mental sickness if you are always blaming others and berating them for all your ills. You have the bias for blame if you are always pushing blame and never responsible for anything. Blame will never solve anything or take you forward. Instead of thinking that other people are the cause of your misery, swallow a little pride and take responsibility.

If anything is to be, it depends on you. It is not who you blame that matters, but what you do. Blame will never take the place of execution.
Whoever and whatever you blame, you empower to cause your misery.  Obstacles are not a blame dumping ground. It is not the size of the obstacle that matters, but the depth of your determination to win.

Do not give your obstacles celebrity status.
Confront your challenges as a willing learner. Should you fail, do not blame anyone otherwise you throw away the learning opportunity.
Reflect and be reflexive. Learn all you can and be willing to stay long enough at a task to outlast its challenge and win. Stop looking elsewhere for a silver bullet.

You are the silver bullet and the key to the results you seek. Apply yourself. Work as if everything depends on you. Pray as if everything depends on God.

Bias for tomorrow
Some people have a lot of tomorrow, what is not done today can always be consigned to tomorrow. Today is never convenient, everything is always pushed to tomorrow. Procrastination is the thief of time and killer of dreams. Tomorrow is a trap that clutters your mind and steal your efficacy.
Tomorrow may never come, today is what you have available.

Use today well or lose it forever.
Stop procrastinating and putting a “pay forward” label on your calendar items.
Stop expressing your efforts in future tense. What you do not cover today is lost forever. Tomorrow will be another day, another activity stream.
Never forget that you can never store time, it marches on. Today is the youngest that you will ever be. You do not live backwards and achieve in retrospect.

The opportunity you have is called today. The temptation you have is called tomorrow.  Make the most of every moment and do not let your personal power lie dormant.  Live today as if it is your last day, because some day soon it will be. On that day, do not say I did not tell you so.

Bias for wishes
Wishes are wishy-washy desires that have not been crystallised into goals. Wishes are sickly intentions usually premised on chance. You cannot wish your way to greatness.  Move beyond wishes and set good bold and exciting goals. Goals are the seeds of all greatness. If you do not set inspiring goals, you will just accidentally ramble through life.

I am sure that you do not intend to be an accident or to live a lie. Stop wishing your life could be anything different and set bold new goals to drive your life forward.  There is more opportunity than you can use. Set the goal and start working towards that goal. Miracles are possible and they are created daily. Live intentionally and you will achieve exceptionally.

Your vision will always be greater than your current capabilities. Your goals may look big and intimidating – that is what good goals should be. The gaps between where you are and where you want to go is your opportunity for learning and growth. Nothing is as motivating as a clear goal that is pursued with passion and ferocious focus.

Bias for superstition
Ghosts, demons, spirits, angels exist.  Live with a consciousness of God, not evil. For some, everything that happens is a superstitious sign, symptom or prophecy.  A little muscle twitch means something is going to happen. A headache means impending agony.  Stop stacking the odds against yourself by believing that you are set up for some negative happening. Whatever you focus on you magnify.

Tear up the negative script. Stop believing the negative prophecies of doom. There is a future for you. Believe that you are set-up for greatness, wired for success and positioned for exploits. In Africa, ancestors are influential. Stop believing that they are angry against you and on a path to destroy you. Do not die before you are dead or live to please death.

Life can be lived differently.
Stop living a life of fear and torment because of superstition or flawed beliefs.
There is a great God who desires good for you.
Curses are broken and life can be a daring adventure for you.

Bias for the past
You suffer from this bias if you are always preferring the past and wishing you could go there. The past is gone and it is not coming back.
Stop living your life looking at the rear-view mirror when the opportunities for visionary living are limitless.  Living in the past makes you irrelevant in the present and a mere relic.

Those who are wedded to the past become liability to progress.  Appreciate the good things about the past but be willing to move on and face forward.
If you do not change, you run the risk of becoming extinct.  Keep challenging yourself, reviewing your posture in life and monitoring your personal dialogue. Be aware of the biases that distort reality and limit your growth. You have greatness in you and are engineered for success.
Have a bias for relentless action.

Milton Kamwendo is an international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. His life purpose is to inspire people to be great. He can be reached at: [email protected] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634.

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