The Sunday Mail
LIFE is a big and exciting but risky game. It has its winners, losers, cynics, bookmakers and those who die still wondering what the game was all about.
Where you begin is not so much your choice but where you end up is definitely your choice.
You cannot escape taking responsibility. The day you discover that without taking personal responsibility for your life you cannot move forward is your real birthday. You cannot go around blaming everyone for your lot in life and expect change. Before you decide to take responsibility, you are just playing house. When you think like a victim, you behave like one, speak like one and go nowhere.
At the end of the game of life, you could smile and muse: “It’s been a great game” or in frustration you could mutter: “I played the fool”.
It’s all up to you
It is not what others do to you that matters but what you choose to do and how you choose to play. Life is dangerous for those who have no plan and clear goals. Life is sometimes kind when you know what you are doing and it can be rough if you are a blind gambler.
You cannot just float around and hope to land somewhere great. Determine not to just play to play, or to play to impress the wrong gallery. If you will play, play to win. Winning is not about taking away from others but spreading the good and making this world a better experience for many.
Your attitude as you play the game of life will determine what your life becomes.
Playing to play
Life is not a dress rehearsal and time is too precious to be wasted through misdirected fruitless play.
You cannot afford the luxury of passing through life in a stupor and just playing to play. When you aim at nothing you must never be surprised if you inherit the wind. A life without goals is not exciting and lacks challenge.
If you find that you are afflicted by the disease called “boredom”, it means that you have very small goals or you have none. Set goals that are big, bold and exciting.
Set goals that move your heart, challenge your mind and inspire you to move forward.
Your goals must put fire in your belly and spring to your feet. Set goals that inspire you to stretch and become more.
Play with purpose and vision
The arena of greatness is always inviting those who want to play. Your commitment and resolve will always be tested. Do not expire early or give up before the fight. Life is no game for cowards and those seeking a free pass to greatness.
Life may not be easy, but it is possible.
The obstacles you face today will not be there forever. The dark clouds looming over your head will clear one day. Just keep your resolve to play to win and to the last whistle.
Playing to impress
When some teams are punished by sports administrators, they are mandated to play in an empty stadium without any spectators except the match and team officials. The game does not feel the same without cheers from the gallery.
Never let the shouts from spectators tempt you to take your eyes off the ball. Many people may think you are crazy, but keep your focus. You know what you want out of life. Define your game and your audience. Who are you playing to impress?
To spend you life obsessed with the opinions of people who do not care about your life and where you are going is to waste a life.
You do not have the luxury of worrying about people who may never notice you or look at you twice. Stop spending too much on the wrong gallery.
Stop being obsessed with other people’s opinions.
Define your values and principles and focus on them. The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.
Values are not just nice words that impress people who read your values statements. Values are the things that matter most to you. They guide your choices and behaviour.
Playing because others are playing
Peer pressure, social pressure and all other pressures are outside you. Choose to be directed from within. The most important motivation that matters most is your internal motivation — your inner fire and drive. Once you are driven from within, you can go further and do more.
You are unstoppable
Once you are driven from elsewhere you are just as good as a wheelbarrow that goes as far as it is pushed and a mule that drives as fast as it is lashed.
Define your vision and clarify your game. You can achieve more and be more. Your past should never hold you back. Your present is just a passing phase. Let that vision that you carry in your mind guide and inspire you.
Do not let that dream die. Survive your crucibles. If you do not live your dream, you may wake up one day to face a nightmare.
Playing to win
Play to win and not just to play. Define what winning means to you and work towards that goal. Set a high bar for yourself and keep lifting the bar.
Settling for mediocrity is easy because mediocrity has no standards. Going for excellence is tough because it jolts you out of your slumber and takes you out of your complacencies.
What does winning mean for you in the shot run and in the long term. Define how you intend to play in order to win. You have to be clear that there is nothing free except the peanuts on a mouse trap. Harvesting without planting is an exercise in illogical and flawed thinking.
Reaping where you did not sow is pure fraud.
The plans that you develop do not need to be complicated. What is important is that you must commit to action, follow through and execute. Many people talk of lofty ambitions and great ideals. It is the person who takes action who makes things happen who wins. Do not just talk of winning, work to win.
Do not just parade goals and intentions, take radical action. No one will come to pull you out of your bed. Let change and progress find you in action.
Define what you really want. Develop a vision of your life. Define your values and what matters most to you.
Develop a road map from where you are to where you want to go. Simple plans easily unlock great destinies. Try and anticipate the obstacles that are in your path or that could come. Define how you will know when you have succeeded. It would have been easy to delegate all this to someone, that is the easy route to getting to the destination you had never imagined.
Set your goals and let other people work with you to achieve them.
Let your goals and not the gales of life determine the direction of your drift. Aim high enough to be inspired and low enough to be encouraged to give a fight every day. Do not despair.
Your hunger of today should not make you lose your appetite for the feasts to come. Play to win and not just to play.
Milton Kamwendo is a cutting-edge international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. He is a strategy and innovation consultant and leadership coach. His life purpose is to inspire people to release the greatness trapped in them. He can be reached at [email protected] and on WhatsApp number 0772422634
