Shake off slumber, seize the day

10 Apr, 2016 - 00:04 0 Views
Shake off slumber, seize the day

The Sunday Mail

“A man who misses his opportunity, and monkey who misses his branch, cannot be saved,” says a Hindu Proverb.
Opportunity does not come according to your schedule and timetable.
Stop being obsessed with luck, get rich quick scheme and other lazy pursuits of fortune. Your job is to watch the road ahead carefully, prepare your sails and keep your eyes clear, ready for the strike of opportunity.
Your responsibility is to prepare and be ready for the tide you desire. When you know what you want, you will see it when it comes. If today there is no opportunity, just prepare and keep preparing. No time invested in preparation is a waste.
When opportunity comes, open your doors wide, recognise and embrace it. Seize the opportunity and run with all your might, for your light will have come.
Complaining that there is no opportunity will not create any opportunity. Preparation and awareness help you see the opportunity that others do not see.
There are opportunities everywhere begging for recognition. Opportunities are usually decked as insolvable problems, malignant headaches and itching situations.
Do not run away too quickly from problems. Do not pray too quickly for your problems to be taken away, you may just be chasing away your blessed opportunities.
In the midst of all problems, there is a pool of opportunity. This moment that you stand in is your stepping stone to greatness.
These problems that you face are opportunities waving at you. You will never see the opportunity of the future when you are obsessed with the problems of the past. Never let those who do not see opportunity recruit you into their choir of complaining grouches.
Spend your waking hours looking for opportunity. Spend your sleeping hours dreaming of opportunity.
When opportunity comes knocking on your door, open the door for it to come in. When you see the small crevice of opportunity, follow that vein to the light.
Small opportunities seized beget big opportunities. When the tide is high, it is time to move. You cannot wait forever.
Be ready for your coming tide of fortune and greatness. Take small diligent steps. Do what you must. Do not give up and run.
It’s time to stand and make a difference.
Opportunity hates lazy cowards.
William Shakespeare wrote some amazing immortal words. In “Julius Caesar” Act 4, Scene 3, Brutus talks to Cassius saying:
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
This is a graphic portrayal of the tide of opportunity. When opportunity comes, let it find you ready, inspired and raring to go.
Get ready mentally, physically and in deed, spiritually. Keep learning and sharpening yourself.
Build relationships and refine your concept and models. Put your resources together and stand ready.
Document your ideas and take the necessary steps. The waters are moving and your opportunity is waiting for you to be ready. Prepare daily, diligently and be ready.
There are four types of people that are courted by opportunity. These are the despondent, dormant, dramatic and diligent.You are definitely one of the four.
It is up to you to choose and name your identity. The despondent are visited by opportunity but can benefit little. Opportunity finds them discouraged, complaining and bitter. It finds them withered in despair. Even when opportunity knocks, the despondent are so busy complaining and grumbling so loudly that they cannot hear its gentle knock.
If you are discouraged, press STOP! It’s time to get up, clean your bed and start getting ready.
No one person has a patent over opportunity. The tide of opportunity is howling in the distance and you do not want to miss it. In the midst of the difficulties, there lies opportunity. There are opportunities in this season that will not be there at any other time in the future.
Do not miss your branch.
The dormant are now frozen and have plateaued. They have succumbed to the lure of the comfort zone and do not have much to fight for. Get up and get moving. Feeling pity for yourself will just get you into the pit.
Shake off the slumber and the lethargy. Live out loud and do not afford the luxury of being lax and lazy. It is not time to doze and think you have arrived. Certainly not so soon. Most of the people that we call successful are only using less than five percent of their potential.
Use your potential and die empty having tapped into your full potential.
Mine your capacity, burrow through your potential until you get to your opportunity. Flex your muscles and get into action. The battle is not for those in mental retirement. You cannot give up so soon, that will be robbing posterity.
Then you have the dramatic.
Opportunity finds the dramatic people throwing dust all over, trying to score points on a useless scoreboard that no one is watching. Drama is no substitute for deliberately moving forward in a focused manner. Impressions are not preparation.
Activity is not results. Fame is not success. Dust is not density. Noise is not production. Be willing to do the hard work, far from the gaze of the crowd. Be willing to work quietly on your foundations. Silence is not ignorance. Working quietly and equipping yourself without drama is not stupidity. Stop the useless drama and do the things that matter.
Then you have the diligent.
These are steadily working and preparing for opportunity. They know that opportunity can knock any day. Opportunity must be tackled head-on when it comes. This requires you to be alert and watching. Spend your time planning for opportunity, rather than worrying about the things that you cannot change.
In one of the cities of ancient Greece stood a statue chiseled by Lysippus, the only sculptor authorised to chisel the image of Alexander the Great.
Lysippus’ statue had wings, a lock of hair on the forehead, and was bald at the back. None of these details were mistakes. They were intentional details with a profound message. Underneath the statue were chiseled out in Greek letters the following questions and answers:
“Who made thee?” — “Lysippus made me.”
“What is thy name?”— “My name is Opportunity.”
“Why has thou wings own they feet?” — “That I may fly swiftly over the earth.”
“Why has thou a forelock?”— “That men may seize me as I come.”
“Why art thou bald on the back of they head?” — “Because, when I am gone, none can lay hold of me.”
Perhaps this is the reason my we have the proverbial expression — “take time by the forelock”.
Always remember the statue of Lysippus and its message.
Grab opportunity by the forelock and run with it. It will take time, it will require commitment, but it is possible. Opportunity does not wait for anyone, but anyone can wait for opportunity.
Imagine yourself with your desires materialised. What will have to be true now for you to reach your goals? Start working on those issues that you identify.
Have a plan. Wishing is not a plan. Ask yourself, “What is not yet perfect?” Start addressing those issues, step by step. It may be hard, but then who said opportunity is an easy game.
Do not afraid to take small steps, just be afraid of standing still. Do not be afraid that you will be laughed at, focus on what matters. Anything worth doing always look ridiculous to those who are not engaged and do not share your vision.
Dare to dream and then work the dream out. Go for greatness.

Milton Kamwendo is an international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. He is a strategy, innovation, team-building and leadership facilitator. Feedback [email protected], Twitter @MiltonKamwendo and WhatsApp +263772422634.

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