The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
It is possible to let time pass, remain the same and hope that things will be better. Welcome change because while not all change may be an improvement, without change there can be no improvement.
The more problems mount, the larger the canvas of opportunities. There is so much that can be changed, reformed, revised, renewed, improved and made better.
The primary thing that is needed is a change-maker and destiny-shaper. Someone who takes personal responsibility, refuses to blame and chooses to do something rather than just look, complain and sigh.
It is not about closing eyes to reality and pretending that reality will disappear. It is choosing to face the brutal realities as a creator, thinker and person of action. Please do not look around for that person, because you are that person.
Progress is always made when you choose to make a difference and answer this call of destiny. Nothing ever changes until what is going on in your mind changes.
The eminent thinker, inventor and solution-developer, R. Buckminster Fuller, like all of us had to answer the call of being a change-maker. He was a thinker and decided that he was not going to waste any more time blaming, criticising, condemning and finding fault.
He committed to making his life an ultimate experiment of find solutions and creating better models that were far superior to present reality. He chose to be the answer and not just the question. For him the choice was to rise up, knowing full well that his resources were limited, he was just one person among a sea of powerful people and yet he was choosing to be a difference-maker and was looking for solutions, answers and creating new models. He was not always that way and did not always think in this way. However, when he made this defining decision, life would never be the same for him.
- Buckminster Fuller (commonly called Bucky) was born in 1895. He could not easily fit into the boxes that people and life placed him in.
He was expelled from Harvard University twice. When he was in his prime, the world economy was reeling in depression. Earlier in his life he tried, failed, tried, failed and failed and failed. He tried a business venture with money borrowed from his father-in- law and this failed so miserably. Nothing seemed to be working for him. It was as though life was conspiring against him to increase his misery.
Things seemed to have come to an end. To make it even worse, his daughter, Alexandra, succumbed to some complications related to polio and meningitis early and died. As a result of this, he flew into a deep depression and his world seemed to have curved in. He was at the time 32 years of age, broke and broken. He contemplated suicide.
Even if everything looks dark and lost, do not give up. It is when things are darkest that you must not quit.
Never despair because you do not seem to see a road or path out of your abyss. When the dark clouds of despair hand low, do not give up, just keep standing. It is when things get worse that you must not quit. Do not quit on life.
Your story is not ended and your despair and disappointment could just be another appointment with destiny. Suicide is never the solution but mere cowardice. Beyond the troubles of the day, there is a sunrise waiting for you.
Let us pick up our thread of R. Buckminster Fuller’s life. Whatever your age, you can relaunch your life and become something that you have never been. Do not let anyone write you off as finished or expired goods. Aged 32, in anger and despair, annoyance and despondent, affront and disillusioned, Bucky Fuller stood on the edge of Lake Michigan.
His idea was to end it all at that moment. The death option seems so attractive and beautiful. He was contemplating suicide and he was ready to jump in. But then, just at that very moment, a light shined in his mind. He had a moment of revelation and started considering a fresh possibility. There are more options than you think. There are more doors than you see.
Instead of killing himself, Bucky considered a different and better choice. At that very moment, standing on the edge of the deep water below, he decided that he would instead dedicate his life to helping make this world a better place.
That one single decision changed everything in his life because it is in your moments of decision that your destiny is forged. It is not what you have or do not have that matters, but the quality of your decisions and commitment. It is never too late to decide to make a turn for the better. If you choose you can decide to live your life at the highest level.
Decide that instead of living a life of just responding to events, you will commit yourself to designing a life. Instead of your life being a series of random accidents, you will make your life a series of success experiments.
The impossible starts being possible when you change your thinking.
This is exactly what Bucky did. He was not going to engage in wishful thinking, nor was reality going to change in an instance. He had made a decision for greatness and this made all the difference. While he was aware that he had little to work with, he would explore the biggest resource that he had — his mind.
He was aware that he had limited resources and being just one man, had little power. Yet his commitment was big and he knew that in him dwelt all the power he needed.
He felt that there is so much that he could do and contribute. That simple decision as death hung over him changed everything. Over the next 56 years of his life, he lived out that decision. He thought deeply, tried things, explored various areas, challenged the realities he faced, solved complex problems and created some amazing inventions and models.
He rose to become a towering force in human progress and defied all the odds. You too can rise from obscurity to greatness. This world has been waiting for you to show up and make a difference. It is too early to run away and hide.
As you think so you become and as you think so you create. Perhaps we can learn and glean from the mind of R. Buckminster Fuller. Here are a few of his quotes that reflect his way of thinking with my own commentary added.
- “We are prisoners of our metaphors, metaphorically speaking.”
You are driven by the pictures that you carry in your mind. To change your life start by looking at the pictures that you have in your mind. If the pictures are ugly, change them.
- “Call me Trim Tab”
What you call yourself changes the way you look at yourself. Bucky asked what he saw as his role in life said, “call me a trim tab.” A trim tab is a small flap-like device that is used to control the direction in a number of devices like boats, planes and elevators. Fuller reminded us that this is what he wanted to be, a trim-tab. He would change the direction of things and be an influencer. You may be a little part of the whole system but what you do affects the direction of the whole ship. Small actions lead to big consequences. You are never too small to make a difference.
- “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.”
When you look at a caterpillar you would never think that one day it would flap and fly, become anything great or beautiful. Where you are today is not a full representation of what you will become. Do not be disheartened by where you are. Keep the dream alive and keep working the process. Greatness is possible and achievable. Do not give up just yet.
- “There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth, only co-pilots”
No one occupies a better place on this spaceship called Earth. There is no need to be apologetic or for you to think that you do not measure up. You are an architect of your life experience and you are not inferior to anyone. You are born for greatness. You too are a co-pilot. What you do matters and if you choose you can contribute to making our ride better.
Instead of swimming in negativity, blaming everything around him, Bucky choose to rise above the chaos and the negative scripting. He decided to be a solution provider and to think differently. Instead of thinking shortage, he started focusing on the abundance that is in the world. Instead of being a ball of complaints, he decided to solve the world biggest problems.
Instead to excusing himself and thinking he was powerless and did not have the instruments of power, Bucky decided to focus on the power within.
Committed to your greatness.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and growth mentor. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634. His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com .
