The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
You have no time to waste in idle efforts to blend in when you should be standing out. Belief gives you power. Set out on a crusade to be a world changer and difference maker. Believe you can, because you surely can and you will.
You are born to be different; so do not seek to conform, but to perform at an increasingly higher level. Learn all you can, so that you can lean forward, serve better and contribute more. It is not noble education to kill the greatness within you that is seeking expression and space.
The world needs something that only you can give in the way you give it. Stick your head out like a tortoise in motion. Behold the way of the tortoise, it only makes progress when it sticks its head out of the shell. Step out of every shell and shallow and stand in your place of personal power.
Dare to step up, step forth and take steps forward. Do what you have to do, to do what must be done. Be bold and fear not. The universe has been waiting for you to show up. Play to your strengths instead of your weaknesses, doubts and negative conditioning. Be willing to stand up for what you believe, stand out for who you are and do what you dream to do. Nothing will happen until you happen to do something. No one has your brain, your experience or your genetic make up. You are one of a kind, designed for greatness, engineered for excellent delivery and endowed with the marks of success and a penchant for exploits. Play to who you really are, not what everyone wishes you were, but can never be. You are at your best when you are the authentic you.
In 1998 Rob Siltanen, then Creative Director of TBWA/Chiat/Day following an advertising brief from Apple wrote the copy of an advertising campaign that Apple was due to launch. The campaign profiled various people that had made a mark on time and changed the world in some way — their own way. Theirs was an exhortation to challenge your limits, accept change and do things differently. It is a call that still rings true today.
World changers are everywhere, if you are willing to look. One of the world changers is wearing your shoes and reading this article right now. Siltanen wrote: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can not do is ignore them. Because they change things.
“They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
This epitomised the thinking of Apple. Their belief has always been that they can change the world through technology.
You are a world-changer, trend-setter and thought-leader. Someone in your sphere looks at you as an exemplar. Take yourself seriously enough to believe in your thoughts and dreams. Refuse to conform to the social hypnosis of negativity, pessimism, doom and gloom. You can blaze your trail, shine your light, make a difference and twinkle your star. You have what it takes; so do what it takes. Do not look at yourself and disqualify yourself because of your history or current status. You are a miracle in the making. You belong in the sky if you dare to fly high. Shine bright and do what you were born to be.
Apple’s “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” mindset is a sustaining manifesto that lives on today. For them this is a rallying cry to celebrating the difference maker, who is willing to stand up and be counted. If you are not being counted it is likely that you are either sitting down or your time has not come yet.
You are not born to just languish in quiet desperation in the grey zone of life. Step into the sunshine and dare to do that which you have always wished you could do. Until you believe you can, you will likely not. It is the power of belief that strengthens your spin.
Until you really believe that you can do the impossible you will not do the best possible. Beliefs are what drives progress and greatness. Empowering beliefs power you up and ignite your potential. It is essential that you believe, if you are to see any manifestation of greatness. If you have goals that look feasible and doable they will happen. However, if you have goals that look impossible, they can happen. Be willing to dare great things because life is not small and neither will your playing small serve anything useful in the world.
It is not enough to just believe something for a short season and then forget it and go your way. Keep repeating things to yourself. Say your affirmations with passion. Make your declarations with intent. Say your prayers with passion. Sell yourself on your message of greatness.
On September 9, 2014 Apple opened its Developer’s Conference by re-visiting the words of its empowering manifesto. It is this that drives the company to continue to produce great products, redefine product categories and push new standards of excellence.
The opening voice-over boomed across the expectant auditorium: “Here’s to those who have always seen things differently. The ones who follow a vision, not a path. Where others perceive first as valuable, you value the first thing that actually matters. While others are distracted by the new, you focus on the significance of a whole new take. Even before you could see how, you never doubted we would change things. And then we did. Together. Again and again, and again, and again. Relentless optimism is what moves the world forward.
“So, keep seeing things differently. Keep thrusting, there is always another way, a better way, a bigger way. One that lifts up humanity. Breaks down our barriers. And heals the landscape. You are the difference between the world as it was and the better place, it will become. And different is the one thing about us, that will always be the same.”
Instead of standing out for what you really believe, many are times you are taught to conform. Instead of being true to what you are on the inside, it is usually comfortable to toe the pedestrian line and be what many expect you to be and do. Do not blend in if you can stand out. Do not be ordinary when you can be extraordinary. Someone is waiting for you to show up and manifest greatness.
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
