The Sunday Mail
Milton Kamwendo Hunt for Greatness
WHAT does it really take to stop you?
Who are you really at the core? You are not a coward, deserter or escapee from the path of greatness.
Use your towel to wipe off the sweat but do not throw that towel in the ring in surrender.
You may experience a setback, or many setbacks but no mountain of setbacks is reason enough for you to retire to a life of regret.
Stage your comeback. Every setback you face is a setup for a comeback. There is something so strong in you.
Your spirit is stronger than your body. Your determination and resolve to win are stronger than any obstacle that stands in your way.
That obstacle in your path is your stepping stone to greatness.
Your future is more exciting than your past. There are inexhaustible possibilities that lie ahead.
Second coming
Never let past failure stop you from making another attempt.
Come back to the ring and do not die in your winter or wilt in your wilderness moments.
Your challenges are not unique, and you are not the only one who faces them.
If you go around curating problems, you may find that yours is so small that it’s not worth all the pouting and mourning.
True greatness takes time, effort and sustained focus.
Never let other people’s ignorant complaints and negativity become an epidemic you suffer from and pass on to others.
There is this man you probably have heard about. His company was incorporated in 1976 with a big dream to revolutionise the world of personal computing.
He worked hard, made good money and a great name. He could easily have retired to a life of idleness without having to worry about money.
His dream was bigger than lazy retirement. He animated his teams and his work became well known around the world.
Every story has its chapters, paragraphs and punctuation marks. So it was with him.
After a few chapters, in 1985, he was dismissed from the company he started.
He walked away in deep pain.
A dream and race seemed lost. Pain is too precious an asset to squander feeling pity for yourself.
He did not spend too long a time in unending grief and personal horror stories.
He opened the next chapter of his life. There is always a next opportunity waiting if you are willing to see possibilities beyond despair.
He had a great dream, a new dream about computing.
It all did not really work as expected, but that is part of the work.
He also made a different type of movies in that time.
He took to new interests and adventures that broadened his mind and perspective.
Nonetheless he was still in the wilderness.
There is more to a wilderness than what meets the eye. Do not spend your wilderness moments in “park or sleep mode”.
Even if what you are doing does not look like or feel like the ultimate, keep moving and learning. Keep sharpening the edges of your pencils.
This character spent ten years in the wilderness (1986-1996), and he proved that the wilderness is not a barren place but an opportunity for growth.
In 1997, he came back to the company he started and loved.
He brought back a new operating system, vision, new passion and a matured but ferocious focus. You can guess his name?
The late Mr Steve Jobs of Apple.
The rest of the story is that I am writing this article using a Macintosh Computer from Apple and I love his company’s products.
Your story
Your life is an unfolding story, a special drama. You have a story and you are the main actor in the story of your life.
Do not let your story be dry, uninteresting and one that just ends abruptly.
If your life was turned into a book, would anyone want to buy it?
If it was turned into a movie, would anyone want to watch it?
It’s time to get out of your shell and live life fully.
You are not practicing to live and today is the youngest that you will ever be.
Do not let the current chapter of your life be the last chapter of your life. Live fully.
Determine to make your come back a success story.
Do not denominate your life in the currency of the past.
Do not let discouragement be your life’s narrator. Stop playing despair songs as your background music.
Pain and wounded pride are too precious to waste. Find another title for your life’s book better than “The Lamentations.”
Your wilderness moments are too precious to be wasted telling scary stories to would-be great dreamers.
Your story is not ended yet, open new chapters and verses. Do not die until you are really dead.
Open new scenes in the movie of your life. No adversity is strong enough to stop you.
No personal tragedy is big enough to write you off. Do not take yourself off the shelf before your sell-by date.
Life is too big to be wasted in empty living and discourses of dismay and disaffections.
Moulding experiences
Some people call them “sovereign foundations” and others call them “personal crucible”.
These are experiences that you pass through in the process of your growth and development. Moulding experiences start at birth. They are affected by family situation, environmental factors and historical events.
Everyone has a growing up story to tell.
For others it is a story of depravation and tragedy.
For others of abject poverty and neglect.
Yet for others it is a story of abuse.
Whatever places your growth journey took you through, decide that you will not be a victim of the past.
No experience that you pass through is ever a waste.
Everything is perfectly beaded together by the hand of The Almighty.
Your attitude is more important than your circumstances.
Forgive the past and its pains.
Learn from the past but do not build castles and rot there.
Never let the pain of the past occupy all of your present and maim your future.
Your moulding experiences are important.
They cannot be ignored. However, never use them as an excuse or crutch.
Reframe your moulding experiences into a motivating runway to launch your greatness.
Squeeze the juice from your moulding experiences and let others benefit from your pains of the past.
You experienced it, that was painful enough. Do not hold everyone as an object of abuse and revenge.
Do not play hostage games and keep reliving the pains and experiences of the past.
Instead of replaying the past, replay the future. Vision is more powerful than history.
Break the mould and recreate your life.
The defeats of the past should never be the defeats of the future. Past failure should not be fatalist prophecies.
The pains of the past should never be allowed to be the lived realities of the future.
Let the fires that you passed through be the tonic of your motivation today.
Art of failure
Greatness is a land of second chances. Every failure that you face is a set up for your come back.
Do not despair or give up too soon.
Failure is not fatal so long as you are willing to learn from it.
Dust off the ego-injuries, stand up and face the music again.
When you fall on the dance floor, that does not mean that the party is over.
Stand up and dance with life. It is too early to go home.
Make failure a stepping stone to something bigger and better.
Make it an access point to a victory that could not have been experienced without a momentary failure and setback.
Anyone who has never risked failure never achieved anything worthwhile.
Dream big, live humbly, knowing that to fail is not to forfeit your dream.
Tombstone moment
Tombstones matter in our culture. Do not wait to die to decide how the message on your tombstone will read.
Write out your tombstone message today.
As you do, make it inspiring and aspirational. Then live everyday with passion, focus and make that message real.
Live in such a way that no one will be tempted to edit your tombstone message.
If you do not decide how you will be remembered, you may easily be remembered for the wrong thing.
All memory was once a vision. I am sure that you will not want to be remembered for giving up, being too afraid to start again, too timid to try.
Live up to your honor.
Do whatever it takes to make the final part of your life story the most interesting one.
Life is too big to be lived in an uninteresting and unchallenging manner.
You are destined for greatness.
This is your birthright. There is no shame in trying, trying and trying again.
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: 077242263.
