The Sunday Mail
Milton Kmwendo Hunt for Greatness —
Today is a special day — Merry Christmas! This day is the result of a great eternal dream-chain, which inspired other dreams and has resulted in countless new dreams. Never stop dreaming because God dreams through you. Do not stop dreaming so long as you are living and giving your best.
Respect your dream enough to pursue it with passion, vigour and unyielding verve. Your challenges should never tempt you to lose your nerves because destiny waves.
The dream journey continues and it must never stop at you. There are many dreams within any dream. Every dream comes pregnant with other dreams.
Do not block the road to greatness for others because you feel you have arrived at your destination. The sky is big enough for any bird to fly. The night would be long and painful if only the great dreams of the few were the only ones in the offing.
The woods would be silent if no birds sang there except the beautiful ones. Pass on the torch and strengthen some soul to bear it with courage and vision.
George Bernard Shaw once said: “Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations”. So it is within any dream, and your dream and place in particular. Your dream is some splendid torch; believe in its beauty.
Let your dream burn brightly, hold it steady despite what the critics were told. Choose your thoughts carefully because they become your life. You are not the beginning, likely not the end, but you are a vital node.
Take your dream seriously but never take yourself too seriously or think you are the bellybutton of the world.
Your contribution counts and you make a difference, be content to play your humble part. Whatever you do that is worth doing is worth doing well. When you commit to excellence; excellence will commit to you. There is always a dream within a dream.
Every dream is a seed, sow it with care and focus. Every dream carries awesome potential and nested power. A little seed, like a little flame, can start a huge fire. See greatness in little places and spaces. A little dream, like a little seed, starts a forest. Think generations and generate positive legacies.
When you realise that every dream is a dream within a dream, you are liberated to dream bigger as you pursue greatness. Dig deeper, you are a lighthouse keeper and your dream has potential.
Greatness is not about you being irreplaceable and indispensable because no one is. It is about humbly taking your place, giving your best and making a difference where you are and with what you have.
Sweet dreams
To lie down every day knowing you did your best and no-one could ask for more is a signature of great living. Never be half-hearted, because there are no half-hearted champions. Your dream of today is inspiring other dreamers to dream.
There is a dream inside every dream. Wherever you stop is not an end, but a relay point that inspires other dreamers. To give up is to betray posterity and to dump a dream is to delay a generation.
You may have heard of the Russian or matryoshka doll. It illustrates the idea of a dream within a dream so beautifully.
The matryoshka is a Russian nesting doll that is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another.
A set of matryoshkas consist of a wooden figure which separates, top from bottom, to reveal a smaller figure of the same sort inside, that has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on. So it is with any dream, it has another dream.
Your dreams creates space for other smaller dreams to find a place and home. You encourage many other people than you may know, live and work with that responsibility. Your private battles have many public beneficiaries. Fight them with courage, integrity and commitment. Your victories are the trampoline from which other dreams will bounce forth.
Not yet
I was inspired this morning when my daughter shared with me the power of “yet”. As you pursue your dreams always remember the margin of “yet”.
Whatever you do not have should never stop you. You do not have the resources yet, but this does not mean you will never. Do not make permanent decisions based on temporary conditions.
Your provision is on the way, regardless of the challenges of the day. Your supply has just not yet docked, but it is on the way. Do not be disappointed because of the many things you do not know and are stopping you from seizing your moment.
Remember you do not know that yet, but you will. Do not despair because of what you do not yet have and have not yet become. You are work in progress. Feel the fire, keep your dream, feed your mind, weed out negativity and let your feet keep moving. Nothing is impossible, not yet!
Be a Critic
The key to greatness is to be a certain special type of critic, not a cynic. Adopt Michelangelo’s maxim: “criticise by creating”.
Instead of being a negative motor-mouth, let your deeds show the way, and display the alternative. As you pursue your dream, criticise by creating. Create something so compelling that change is inevitable. Let your actions and results speak loud and clear that there is a better way.
Another person who expressed this thought beautifully is Mr Buckminster Fuller when he said: “In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete”.
Dare to be naive, live out your dream and challenge your limits. You are not a victim and you are not ordinary. Instead of flowing with the current, move against tide of negativity and hopelessness. Instead of accepting the social conditioning of negativity, dare to think differently. When you think positively you give yourself an unfair advantage.
It’s Christmas Day! It is a day to remember that God cared in a special and gave us a special dream gift. The gift is useless unless received. Jesus becomes meaningful and relevant when you open your life to consider him as a special and seminal life choice.
If you consider a gift like Jesus the Christ to be a mere dream or just a fairy tale for children, you lose the meaning of it all. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Think differently and you will produce different results.
Committed to your 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] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634.
