The Sunday Mail
Milton Kamwendo
Hunt For Greatness
Greatness is a choice! Make decisions and do not just state preferences, options and wishes. Develop meaningful plans, draw the line in the sand and explore your scenarios. Do yourself a favour by eliminating options, Plan B, Plan C and any other mediocre alternatives from your chosen path. Choose to be a professional player, not just a fan of your dreams. Decide that you will live in the world of your chosen dreams of greatness and not your distractions and optional excuses.
In the game of greatness, you do not play according to your preferences and quit just because you are tired or its inconvenient to play. You do not resign because you face a tough opponent. Games are not played on the basis of conveniences, but commitment. Increase your work rate and your heart rate. Your heart-felt commitment makes all the difference.
There is no space for Plan B in your greatness game. Make it a point to give yourself totally to whatever you are doing. There are no half-hearted champions in anything. Choose to be the first on the field and the last one to leave. Outplay and outstay your competition and opponents. Stop listening to people who feel pity for you and comfort you with mediocre low-bar standards.
Decide and declare
Decide, declare and do. The great boxer Ali did it. Before he was ever a champion boxer, he started telling people that he is a champion and “The Greatest”. Many people said he talked too much and started calling him “The Lip”. He was just activating a law: you decide to be a champion, you declare it and you work to become one and to stay on top of your game.
The late Steve Jobs used to do it as wel. He would decide, declare it and then take giant steps towards his goal. Your words and decisions advertise your heart and character. You do not have the luxury of speaking like a loser when you are a champion.
Decide, declare it and head into action with boldness. Elon Musk does it too. Strive Masiyiwa has been doing it. The champions I know do it. You also must be doing it if you are not yet doing it. Your words have power and you do not have the luxury of peppering them with doubt, negativity, bitterness and ambivalence. Decide and take action and keep taking action and ploughing against any obstacle that stands in your path. Do not wait for the right wind to blow, just set out towards your destination and decide on your journey.
You strengthen your decision-making muscles by deciding and not just stating preferences, doing the comfortable and convenient things. A decision means cutting off all the other options and refusing to give up because the blows are hard. Your decisions are not based on the size of obstacles you face, but the depth of desire and extent of your vision. Stop looking for the easy way to greatness. You are a champion, not a gambler. It means that when you set your mind and heart towards something, you go for it. Just doing this moves you forward, strengthens your faith muscle and gives you a sense of lift and focus.
Depending on luck
Your life is not based on gambling (unless you are a casino owner), fate or some fetish, but on clear decisions and definite resolve. Eliminate from your mind and mouth secret prayers for luck and secret wishes for fate to follow you. Take definite steps and make clear decisions. Stop looking for charms to open a path for you. Stop doing senseless things that look like short cuts. Eliminate from your life superstitions of all kinds. In the book “The Art of War”, the strategic leader Sun Tsu advises: “Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.” Head into action without fear, but with faith. Should you feel afraid, just do it afraid. Stop doing the things that give you luck and create your own luck through what you do. Engage the gear of faith and not the easy pedal of fate.
Take charge
If you do not take charge of your environment, your environment will take charge of you and control you. Refuse to be a mere “remote control” of your conditions and environment. If you want to be great, quit all the victim nonsense. You may not control everything that happens to you and around you, but you can make a choice as to whether to control the environment or be controlled by it. Take charge of the environment around you, the thinking around you and the dialogue in you. Take control of your thoughts and what you choose to feed your mind with and base your conversations on. Stop feeding your mind with junk, and your soul with negativity. On the greatness lane you do not have the luxury of wasting time with distractions.
Let anyone walk wherever they want, but refuse to let anyone walk through your mind with their dirty feet. Refuse to be part of negative conversations that leave you blind to opportunity and alive to evil. Take full control of your environment. Take charge and take responsibility. Take bold action, big moves and giant steps.
Forget the past
Forget and forgive the past. Do not be tied to the hurts, misses and losses of the past. Press stop and eject all toxic narratives that tie you to the past, disable you in the present and blind you from dreaming big. Choose to focus, forgive and forget the past. Forget past failures and start now. Renew your commitment to greatness. You may have failed in the past, but do not use that against yourself, do not hang it on your neck. Your job is to diligently navigate forward with resolve. You may veer off course, some accidents may happen along the way and you may lose a few things and friends along the way. It is part of the realities of the journey. Do not camp in the past, keep focused on your path of light. Correct what you need to. Keep working to make your declaration real. Shape your environment and make quality choices.
Build sustaining structures
Build empowering structures, partnerships and systems that keep you accountable and on the assertive move. For instance, getting a coach is a sign of commitment. Because you know you will have to pay, it increases your chance of commitment. You have always wanted to travel, then buy the ticket. Set up the board and start making moves. Commitment without action and accountability is an empty wish. Make your moves and build the structures around you to keep you moving.
Decide, declare and take action. Commit to being a professional player who delivers at the highest level and not just a funny fan. A fan has options and can stay or quit whenever he wants. A professional player makes commitment, lives with pressure to deliver and does what needs to be done to influence the game and contribute fully. The player is on contract to deliver and uses prime time to prepare. The fun has no commitment beyond social affiliation and association. Be the most hardworking player you know. Be the most valuable player you know. Let your diligence shine forth. Decide, declare and do.
Committed to your greatness.
◆ Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and growth mentor. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at [email protected] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo. His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com.
