The Sunday Mail
THINK like a person of action and never forget to act like a person of thought. Everything you do must be able to acknowledge that it benefited from thought. It is easy to dream, think, comment or criticise.
Nothing changes so long as you resign to your fate, stop trying, become bitter and give up. The whole of eternity has been waiting for you to take action that is bold and resolute.
If you fail after taking action, that is better than to succeed at doing nothing. You cannot harvest the results of actions that you did not take. Just do something.
There are times when friends change your life forever through little but thankless acts of kindness. In 2006 after the passing on of my first wife, Esther Kuziwa, a friend, Percy, sent me a parcel from his base in Canada where he now lives with his family.
When I opened the parcel, I was surprised to find a small book, printed on newsprint entitled, “The Greatest Salesman in the World” written by a man with an odd name, Og Mandino.
For a few days I just looked at the book, wondering why a grieving man should be reading a book on sales. Then one evening I picked up the book and started ploughing through it. The first few pages were a winding tale of some ancient man. I was tempted to dump the book but persisted a little and it paid. I was electrified and glued and I read the book long into the night.
The next day I took the book to work and I shared the book and its message with everyone who cared to listen. The ten scrolls handed to the greatest salesman are an ever fresh message that everyone should internalise because they work for any arena of life.
In the book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, the 9th scroll is dedicated to the importance of taking action: acting now to make any plan, desire or scheme happen.
Born on 12 December 1923, Mandino’s message is still as relevant today as at any other time in history. Mandino says: “I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labour of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.” Act now or forever languish in regret.
Indeed, I will act now, won’t you also? We waste too much time complaining and thinking that the whole world owes us a living. We over-invest in blaming others for our misery. Our egos should not be so big, that we are looking everywhere for opportunities to stroke them instead of just taking action.
Act now, with determination and focus. It may not be easy but it is always possible. What is hard does not mean it cannot be done. Greatness favours those who take bold action. Unless you act you may never know how far you can go and how much you can do. I will act now. Will you?
Stop hanging around those who multiply empty words, complain and exponentially increase murmurs. Tether yourself to those who multiply action. Act now. The opportunities of today will be lost forever if you do not act: now! Time is not waiting since the market for time has not been invented yet. Act now. Sitting and biting finger nails in fear and fantasy is not a behaviour that yields greatness. Act now.
Many people are waiting to feel the push, urge and drive. Life is not driven by empty feelings. To wait to feel is to wait too long. What if the feelings never come, what then? Take action. If you feel so, it is a bonus. If you do not feel so, let the feelings find you in action. Act now. Take radical and determined action.
Attack laziness with action. Attack lethargy with action. Attack fear with bold action. Take determined and more radical action until your goals are begging for mercy. Hustle for action and do not wither in despair. Very little will change while you wait, muse and wait some more. We cannot be a nation of people waiting. Trying times are not the times to go to the sidelines of life and stop taking action. Act now.
Stop looking over your shoulder in the hope of seeing someone take action on your behalf. You are the person. You are the actor. You are the main act on your life’s reality movie. Make it an action movie not a boring soliloquy.
Many people want to get to their grave, preserved and looking all beautiful and intact. That is not glory for any warrior. Arrive there having used up every resource and ounce of energy at your disposal acting with courage and focus. Arrive having stretched every fibre, sunburnt and wrinkled by action. Arrive there having taken so much action that angels watching would be clamouring for you to be given extra time. Take action today. That is where all greatness starts.
Milton Kamwendo is a cutting-edge international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. He is a strategy and innovation consultant and leadership coach. His life purpose is to inspire people to release the greatness trapped in them. He can be reached at: [email protected] and his Twitter handle is: @MiltonKamwendo.
