Forgotten key to greatness is slowing down

28 May, 2017 - 00:05 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Milton Kamwendo Hunt for Greatness
GREATNESS is a journey best taken daily in good stride. Never fear taking small, determined steps, just be afraid of standing still.

Do as much as you can, just do not do too much. Moderation is the key to sustained motivation.

Speed is not the only value and measure in taking any journey. Yes, it is good to arrive fast, but perhaps the most important thing is to arrive at the right destination.

Arrive at your greatness destination with a reserve of energy left to enjoy your glide. It does not matter how fast you are traveling, what is important is whether you are moving in the right direction.

Greatness has a price, but it does not need to be too high a price to be worth it. You can have as much as you want, but you cannot have it all at once.

Slow down

In my few years on the journey of greatness, I am beginning to understand that perhaps one of the best advices one can receive is: “Slow down and do not do too much”.

Take a moment to meditate on this phrase and start looking for areas in your life where you need to slow down and pace yourself.

It is not enough to be in a hurry; learn to slow down a little, but do not stop. Look at the planet earth. It has kept its pace for a long time and that is why we can keep time, talk of days and seasons, years and times.

Set goals

Slow down and review your goals.

Speeding forward without clear goals will leave you in places you never thought you would be. Slowly look through your goals against the mirror of your values.

Your values ultimately give flavour and colour to your achievements. If you have no goals, you must never forget that if you aim at nothing you will hit it 100 percent of the time.

A goal-less life lacks motivation, drive and a sense of purpose. Every day is an opportunity to take a determined stride and effort towards your greatness.

Things do change, and the higher you go, the further your horizon. Goals do change with time. Do not despair when the season of change comes. Do not die in the winter because you are wedded to summer wear.

Learn to slow down, scan your environment and evaluate your goals to see if they are still consistent with your purpose and desired destination.

Slow down and ask the “why” questions. If you lack energy and have lost your drive, slow down, rest a little and ask why you are doing what you are doing.

Drive your agenda and do not be driven by the fears that haunt you. Slow down and get in touch with your purpose again. Be true to yourself, otherwise you will live a lie.

Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.

Stop hurrying to nowhere. Acceleration without destination and purpose is mere waste and abuse.

Count the cost

You are hurrying on the greatness path, slow down and count the cost.

Everything you do has a price.

Every goal you pursue has a price tag.

Count the cost before embarking on a path that will be too costly for you.

You do not want to pay in the wrong currency or more than what anything is worth.

The price of any goal is more than just dollars or cents.

Learn to slow down and count the cost.

Some things are not worth the cost.

You do not need to get to your death bed to see and understand what was really important in your journey.

Recharge, reboot

Your personal energy is your currency of success.

Slow down and recharge.

If you have to take a break, take it. If you have to take a sabbatical, take it.

Rest is as important as work.

Take time to connect with nature.

Take a walk in the woods, get out and get some fresh air.

Recharge in order to remain in charge. Slow down and rest. Everyone who drives knows that you cannot be too busy to change tyres.

You cannot be too busy to get some fuel. You cannot be too busy not to need a service.

Do cannot be so busy that you start running on empty.  Rest and restoration is so critical. This is why the Bible talks so much about the sabbath rest.

You do not know how to work if you do not know how to rest. Greatness is not a matter of speed, but balanced execution and progression.

Pace and stride

It is not so much about how fast you are running. A key element of greatness is finding your stride and pacing yourself.

Find a pace that works for you and work with that.  You do not understand true greatness if you do not understand pacing.

Long distance runners know that pacing is the key to longevity.  Two men set out on a race to the South Pole. The one who won understood the key to greatness — pacing.

The one who lost finally realised that he lost because he tried to do too much and was beaten by someone who understood pacing.

It is not speed, but discipline of pacing.  In 1911, two men set out on a race to the South Pole.

The men were Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen understood pacing and he set a goal for his men to march 15-20 miles every day.

On good days, they would march 20 miles, and on bad and snowy days with blizzards they would still keep the same goal.

Such is the discipline of pacing.  Set a reasonable goal and keep to it.

Do not try to burn yourself out in the process. If you want to become a writer, set a pace, perhaps writing 1000 words every day and keep to that goal.

If you want to improve your knowledge in some area, set a goal to read every day for one hour.

Keep to the goal. Keep going daily. One step at a time is never too much.

The other man was in a rush to win.

He wanted to win at all cost and do whatever it takes.

Slow down you fool!

Mr Scott’s team would hear nothing of moderation or paced action.

On good days they would overextend themselves and travel a lot covering wide distances. On some bad days his team would not break camp and they would not travel.

Do not try and do too much.

Do not try to build a village in a day.

Everything great has a gestation period.

Amundsen hit the South Pole in mid-December and arrived back at base camp on the day he had scheduled, January 17, 1912.

Scott arrived at the South Pole in January, only to break down and curse Amundsen’s Norwegian flag.

By the time Scott arrived he had lost about half of his men, and his men had to pull their own sledges.

He had tried to be fast and used horses. On the way back, he was stranded in the storm and froze to death.

His body was found 10 miles away from one of his supply depots.

He had paid for the race with his life and still lost the race.

He had tried to do too much, too fast and ended up having done little and lost.

The lesson — slow down and take your pace.

Figure out the fundamental aspect, set realistic goals and take one step at a time.

Those who understand pacing go further than those who are racing towards greatness.

Take your time, it is not about being the youngest.

It is about reaching your goals and enjoying the journey.

I motivate and inspire people and organisations to unleash their                                greatness.

I challenge people to set big and inspiring goals.

I challenge people to lounge around life doing nothing. I am a crusader for greatness.

I have also come to realise that the forgotten key to greatness is slowing down and keeping a steady pace.

Do great things, but do not try to do too much.

Work hard and learn to rest.

Work hard and enjoy the journey.

It takes skill to navigate through the journey of life and ensure that you are paying for greatness with the right coin and currency.

  • Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and coach. His life purpose is to inspire greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634

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