The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
There is something powerful about a “made-up mind!” Make up your mind to be useful, engaged and motivated. Occupy your place with a full grace. Do your part with all humility. Strike at life with your best blows. Life is no idle arena or purpose-less winding journey tailored for your frustration. You are here for a purpose and in you resides awesome power and amazing potential.
You are capable of great delivery. Live intentionally and make your positive and progressive mark. There is no time to waste and no life to lose. Clarify your priorities and then play your part as though this is your last day. This life is a game in which we all play. You do not have the luxury of being a spectator or an uninterested passenger.
There is so much to do, so much to improve, so much to shape, so much to change, so much to become, so much to contribute and yet, there is so little time to do all that is to be done. Do not try to carry the world on your shoulders, just carry your responsibilities with diligence, faith and fidelity.
Sometimes headwinds will blow against your best intentions. Keep facing the sun and headed towards greatness. Do not despair because of the headwinds. There is something in you that cannot be stopped or denied. Get up and get doing because this precious moment deserves your focus, presence of mind and full contribution.
There is no space to be half-hearted. This moment, if unused, will be lost. You either use it well or well…it is lost forever. It is better to do something and be wrong, than to do nothing waiting for everything to be just right. Stop waiting and start engaging.
Stop parking and start driving. You cannot just park the bus and then hope to make the journey forward. The clock is not waiting.
Speak words that heal. Write words that build. Take actions that unite. Be committed to greatness. There are words that when planted live forever in hearts, minds and memories; ever ringing and chiming through time.
Long ago in 1838, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, to encourage himself wrote the beautiful poem entitled: “A Psalm of Life”. In the poem, Longfellow shared an attitude that is ever needed in life. It is an exhortation not to be passive, apathetic and half-hearted in our pursuit of life. There is no luxury of parking in the past or resting in the present.
“A Psalm of Life” is an attitude of embracing life and choosing to live, express passion for purposeful living and not become just part of the walking dead.
Longfellow’s “Psalm of Life” poem reads:
“Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.”
With this attitude to life, you can be delayed, but you cannot be denied. You can be dashed to the ground, but nothing can decimate your passion for your purpose. There is no need to wait for a better wind, or more fitting circumstances. Be up and doing, for nothing gets done until it is done.
Stop looking at the past as your reference point and look to your vision as the point of reference. If the current pace is slow, do not despair or lose your momentum. Keep trudging along and let the flywheel keep spinning.
If the road looks all uphill, keep moving and do not give up or let up.
Make the most of everything that comes and make the least of everything that goes. Whatever comes your way comes for a season and a reason. Make the most of every-thing that you face. Welcome the seasons of change, but do not park and stop moving forward. Welcome everything with grace and gratitude.
Through the tough experiences growth comes. Through the turbulent moments, mastery is attained. Through the rough, the mind is stimulated. Through the trials, you leave trails in the sands of time.
Make the least of everything that goes. Do not hang on to things now past that were good while they lasted. Do not allow yourself to pause in regret reciting endless lamentations, wishing for the dead past.
Leave the past behind you and never put it ahead of you or lose precious moments pining for it. The tragedy in life is often not death, but what dies in people while they live. Leave the past behind you and welcome this moment with its fullness and glory.
You are not too small, you make a difference. Think big and be engaged. Rise up in confidence. Believe in your dream and be confident about your capabilities. If you are unable, do everything to learn. If it is difficult, stay with it until it becomes easy.
Whatever it takes make a difference and live a life on different terms. You cannot just live an idle existence. Make the most of every moment and be the best you can be and do the best you can do.
Committed to your greatness.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and growth mentor. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634. His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com
