The Sunday Mail
Milton Kamwendo Hunt for Greatness
GREATNESS is not far, nor is it for the selected few.
The future is not the land of never. Nay, but greatness is only one step away from where you are. Reach for your greatness or you will die with a withered hand and broken dreams.
You just need to take one step, one decision, one act and meet that one person and you will move from good to great.
If you are discouraged and in despair, do not lose heart. One more step is not too difficult. Act now. You do not afford the luxury of being lazy. One more punch is not too hard. One more step is not too difficult.
You can do great things and your experience of life can be different.
One idea
What is the one idea that makes so much sense to you that you would like to devote your life to? Greatness is not about pursuing the whole encyclopedia of life, but a single idea. Put everything you know behind this idea, this thought and concept.
Your ferocious focus on a single idea gives you power, traction and mileage. You do not need too many ideas to succeed, just one idea executed with all your might and resources of mind and spirit. It is Easter time. A very special season in the Christian calendar.
It is a season to celebrate the climax of focused action and purposeful living. Any time you aim at nothing, you reap the whirlwind. From the Bible we learn that Jesus lived a very focused life. He filled his time with purpose in search of a single idea and goal. This idea is found in Luke 19:10, where the Bible says: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.”
This was his magnificent obsession and goal: Seeking and saving that which was lost. Everything he did hung on that single idea. Every word and action was meant to give force to this idea. I salute Jesus and have embraced him as my hero and model in every respect. As it was with Christ, so let it be with you.
Find that idea that makes your life worthwhile. Think of that idea, live to make that idea real. Talk about that idea. Read around that idea. Travel because of that idea. Pray for that idea. Plan around the idea. Let everything about your life be about that idea.
Be known for that idea. Push for that idea. Tweet about that idea. Write and speak about that idea. Be about that idea. Let your mind be saturated with that idea.
If you can hold a single idea with that level of intensity, greatness will just be a matter of course. Greatness is for the focused. Your life is defined by the idea you pursue with all your might. Always remember there are no half-hearted champions in life. Greatness does not come at bargain prices. There can be no half-conviction and half-commitment. Live out loud and stop hiding from life.
Live by priority
Live by priority and not accidental stumbling into things. Time is too precious to be squandered in boredom and idle mindlessness. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Time is at a premium.
This moment is your greatest opportunity. If you are idle it is not because you have nothing to do, it is because you have not focused your mind and life on anything worthwhile. Stop wandering and start focusing. Crystallise your goals, commit them to paper and then shower them with relentless bold action. Stop being busy doing too many things. Chasing the whole forest is not hunting. Reduce your focus to the “one thing” that matters most. What one thing can you do now that can change your life? What “one thing” are you passionate about? What one thing do you want people to write on your tombstone?
Move with action and focus.
Today is the youngest that you will ever be. Stop hesitating and vacillating. Greatness is not for those who keep threatening, but those who act. Enter into action with boldness and courage.
Act now!
In “The Greatest Salesman”, Og Mandino bequeathed to us Scroll Ten.
This is an exhortation to act now, not tomorrow, but now. I have been blessed over the years, reading and re-reading this scroll. I was tempted to share the whole scroll. It reads: “My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action.
“I will act now. Never has there been a map, however carefully executed to detail and scale, which carried its owner over even one inch of ground. “Never has there been a parchment of law, however fair, which prevented one crime. Never has there been a scroll, even such as the one I hold, which earned so much as a penny or produced a single word of acclamation. Action, alone, is the tinder, which ignites the map, the parchment, this scroll, my dreams, my plans, my goals, into a living force. Action is the food and drink, which will nourish my success.
“I will act now. My procrastination, which has held me back, was born of fear and now I recognise this secret mined from the depths of all courageous hearts. Now I know that to conquer fear I must always act without hesitation and the flutters in my heart will vanish. Now I know that action reduces the lion of terror to an ant of equanimity.
“I will act now. Henceforth, I will remember the lesson of the firefly who gives of its light only when it is on the wing, only when it is in action. I will become a firefly and even in the day my glow will be seen in spite of the sun. Let others be as butterflies who preen their wings yet depend on the charity of a flower for life. I will be as the firefly and my light will brighten the world.
“I will act now. I will not avoid the tasks of today and charge them to tomorrow for I know that tomorrow never comes. Let me bring happiness or success for it is better to act and fail than not to act and flounder. Happiness, in truth, may not be the fruit plucked by my action yet without action all fruit will die on the vine.
“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words again and again and again, each hour, each day, every day, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing and the actions, which follow become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to meet every challenge, which the failure avoids.
“I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. When I awake I will say them and leap from my cot while the failure sleeps yet another hour. I will act now.
“When I enter the market place I will say them and immediately confront my first prospect while the failure ponders yet his possibility of rebuff.
“I will act now. When I face a closed door I will say them and knock while the failure waits outside with fear and trepidation.
“I will act now. When I face a temptation I will say them and immediately act to remove myself from evil. I will act now. When I am tempted to quit and begin again tomorrow I will say them and immediately act to consummate another sale.
“I will act now. Only action determines my value in the market place and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions. I will walk where the failure fears to walk. I will work when the failure seeks rest. I will talk when the failure remains silent.
“I will call on ten who can buy my goods while the failure makes grand plans to call on one. I will say it is done before the failure says it is too late. “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 evil becomes good. I am not evil. Tomorrow is the day when the weak become strong. I am not weak. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. “I will act now. When the lion is hungry he eats. When the eagle has thirst he drinks. Lest they act, both will perish. I hunger for success. I thirst for happiness and peace of mind. Lest I act I will perish in a life of failure, misery, and sleepless nights.
“I will command, and I will obey mine own command. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay she will become betrothed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the man. I will act now.” That scroll is worth re-reading at least ten times. Cut out this article. Read it daily for the next seven days as you charge into action. Act now. Choose to live on purpose and take action. One step is not too difficult. Tomorrow is too late, begin today because your greatness has been waiting for you to show up.
