The Sunday Mail
THERE are things that are embedded in your memory bank and it is difficult to wash or wish them away. Your history is your life and the fabric that your soul wears.
Years ago, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) used to publish a magazine that I never wanted to miss, it was entitled “Look and Listen”.
This magazine showcased the scheduled programmes on radio and television for the month. It would also carry some related stories that created anticipation and knitted viewers, artists and broadcasters into a family.
Those were the days when the popular programmes included Afrobeat; The Mukadota Family; Mutinhimira we Mhanzi/Ezomgido; Gospel Hour; National High Schools Quiz that was anchored by the late Eric Bloch; Nzira ye Mutendi, anchored by the great radio evangelist, the praying mantis, Reverend Mabhaudhi; Teen Scene and others.
Other programmes that were a “must watch” included ‘Allo ‘Allo, Mr Bean, Golden Girls and the soap opera, Santa Barbara.
Most of these programmes now linger only in the memory and I savour the impressions that they left on my young mind.
What I cannot get out of my mind though is the title, “Look and Listen”.
This is a powerful capsule of wisdom for greatness.
Where to Look
Where you look determines where your attention goes, what you see and who sees you. Where your attention goes determines where your life goes because you always become that which you think about all the time. Thoughts and focus shape lives. When you look and dwell on the past, your life is focused on the past. Look at the past for lessons, patterns and narratives, but never let your life be stuck in the past.
Refuse to be a relic of history while you are still alive. Past success is not a guarantee for future success, and it is a terrible parking lot. Never rest on your laurels or depend on past credentials. If you live in the past and denominate everything you do in the currency of history, you easily lose your way and become irrelevant and obnoxious.
Learn all you can from the past, but do not live there. Choose the lessons from the past that you will carry with you. Choose to take the best parts of history with you. Refuse to let the bitterness and abuses of the past be a perpetual prison and torment. Look, listen, learn and lead.
It is easy to think like a victim and think that everyone owes you a living because of some feathers of the past. When you look and listen at the stories of people who are stuck in the past, you are tempted to run.
Instead of narratives of vision, there are stories of hurt and revenge. Instead of the excitement of hope, there are spews of bitterness.
Never let your life be a stagnant pool with polluted waters. Let it be a running stream, with a rich history and a constant flow of new hope, life and vision. History gives a rich perspective and not maimed paradigms. Always look and listen, you may see and be seen.
The negative will always be there in any situation, whether good or bad. Whatever you do always look and listen for the positive. When you are given a lemon by life, do not rant, sulk and throw silly tantrums. See the positive and squeeze some lemon juice out of your situation.
Be creative and make some lemonade or bake a lemon cake. If you get a negative, always work to develop it into some positive.
When you are given bees, do not run away, complain and rush to remove them. They may just be what you need to create a fruitful orchard and gather some honey. Stinging bees also bring the sweetest present — honey. It is a matter of looking and listening. What is a rose? Is it a thorn with a flower on top or a flower with a thorn at the bottom?
It is up to you to decide where to look and hold. If you find yourself in a hole, either dig a well for the future or look up and see the sky. Even on a dark, dreary day, above the clouds the sun is always shining, and if you listen carefully, you will hear a few birds signing.
On 19 April 1994, I presented myself on my first day at work at the Robert Mugabe branch of Barclays Bank. Those were the days of branch banking. Cheques were the currency of business. A customer would issue a cheque to a payee. The payee would then present the cheque to the bank. The bank would check the funding position and mandates of the customer. If all was in order, the bank would pay the payee’s bank. In the bank, we would cross the cheque and stamp on it, “paid.”
At the end of the month, the bank would then send its customer all the paid cheques together with a ticked statement for the customer’s own reconciliations.
The lesson that remained with me to this day is that the past is a crossed and paid cheque. You cannot present it again for payment. It is gone. You cannot run your economy on paid or cancelled cheques. That would be fraud or self-deception and not the fault of the banker.
It is not the world’s problem if you are stuck in the past. Paid cheques are great history but they are not money in the bank.
The past is great history, but it is not money in the bank of life. The future is a post-dated cheque. When presented for payment before the indicated date we used to write on the cheque, “post-dated” and return the cheque.
Plan for the future, write out your future today in your goal planner, but do not forget to live today. Today is ready cash, available for your spending. You can only live today, this day. Maximise this moment. Look and listen.
Listen to the stories of yesterday, look well into the future but do not forget to live fully today. Let history be your trampoline, the future your guidance star and the present your leap to greatness.
How to Look
How you look is as important as where you look. I read a story that has made a great impression in my life. It was the story of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmatt, a discount retail business that now has stores all over the world.
Throughout his life, Sam Walton would walk into stores, looking and listening for what he could learn. When he became famous, there were times that he would sadly be thrown out of competitor stores.
One day he walked into a store with a colleague.
The store looked dark, pathetic, dirty and was poorly stocked. His colleague just browsed through and waited outside, because he felt there was nothing important to learn from an inferior player. But not for Sam Walton, he was enthralled, he took notes.
Later, when they were reviewing their visit, Sam Walton asked his colleague what he had seen that was important.
His colleague chided him and said there was nothing to see from such a dingy place. That set Sam Walton off. He was livid. He started sharing with the colleague an important lesson in looking and listening. He said that he was not worried about the things that they excelled in.
He was concerned about those things that the competitor was doing better than them, regardless of how small. In his notes, he had written about 12 things that they needed to address in their business that the competitor was doing right.
The purpose of his store visits was not to compare, score personal ego points and inflate chest, it was always to humbly learn. Look, listen and learn if you would be great at anything.
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 on Whatsup at: 0772422634.
