The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
The quest for greatness is a battle of using, dealing with and managing stress. Stress paves the way to greatness. Stress cannot be avoided if you are attempting something that is challenging but it can be managed and channelled.
What you think, and how you think about the pressure that you have to deal with affects you positively or negatively. Stress then is a management issue.
Think positively and you will be able to bear huge loads and do big and bigger things. Think negatively and little loads will overwhelm you and small worries will look like huge elephants and angry vultures.
Think positively that you can do it and your potential will increase. Think impossibilities, inhibitions and your imagination, interest, creativity and power starts shutting down. How you think determines the instructions that your brain sends to your physical and thought muscles. Wrong thinking, regardless of how justified it may be, will cause your mind and body to process stress in toxic and destructive ways.
Stay Free
An important key to managing stress is “staying free”. Do not carry loads that are unnecessary, toxic and dispiriting. Loads like anger, bitterness, cruelty, fear, guilt, hate, revenge, retribution, jealousy and grudges are toxic, disease-inducing and stress-amplifying burdens. Despite what might seem logical, persisting in these toxic-inducing behaviours drains you of energy, weakens your immunity and heightens your stress.
Loads like mountains of consumer debts acquired to simply keep up appearances or make unnecessary impressions just builds stress levels. If you have to carry any mental load, audit your mental burden and see if it is worth carrying.
You may have made mistakes in the past, missed the way and perhaps deed the unthinkable. You do not need to carry old burdens, emotional weights and mental sorrows of the past into the future. Be kind to yourself by forgiving yourself for your mistakes and move on. Just stop sawing sawdust. No amount of battering yourself will improve your mental situation. Be kind to yourself, unload the burdens of the past. Forgive yourself and make yourself more buoyant and lighter to lift.
Forgive others, it is the wisest thing you can do before it is too late. Your mental energies are better used in thinking of creative ways to go forward than ways of keeping others down, blocking and tackling. Exit unnecessary fights, fellowships and alliances based on hate, bitterness, anger and any toxic emotions. Stay free by removing unnecessary burdens on other people. Mr Les Brown was inspired when he said: “Forgive anyone who has caused you pain or harm. Keep in mind that forgiving is not for others. It is for you. Forgiving is not forgetting. It is remembering without anger. It frees up your power, heals your body, mind and spirit. Forgiveness opens up a pathway to a new place of peace where you can persist despite what has happened to you.”
Do not stay in the dark past, overloaded with its toxicity. The promise of the future is larger than the darkness of the past. Allow a little more light into your soul.
Time Management
Learn to use your time well. As the demands on your time grow you learn that you cannot be everywhere, and you cannot do everything. You just have to prioritise. How you use your time is an important key to your success and greatness. There is a little tool that is so powerful and helpful in helping you manage stress and getting more out of your time. The tool is so simple and yet sometimes so difficult to use. It is the use of the word, “No!” The ability to say “No” politely and firmly, without feeling any guilt and discomfort will help you. Do not put on yourself unnecessary burdens that you cannot bear. Simply use this small and potent tool: “No, Thank You!”
You do not have to feel that you are under obligation to say “Yes!” to everything. Stay clear of your goals and values. Things that matter most to you must not be clogged by things that matter least. Value your time and attention.
Be where you need to be and do what you need to do. Free yourself from added stress by resigning from engagements, activities, associations and involvements that do not fit in with your goals and schedule. If you join an association, make sure you attend. Be true to yourself and be real with others. Keeping up appearances while burning inside will just give you unnecessary burdens.
Increase your skills and capabilities and this will help you become more effective and confident. Keep asking yourself this question: “What is not yet perfect?” Work on sharpening your skills, it will reduce your stress and you will have more return on your time.
Rest
Take time to rest and recharge. Prepare for your moments of rest as you do for your moments of work. Be willing at times to switch off your cellphone, you will not die. Be willing to switch off the TV at times. You do not have to participate in every WhatsApp group. Head into action, but take time to rest and refocus. Do not get so busy with driving that you forget to get fuel for your journey. Rest recharges your batteries. The busier you become, the more intentional you need to be with rest.
Energy
Whatever you do, you need energy and use energy. Be more aware of your own body and the things that energise you. Eat foods that give you better energy. Reduce the meat content in your diet and increase your vegetable and fruit intake. Reduce the sugars you take in carbonated drinks and increase the water you drink. Work on increasing your energy levels and you will reduce your stress levels. Supplement your diet with some essential vitamins and minerals. Nutrition is not just eating. Eat more whole foods and you will be amazed how these few changes will affect your energy and stress levels. Exercise and move your body often. This helps you reboot your energy levels.
Spiritual
Whatever argument you may have, you are a spiritual being. The more spiritually connected you are the lighter you will feel and the better you will be able to manage stress and pressure.
Time-tested practices like prayer, meditation, fasting and reading inspired-writings will recharge you and give you more inner resources to manage stress and carry heavier life-loads. Connect spiritually every day and you will live and life connected to infinite resources and abundant possibilities. Whenever you hold a United States Dollar bill, do not pass it on without reading and joining in the affirmation inscribed there: “In God We Trust!”
Stimulation
Create around yourself a positive and stimulating environment. Clean up the spaces around which you work. Put up a few inspiring pictures and energising plants. Be more aware of the things that stimulate you and do them more. If playing music stimulates you, work with music in the background. Take frequent nature-walks or play golf. There is always something about being in touch with nature that stimulates and recharges people. Dress in a way that is comfortable and stimulates you. For some wearing certain clothes or scents is stimulating.
Be aware, be alert to the things that activate you to produce your best and be at your best. Use the power of affirmations to create a personal mental environment that is aligned to your goals. Affirmations are short positive statements that you repeat often. They are powerful stress busters.
It is not where you are and what you are going through that matters the most but where you are going to. Stay focused on your goal. When you find meaning in your current challenges they become more bearable.
If stress is not managed and sustained for a long time it can have negative effects. However, with a few tools you can bear your load, attack bigger goals and do greater things. Greatness will not come while you are sleeping and doing nothing. It is a myth that there is success without hard-work. Wherever there is challenging worthwhile work, there is always a measure of stress. How you effectively manage the stress in your life is a reflection of your greatness. You have so much power within you to do great things and defeat stress.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and executive coach. He is a cutting 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
