The Sunday Mail
When things are really, really tough it is difficult to imagine that there will be a future, what shape it might take and what name you could give to it. When you are just ekeing through each day, it is difficult to think strategically, balance priorities, plan purposefully and name accurately the future you want.
The past is past and now part of history’s compendium.
Today is the product of yesterday and an opportunity to dream and fashion the future you desire.
The future is an unborn princely baby. It is up to you to name the future you want. As you name it, so it becomes. As you write it, so shall it read and speak in days to come. The future has several names and identities.
The name you give the the future has nothing much to do with your environment or circumstances, it has all to do with your state of mind, attitude and vision. It is up to you to spell the future you want. What name do you give to the future?
Who in your life are you giving naming rights to your future? Refuse to surrender your naming rights to your adversity or circumstances that you cannot control. Today’s difficulties are not a permanent fixture.
Your failure today is not permanent. Never make permanent conclusions on the basis of temporary situations and passing headaches. Name the future wisely to live differently.
The Weak
For the weak, the future is named the “Impossible Rock.” When you are weak, you think that the future is too big to climb; too competitive for you to enter the race and too wide to embrace. Weakness is not the time to despair but to recharge. It is the time to declare and affirm that you are strong. So long as your spirit remains strong and resolute you can be delayed but you cannot be denied.
You can fall but you will rise again to significance. No one and nothing can make you feel inferior without your permission.
Once you have settled it in your mind and named the future as impossible, you cannot give your best strength and access the resources you have.
Never forget that weak today, strong next week.
A little boy, David, will be the future king, if he can just confront and challenge his mountain. Never let the challenges of today stop you from seeing the possibilities in the future.
Hold on to your dream and possess your mission. What is impossible today will not always be so. The stubborn rock in your path, will give way.
There is a way; there is hope. Do not die in the winter or wither in the storm.
The Fearful
To the fearful the future is called “The Falling Off Edge”.
The fearful feel that the future must be approached with reverent and timid caution as though stepping on the edge of the mighty Victoria Falls. Fear imprisons dreams and weakens imagination.
Many people cannot step boldly into the future with a magnificent vision because fear breaks their bones. Refuse to let fear stop or discourage you. Most of your fears have not happened and will never happen. Get out of your mental hell, because there is a heaven you can embrace through faith. The biggest fear that haunts people is perhaps the fear of death.
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Whenever I conduct Presentation Skills Workshops, one of my opening lines is always that people have three major fears.
The first one is the fear of death and the second is the fear of speaking in public. The third is the fear of dying while speaking in public! Never let the fear of death reduce you into a shadow of yourself and confine you to being one of the living dead.
It is better to die while pursuing something worthwhile than to live a life which is nothing more than a daily rehearsal of death. You are not a shadow; liven up and pursue something worthy, challenging and inspiring.
Fear faced with bold action vanishes. Do what you fear and see if you are still alive.
Some people will never travel far, because they are afraid they will get lost and they will lose relevance and cultural ties.
Some people will never attempt something big because they fear they will fail and be embarrassed. It is better to fail attempting something big, than to succeed at allowing fear to be your master.
Some people will never dream big because they are afraid they will just be frustrated and their dreams will never happen. Refuse to be a slave of fearful fantasies. What would you do if you were not afraid?
There is no heroism in cowardice and there is no glory in mediocrity. There is no growth that comes to those hiding their talents, ideas and dreams in the shrouds of fear. You may feel justified to have named the future an edge.
The fear of falling off and being embarrassed or injured may look real and imposing today. Twenty years from now will you be so proud that you were such a fearful wimp that could not dare anything, believe anything or attempt anything big, bold or challenging? Live in such a way that you will enthral your grand children with stories of your exploits.
Come to the edge and you will learn how to fly. Come to the edge, face your fears and you will do what you have never done. You can never be anything you have never been before if you are always doing what you have always done.
You will never fly if you are so obsessed with walking on terra firma. Clay and Paper Decide that you want your goals more than you are afraid of them. Timid souls have too many sour tales of bitterness. For the thoughtful and valiant the future is named: “Paper and Clay.”
While for the unbelieving the future is the dark ages, for the visionaries, the future is a blue ocean filled with possibilities beyond imagination. To the imaginative the future is a blank paper for you to write what you may and dream what you dare.
The future is memory-less like a piece of clay. You can mould it into whatever shape you like. The future has no memory of the past and it is not obsessed with the present circumstances. The future is soft and ready clay. Mould it as you like. Take your pen and write out the name of your future as you like it. Committed to your greatness.
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 his Twitter handle is: @MiltonKamwendo.
