The Sunday Mail
ACTIVITY without reflection leads to your browning out. Execution without evaluation leads to self-deception.
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
Stop believing your own echo. Glance at reality, but choose to look ahead. Look from multiple perspectives. Take time to look around, look back, look ahead, look underneath and look “back from the future”.
Calling a time-out is not wasting play time. In sports like basketball, a coach calls a time-out to consult with his team during the match. Calling for a time-out does not mean that it is time up. Taking a step to review and reflect is not a weakness but a key to recharging. Rest time is not idle time; it is recharging time.
You do not have to wait to be sick in order to take a day off. Care enough for your health and well-being. You do not have to be sick to call a brief time-out. Rest is as necessary as work. Reflection is the key to clarifying vision and trajectory.
Fresh start
Life can be busy, but an idle mind is always the devil’s workshop. Whatever experience of life you have had to date, pause and reflect. Review and rev for a fresh start. Rebooting gives you fresh momentum.
On March 4, 1921, Edgar Guest published a timely poem titled “Keep Going”. Then he thought he was speaking to the gloom of his day. He was writing for all time because life is always full of twists and turns. The poem reads:
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
And the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than it seems
To a faint and faltering man.
Often the struggler has given up when he
Might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems afar.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit.
It’s when things seem worst that
You musn’t quit.
Recast vision
A vision is a crystallised dream of a desired future. Once a vision is conceived, it needs to be communicated. At the time you cast any vision, you have a set of circumstances and view of reality. However, as you grow and develop, the view of the world that you see changes.
When you persist and think bigger, your world grows. When you shrink into a shell, your world becomes smaller and gloomier. Stop being obsessed with what you do not have. Stop focusing on what you cannot do. Look up and see the possibilities ahead.
Every vision requires that you pause, reflect and, if necessary, modify or recast it. Work and rework your dream. If the dream is looking like a nightmare, change it. Dream again if necessary. When you revisit and recast your vision, it is not fear, but faith. Rethinking is not failure but embracing realism.
Glance at the reality, but do not lose your faith or the power to dream and dare. With a longer horizon, and the nerve to grow, recast your dream. Stretch your vision and it will motivate you to do bigger things. Do not allow hope to decay and vision to die. Keep hope alive.
Journal habit
New journeys require new anticipation, new maps and new luggage. Capture the important practice of journaling. Get a journal you like and a writing instrument that feels good to you. If your life maps are worth writing about, choose to use a writing instrument that makes you giggle with delight. Stop using old diaries to write your life’s future.
Do not map your life on yesterday’s dates and realities.
If need be, get a fresh journal. A fresh journal is motivating. It always inspires you to write a new story of your life. Journaling helps you track your thought streams, mind journey and experiences of life. It brings the future to bear in the present.
Writing gives form to your thoughts. When you write, you clothe your dreams. Writing is a primary form of creation. Once it is written, it has been planted.
You dignify your thoughts when you write them in a dignified place, and not just some crappy paper. The instrument and choice of stationery or writing/journalling App we choose are an important first step. You have to go a step further.
The best golfers choose their clubs with care. The best technicians invest in their tools.
The best draftsmen choose their tools with care. The best musicians invest in quality instruments. So, must you do in the things that matter most in your life.
The writing instruments you use express the value you give to what you write.
Writing takes time. It helps you quieten your mind and express your thoughts. Writing allows you to dig deep into the riches within. As you write, so you trace and stress. As you write, so you shape your worlds.
Planning tool
Problems cannot be solved by the same thoughts that created those issues. Sometimes, your feet are stuck in a vicious problem cycle that needs to be broken.
This requires you to think differently and use new planning tools. Always remember that the most important thing is not the tool but how you use it. Tools simplify the task and could be a great aid.
Thinking time
Thinking is hard work. That is why other people rather avoid it. Create time to think and reflect, and you will be great. When you shut off the noise, you begin to see clearly. When you make that resolve within, it is easier to live it out in every other area of life.
Calling a time-out often is a critical habit of greatness. For organisations, this could be a retreat or an away day. A time-out is an investment and never a cost.
Committed to your greatness.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. 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]
