Shape your future

Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo

The future is not some dark unpredictable mystery that has no relation with the present.

The future is shaped by the pictures you hold, thoughts you think, actions you take and seeds you sow. This moment matters and never be too lazy to sow or too disappointed to dream and do it in a bigger way. There will be no harvest if you sow nothing.

Deliberately and intentionally shape your future because if you do not someone else will. An unplanned future is an accident waiting to happen. Launch your greatness. Be intentional, set goals and work the goals with the diligence of a farmer. Do whatever you need to do to be on mission every day. This is not a dress rehearsal and today is always match-day.

Bold plan

Lay out bold plans to shape your future. There is power and magic in setting goals. Hold the goals in your mind if you can. Better still write them down. The mere process of writing your goals down is the first step of creating your future. If the goal is not written it does not exist. If you have to be reminded of your goal you do not own it.

In 1987, working with Tonny Schwartz, Mr Donald J. Trump wrote a book entitled, “The Art of the Deal”. In the books he writes about the various deals that he conducted as he built his business. The most outstanding line in the book is: “I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.” This is the spirit of bold planning. If you are going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big. If you are going to be planning anyway, you might as well plan big.

Do not let other people’s perspective of scale scare you or discourage you. Just make sure that to you at least the plan is bold, challenging and exciting. Your bold plan should challenge you and move you. It should get you thinking and reflecting.

Your plan is bold if you feel a sense of inadequacy. It is this that keeps you humble, learning and growing. Keep a healthy growth headroom. There is always something to improve and do better.

Bold moves

It is not enough to plan, the key is to take action and start moving. Bold plans need bold moves. Do not allow anything to paralyse you. Do not allow fear to canker your soul. Enter the arena of action with boldness. If you fail, fail having made a bold attempt.

Mr Og Mandino wrote a book entitled, “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” In the book he profiles the story of a salesman who went from being suicidal to mastering the art of selling and living boldly after finding some scrolls that he had to read daily. One of those scrolls is entitled: “I will act now!” That should be your mindset, your daily meditation and your mantra as you take bold moves to shape your life and destiny of greatness.

The “I will act now” scroll by Og Mandino, reads:

“I will not avoid the task of today and change them to tomorrow for I know that tomorrow never comes. Let me act now even though my actions may not bring happiness or success, for it is better to act and fail than not to act and flounder.

Happiness, in truth, may not be 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. Henceforth, I will repeat these words over and over, each day, every day, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the actions which follows become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every act necessary for my success. With these words, I can condition my mind to meet every challenge which failure avoids. I will act now.

I will repeat these words over and over. When I face temptation, I will say them and immediately act to remove myself from evil.

When I am tempted to quit and begin again tomorrow, I will say them. Only action determines my value and worth, and to multiply my value, I will multiply my actions. I will work when failure seek rest. I will talk when failure remains silent. 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 becomes strong. I am not weak. Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed. I am not a failure.

When the lion is hungry, he eats. When the eagle is thirsty, 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 life of failure, misery and sleepless night.

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.”

Do not allow anything to paralyse you from taking bold action. Stop putting off what you need to do. Procrastination is a thief of time and killer of dreams. Take massive and bold action. For it is in taking action that the future is forged and greatness is moulded.

Bold heart

You need a bold heart to challenge complacency and move forward. You need a bold heart to persevere when everyone is suggest that you should quit now.

You need a bold heart to face the prospects of failure and yet still launch. You need a bold heart to stand up when you are hardest hit. You need a bold heart to move from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. Fortunately you have this heart.

A paradigm is a mental map. It is a model of the way you see the world and you process information that you get. To shape the future you boot yourself out of the paradigm paralysis mode.

In paradigm paralysis you want things to always be what they have always been. You want to return everyone to the comfortable and manageable past. The stability of the past is always a myth. Your leverage is in the future. Do not be stuck in the past or sink into bitterness.

Choose paradigm pliancy. This is a big word to just say change your thinking and the way you have been processing information. In paradigm pliancy you can shift gears, change is possible and you accommodate it. Not all change is necessarily progress or improvement, but without change there can be no improvement.

You need a bold heart to embrace paradigm pliancy and start thinking in a different way. Get new insights that open your mind to new ways of thinking. Read new books instead of being glued to junk-media. Invest in experiences that open your thinking, broaden your perspectives and expand your world-view. Get new mental models and start seeing the world not as it is, but as it can be. There are exciting things and times ahead.

You are destined for greatness. Believe it regardless of your current state. The future is like clay. You can hold it into anything that you desire. Be bold, be courageous and be determined. Will you act now?
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] and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com