The Sunday Mail
Milton Kamwendo
Hunt for Greatness
LIFE is a collection of seasons. No season is ever exactly like any other. So it is also with this surprising season, with its perils and burdens. This season calls forth for leadership at all levels.
It calls for self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. This season, fraught with its dangers and challenges, is also pregnant with opportunity. A lockdown does not imply a locked mind. It is a season to reflect, reboot and recast priorities and design new playbooks. It is a true Rubicon. Sometimes it takes a crisis to get out of the slumber-party, straighten thoughts and adjust priorities. All seasons come will lessons to teach; are you willing to learn? Make it a commitment that you will emerge out of this season better in every way.
We play two games in life: the outer and inner game. There are always two places in which to seek victory: private victory and public victory. The outer game is played in the public arena, under the floodlights with many to impress. The inner game is played far away from the madding crowd; where the real work of greatness is done.
It is played where few ever see what is involved to manifest greatness. A lot of dreamers talk about greatness, but love to sleep and work like losers. A season like this allows you to reflect and review your inner game. Greatness starts by winning from within. Private victory precedes public acclaim. Dare to unleash your personal power.
In his book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, the late Mr Stephen Covey talks about the power and influence of private victory as an anchor for winning. Greatness is best viewed “inside-out” and not the other way round. Start where it matters most; at the inner core. Of Covey’s seven habits three make up the pillars of private victory. These are: Be proactive, Being with the end in mind and Put first things first.
Being proactive is a choice to act instead of just responding to stimuli and running made because of the endless stream of news, horror and scares. Life is governed by the 10-90 rule. The rule states that 10 percent of life is what happens, whilst the rest of the 90 percent is the response that we choose to have about what happens. Being proactive is deliberately approaching the 90 percent by taking personal responsibility and refusing to think like a victim and singing sorry-stories to yourself. How you think in any crisis, and at any time, is more important than the crisis itself. Crises are dangerous for those who stop thinking or at least freeze their thinking. Life does not wait for the frozen. Being proactive is making choices to act and not just being acted upon.
This season is a precious opportunity to reflect, reset and reboot. You may have just been randomly responding all along and following the crowd of popular fair. It is time to display courage by facing your true self. You need to take deliberate self-audits. Drill down on what matters most to you, review, reset priorities and re-imagine your life. This is not the end of all things and it could be your new beginning.
Think beyond the pleasing, the present and the pressures of the moment. Think about how you have played the game to date. The next theatres of battle will not look like the previous battles you have faced. The rules are changing. What makes the greatest difference is whether you will still be the same player in the new terrain and the playbook you will be using. The new normal approached with an old mindset just leads to frustrations galore.
Read books that challenge your mindset and broaden your view. Listen to materials and messages that expand your thinking. Take a prayerful posture and think about your life hereafter. At this time more than at any other, the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:6-7 ring true: “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
Seasons like these should never be wasted multiplying meaningless words or in fearful superstition. It not a season for playing to the gallery but a search for authenticity. Discover and set out towards your true north. This crucible should never be wasted.
The third habit of private victory in Covey’s book is putting first things first. It is the habit of prioritisation and planning. Some things matter and others do not matter. This is a season to reflect and evaluate your priorities and the game that you have been playing. Sometimes it takes a crisis to expose flawed mental models and toxic unsustainable mindsets.
Malcom Muggeridge in his 1978 book entitled, “A Twentieth-Century Testimony,” takes a deep personal reflection and contemplation of life. He cuts deep into the heart of putting first things first when he says: “When I look back on my life nowadays, which I sometimes do, what strikes me most forcibly about it is that what seemed at the time most significant and seductive, seems now most futile and absurd. For instance, success in all of its various guises; being known and being praised; ostensible pleasures, like acquiring money or seducing women, or travelling, going to and fro in the world and up and down in it like satan, exploring and experiencing whatever Vanity Fair has to offer. In retrospect all these exercises in self-gratification seem pure fantasy, what Pascal called “licking the earth”.
Opportunities for reflection should never be wasted. Mental processing power should not be squandered in worry and fearful exchanges. Do not panic; seasons come and they go. Your determination should be that you will never die in the winter. Be determined to live fully and stop preparing to die. Prepare to live boldly and courageously. Prepare for a level-headed relaunch and rebirth.
There is more to life and there will be more beyond this season. Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. Mindless racing without an opportunity for reflection is madness. As Henry David Thoreau wrote: “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Reflecting allows you to connect with the immeasurable power and resources within.
As you reflect look at the immediate challenges and the part that you play. How will you resolve the conundrums that have come with this season and its aftermath. You have to survive this season and then face the future with courage, faith and vision. The future is already here, it is just not yet evenly distributed
You have a part to play and take personal responsibility. What will be needed as you go into the new normal and the new realities? Do not dare leave home during the rainy season without your umbrella. You have to develop a plan, regardless of how rough it is, of how you will get back into the game, playing to win and not just to play. Going into the second half thinking small and defeated will lead to painful consequences.
Refusing to face up to the brutal realities and taking decisions will be even more painful. Nothing changes like change. You need to re-imagine the new playfield and how you will play. There will be important changes to make. Therefore prepare to make them. There will be a new normal, embrace it and face it because it will not be feeling pity for you.
Do not wait for solutions because you are part of the solution. Do not what for change because you also have changes to make. Do not wait for the world to move, when your internal world remains the same. Do not wait for a new season, while you squander this one. Do not wait for a special star to rise. Let the light shine from within you.
Committed to your greatness.
- Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and growth mentor. 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 Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo. His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com.
