The Sunday Mail
Milton Kamwendo Hunt for Greatness —
The best way to start anything is to start. Have you started yet? Start now! You will never know how far you can go if you do not start.
The best way to start any year is to start at the beginning. Do not wait, lingering in despair. There is so much to be excited about. You have not come to the end of your life, just a new beginning. Put a few import restrictions on last year.
Do not import into this year your failures, disappointments, complaints, negativity or bitterness. Leave all the junk in the past and start afresh. This may all seem obvious to everyone but it is not.
This year is not last year, unless you are not willing to change and grow. The year is not going to start, it has already started. Standing still will not stop the year from marching on. The beginning of the year is always the best and greatest opportunity for you to be born again and put on a new leaf.
It is your opportunity to start with a fresh page. Things may have gone wrong, you have a fresh page to start writing on. Think differently, change the narrative and start your new journey.
Do not start where challenges left you, start anew. Do not despair because of the loads of the past. You have a fresh page now. Load the present with new inspiration, not old cynicism.
Dip into your soul and start dreaming new possibilities. Bitterness and negativity will not help you. Think differently and begin today. The future is waiting for you to begin.
Start, the clock is not waiting and the calendar is not standing still. Stop waiting for what you cannot change and for a train that may never come.
Now is the time that you have. Start.
Where do I start?
In handling weapons, soldiers are trained in the sequence: “Ready, Aim, Fire.”
The first step is to get your weapon ready. You then aim at the target and then fire.
That works with weapons and in a stable situation.
You cannot wait forever to be ready. Procrastination is the thief of time and the killer of dreams. Consider changing the sequence of activities from “Ready, Aim, Fire” to “Fire, Ready, Aim.”
The best way to start is by starting. Start wherever you are, but start. If you never start you may remain a philosopher. Start writing. Sign up. Turn up at the gym ready to train.
Open your computer and start typing your book. You can always edit and rearrange your chapters later. You will not gain any momentum when you are standing still.
In Ecclesiastes 11:4, the Preacher says: “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.”
Waiting for perfect conditions in an imperfect world is an exercise in futility. Do not wait until the conditions are perfect for you to start. Just fire. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.
Waiting for perfection makes the beginning even harder. If what you can start with is crawling, then crawl. If what you can start with is trotting, then trot.
If what you can start with is a single sentence, then write the sentence. Do not wait until all potholes have been patched up before you start driving. You may never drive.
Do not wait until all the money is in place. Take one step at a time, beginning with the first step. Start with “If!”
To start the year, start by reading something that is inspirational. Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) wrote a poem entitled “If”, I find it inspirational and grounding.
I am including this poem here for your inspiration:
“If you can keep your head when all about you;
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you;
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting;
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating;
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster;
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken;
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools;
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken;
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings;
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss;
And lose, and start again at your beginnings;
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew;
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings — nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run;
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it;
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!”
Start this poem, read it daily for the next forty days. You will be inspired to stand up again and start. Whatever is in your way will not stand there forever. Whatever hurts of the past should not stop you from starting again with fresh energy and zeal.
Start by starting, and not by blaming. It is not the conditions of your life that matter, but the dreams that you hold.
Beginning is the most important part of success. If you do not begin you may never be a winner. If you do not turn up, you may never be counted. Start by starting.
Start where you are
Start where you are, with what you have and the magic will begin. You are not practicing to live, you are alive already. Throw away the excuses and limitation.
Stop worshipping your challenges and giving your problems hero status. Start by doing what you have to do. Then do the little that you can. Then do a little more. The more you do, the greater the possibilities that you see.
The more you do, the more the impossible is turned into possibility. You will never read a book that was not written. You will never be given a boarding pass for a journey you did not take.
You will never appear in a photograph that was not taken. The genius is in the starting. The magic is in the power of starting.
Leap into action or else wither in despair. Head into motion or else rot in regret. Do what you can with what you have where you are.
The wheels will start turning and possibilities will start showing.
Start with action
Beliefs, information and ideas are all important. The most important step that you will ever take is the action step.
A noun is a naming word. Stop waiting for a name. Start taking action. You do not have to wait for a title before you begin. You do not have to wait for names and descriptions before you take action.
Just start by starting. A verb is a doing word. Just do. Waiting for long explanations just makes your energy dry up. Take one step forward, then another and another. One day at a time is never too difficult. The best way to begin a year is by starting. Start now.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and coach. His life purpose is to inspire greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634.
