Who is standing on your shoulders?

19 May, 2019 - 00:05 0 Views
Who is standing  on your shoulders?

The Sunday Mail

Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo

Sir Isaac Newton in 1675 said: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

That immortal statement continues to inspire many to find a mentor, build on the past and take their contribution to the next level.

Your size does not matter; what matters is what you are standing on. Giants provide a platform of elevation and a greatness launch-pad.

Think honour and carry responsibility by seeing beyond today’s comforts or personal conveniences. Stand squarely on the shoulders of giants, building on the successes of others. When you are mentored by the great, you pave way for your own greatness. However, do more by giving others a shoulder to stand up and a platform to launch into higher places. Eyes that look at problems and circumstances are common, but eyes that see through the haze in a balanced, creative and visionary manner are rare. Do not just look at things and situations with a view to being the sole and privileged beneficiary.

The world of one is too small for the greatness ecosystem. It does not take too much effort, complaint and throw tantrums. There is no heroism in that. Great complainers are rarely great doers.

It does not take much to think of yourself as the centre of attention and deserving of global pity. To jump to the next level, you have to dump thinking like a victim, being imprisoned by the past and focus on the future because that is where you will spend the rest of your life.

Greatness takes another meaning when you take a different responsible view and you see yourself as the giver, mover and benefactor. There is something in you, start looking at what you have before being obsessed and overcome by thoughts of helplessness.

What you do for yourself is important, but what you do for others is more important and long-lasting. Your vision is in jeopardy so long as it is denominated in the currency of self-preservation, personal interest and ego-boosting ego toys.

There are two choices to make in life: accepting things as they are and resigning to being a helpless and hapless victim; or taking on the responsibility of making a difference, bringing change and being an answer. It all starts with a decision and determination. How will you answer posterity if you are too blind to care, too careless to dream and live a life that matters beyond village acclaim.

There is abundance all around and possibilities beyond your wildest dreams. Think shortage and you start doing insane things. There is more that you can do, so dream really big and take bold action. Even if it may look as though you cannot do much, you can at least dream. So long as you are willing to stretch your thinking a little more, there is an unlimited margin of possibilities waiting for you.

There is a place of visionary service that is waiting for you to show up. The problems around you are traffic signs to your greater destiny. It is when it is darkest that stars shine brightest and visionaries see clearest. The difficulties that you face are a destiny and design thinking challenge. It is when things seem worst that the season of opportunity is most intense. At a time of mass negativity, you have an unfair advantage if you are positive, focused and action-ready.

Be kind, creative and responsible. What you do benefits more people than you think. Doing nothing except complaining serves no one. No one is served well by your despair, despondency and demeaning conversations.

Resign from conversations and fellowships that do not inspire you in the direction of your magnificent dreams. There is nowhere you go where you will not need to confront issues, solve problems and make a difference that matters.

There is a special way you touch and inspire others. It is not what other people can do for you that matters most but what you can do for others. Your contribution matters. Instead of just looking for a shoulder to stand on, consider making your shoulder worth standing on. Whatever you are doing is a runway that you are creating. Make the runway wide and long enough to land bigger planes and serve higher purposes. Put first things first in this journey.

Sweep your street

A big part of change begins with the way you think. Unless your mindset changes you will remain chained to an unproductive past and blind existence. Start an aggressive personal mental renewal programme. A poisoned, bitter mindset will not benefit you or anyone else.

A mindset is a cluster of thoughts with attached information that generates a particular perception. Audit the thinking that has been compacted into your life. That is where change begins. How you do what you do can be traced to the way you think. How you do your work and what you think about the work and the people that you are serving matters. No one can make you feel inferior without your permission. It is not the work that you do that matters but the dignity that you bring to your work that matters.

Martin Luther King Jr once said: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Let what you do sing your testimony and testify to your greatness. Bring excellence to all you do.

Automatic negative thoughts

Press pause and quit the social hypnosis of automatic negative thoughts. You do not afford the luxury of nursing negativity. Face the brutal realities but remain mentally strong and alert to keep out all toxic thinking from your mental system. Instead allow Performance Enhancing Thoughts (PETs) to dominate your thinking and conversation.

Shoulders of giants

Five hundred years before Isaac Newton, John of Salisbury in 1159, wrote in his Metalogicon: “Bernard of Chartres used to compare us to dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants. He pointed out that we see more and further than our predecessors, not because we have keener vision or greater height, but because we are lifted up and borne aloft on their gigantic stature.”

If there will be progress and improvement, let it be because you played your part and others stand on the shoulders of your thinking, work and efforts. Think beyond what you can eat, drink and wear. There is more to life than what meets the eye or satisfies the stomach. When you think bigger you will realise that all shortage is artificial and there is more for more people.

Committed to your greatness.

 

Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and executive coach. He is a cutting 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 or WhatsApp at: 0772422634. His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com

 

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