The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
You are not tied to the past; unless you decide so. You are not marooned by the present and its uncertainties; unless you think so.
You can shape and transform your life by the thoughts you embrace and the decisions you take. Stop merely giving a catalogue of excuses or an inventory of wishes. A decision has been made when committed action flows from the decision. You are far more powerful than anything that stands in your path.
Most often the enemy you are hunting for and blaming is the enemy within. By your thinking you rise and by your thinking you remain drawing ever-more impressive circles, using the pen of familiar and recreational complaints.
You may not know what the future holds and what it will be like, but you can decide that you will not remain stuck in the past. Decide that you will face whatever it is with acceptance and you will be kind to yourself, and to others.
What happened is over and done with, you cannot continue sawing saw-dust. Be kind to yourself and forgive yourself. There is no point in continuing to beat yourself up, stew in guilt or seek your moments of revenge.
Accept whatever happened and forgive yourself. Be willing to let go and let God take control. Do not let bitterness eat you up like a rogue cancer. Do not let shame enslave you.
The mental prison torments more people than any other holding place. Do not let past records bury you. Do not let past glory choke you. The past happened, accept it, forgive yourself (and others) and now look up. Behold the future comes, will you rise to meet and greet it?
Be kind to others and forgive. Do not let the terrible things of the past continue to be your present torment and a heavy blinding log in your eyes. When you blame you disempower yourself and blind yourself from vision.
Thinking small hurts will blur your vision and deflect your strategy away from what really matters. Writing the future is far easier compared to re-writing the past. Your greatest leverage is in your future. Forgive and let go. Start thinking big and bold. You cannot go on living, thinking and planning like a victim.
Watch what you are carrying. Some burdens of the past are too heavy to carry into the future.
Leadership always envisions the future, breaks the limitations of the past and plots bold paths yonder. There is a way, even if it looks as though there is no way at the moment.
Do not subcontract your thinking to the emotional hurts of the past. If you bury yourself in the sorrows of the past, you will not have the power to take full advantage of the present nor of the future.
You can shape your life into a master-piece with the tools of faith and vision, better than you can with fear, anger and bitterness.
Your greatest leverage is in the future. To move into the future, decide to carry the best parts of the past and not the worst and most bitter ones. Quit the fellowships of the disaffected, cynical, complaining and bitter ones.
The future is not some distant lost place that is strange and untamed. No amount of denial will stop the future from coming. Plan all you can; just know that not everything depends on you. No amount of bitterness will work as eye-salve to clarify your vision of the future. The future is already here, perhaps not looking like how we expected it to look.
The future does not always come dressed in the costumes of the past and it does not sing choruses of the past. The future does not always consult your emotions before appearing. William Gibson writing in “The Economist”, issue of December 4, 2003, said: “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.”
He had stumbled onto a gem of an insight. How you see and think about the past, the present and the future will affect what you do and your path to greatness. The signals are always talking. The question is whether you are listening.
On March 14, 2019, he wore a beautifully pressed navy blue suit and cap as he walked into a new life.
He was majestically marching out of a high security prison in Louisiana, in the United States of America, after spending 36 years behind bars.
He was now 58 years old, he had been wrongly accused of rape and attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison.
He knew he was not guilty and at trial he had many forces against him. Only poverty was in his corner and his arguments were weak. The jury took its decision and at age 22 he was put in maximum prison. It is not prison or anything that happens to you that matters most but how you respond to whatever happens to you.
While in prison, his mother died in 1999, and his father in 2003. He still had time to do. How you process things in your mind matters.
How you keep a fighting spirit despite what happens matters. How you pre-play your desired future in your mind matters. It is not who you meet that matters but how you meet whatever comes your way.
He was not bitter, his adopted as his role-model Joseph in the Old Testament Bible who has suffered the same fate. In his mould he could see himself also following Joseph’s pathway to greatness. Instead of being crushed in spirit, embittered by prison, he was made stronger and more resolute.
He had his eyes set on improving himself. He could see himself on stage, singing with the greats. He spent many hours singing, perfecting his voice. Prison denied him many things, but did not stop him from signing.
He would enter “America Has Talent” show one day and he had to be ready. He wanted to go to college; enter the music scene and at that time did not know that his story would make a touching film and his story would move many. His name is Mr Archie Williams.
Like Mr Williams, you also have a choice to either be a prisoner of your past or to pursue your dreams of greatness. You can blame your circumstances and use the influences around you as an excuse. It is all up to you.
Any can be used as an excuse and a prop for your weakness if you give it permission. Nothing can rob you of the freedom and power within you without your permission. Stop thinking, planning, talking and glorifying being a victim. Delete all the excuses you have and stop playing pity-party games. Your greatest leverage is in the future. Your greatest asset or liability is in the way you think.
Start planning and positioning yourself for your desired future. It takes shifting your paradigm, changing the mental-mould and blazing new paths.
You have to address what is going on in your head not just what is happening in the whole village. Change the way you see yourself and the way you think. That is where the greatest work is — in the way you think. Until the core dominant ways of thinking changes, any change will be cosmetic and shallow.
A paradigm is a mental map and framework of thought. It is a way you look at the world and process information. Your paradigms are tied to your mindset. Your paradigm gives colour and shape to your concept of reality. My favourite definition of a paradigm was given by Mr Joel Arthur Barker, the author of the book, “Paradigms — The Business of Discovering the Future”. Mr Barker said: “A paradigm is a set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two things: (1) it establishes or defines boundaries; and (2) it tells you how to behave inside the boundaries to become successful. Challenge your mental boundaries. Become a paradigm shifter and paradigm pioneer.
Change your disempowering beliefs and focus of your attention. Unshackle yourself from the fears of the past that keep you imprisoned. Change your paradigms and dump those that no longer serve you.
Break the mould that has held you hostage.
The first step is being aware of your thoughts and the things that inform your thinking, values and attitudes. Knock the legs off your disempowering beliefs. You cannot journey into the greatness you desire when mentally you remain chained to the past.
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 His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com
