Do not be discouraged, dream again

Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo

Do not be discouraged by what you see and what you do not see. Keep standing firm, doing the best that you can and keep hope alive. Challenge yourself with empowering and inspiring questions. Questions that make you rise from slumber and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Choose the path forward. Do not let discouragement seep into your soul and corrode your mind.

You are strong. You are capable and you are able. There is something so strong in you. Your spirit is stronger than any blows that you get. Your determination and resolve to win are stronger than any obstacle that stands in your way. The powerful questions you hold will light a candle on every dark alley. That obstacle in your path is a stepping stone to your greatness. Your future is more exciting than your past. There are inexhaustible possibilities that lie ahead. Do not fear, ask bold questions.

Beautiful questions lead to a beautiful life. Great questions lead to a great life. You choose the questions to dwell on and the questions choose your destiny.

Mr Warren Berger wrote a book entitled: “The Book of Beautiful Questions.” In the book he surveys questions for decision making, questions for sparking creativity, questions to help connect with others and questions for stronger leadership. Under the questions for stinger leadership he has a vignette that he has entitled: “Release your ‘Inner Steve Jobs’ by asking ‘visionary’ questions”. In this vignette he shares seven key questions and challenges. These are:

How can we become the company that would put us out of business? Start by envisioning a threat that does not exist (yet).
How can we brace ourselves for the third wave? It’s not the wave that you’re on now or the one you can see breaking; it’s the big one yet to break.
If an oracle could tell us about our business five years from now, what would we ask? Think of the most critical questions; then go to work on them (because you are the oracle).
What would the seventh generation think about what we’re doing? Take a lesson from the Iroquois about long term planning.
How might I make tomorrow visible? Inspire people by giving them a glimpse of a better future.
What is our “vision question”? Forget the vision statement. Pursue the future with an open-ended query.

Do not be discouraged by the challenges you face. Start dreaming and thinking big. Imagine great possibilities beyond today. What does it really take to stop you? What does it take to crush you? Who are you really at the core?

Let me take a guess: you are not a coward; you are willing to walk the walk and do whatever it takes to go forward. You are a winner inside you. Winning is not just results it is a spirit. It is a commitment to stick to the fight even when you are hardest hit. Battles of life are not for the weak but the daring − like you.

There is something great inside you. Keep knocking on the greatness within by asking great and inspiring questions. Ask questions that get you into action and make you move. Stop asking questions that get you into a shell and turn you into a ball of fear. What is you are afraid? Then do great things afraid and fear will look for a new host.

Your situation may have persisted for long and there might look like there is no way out or door in. Do not be discouraged and do not allow anyone or anything assist you on the path of despair. Feed your faith and not your fears. Focus on the unfolding future and not the faltering failures of the past.

Come-back from set-back

You may experience a set back, or a series of setbacks. Do not resort to exploits in superstition or promises of get-rich-quick schemes or portions. No amount of setbacks is sufficient reason for you to retreat to a life of bitterness, regret and future-blindness. Ask powerful questions that jump-start the giant batteries within you. Decide once and for all that you will not settle to a life of victimhood. Decide that you will find a way or make one. Decide that you will stage your comeback from every set-back that you have experienced. Start dreaming a new path, a new way and new possibilities. Every setback you face is a setup for a comeback. You can bounce back and bounce higher than you ever imagined. Ask higher-bounce questions and not questions that dig you into a hole of despair.

Reframe failure

The failures of the past should never be the failures of the future. Past failure should not be fatalist prophecies. The pains of the past should never be allowed to be perpetually in the future. Let the fires that you passed through be the cinder of your motivation today.

Never let past failure stop you from trying and making another bold attempt. Refuse to be a passenger in life. Come back to the ring of enterprise and pursuit and do not die in your winter or wilt in your wilderness moments. Your challenges are not unique and you are not the only one who faces them.

Stop curating problems, magnifying failure and feeding on negativity. True greatness takes time, effort and sustained focus. Never let other people’s ignorant complaints and negativity become an epidemic you suffer from and pass on to others.

Greatness is a land of second, third and more chances depending on your determination and courage. Do not despair or give up too soon. Failure is not fatal so long as you are willing to learn from it. Dust off the ego-injuries, stand up and face whatever stands in your path. When you fall on the dance floor, that does not mean that the party is over. Stand up and dance with life. It is too early to go home and quit trying. Die only when you are dead.

Make failure a stepping stone to something bigger and better. Make it an access point to a victory that could not have been experienced without a momentary failure and set back. Anyone who has never risked failure never achieved anything worthwhile. Dream big, live humbly, knowing that to fail is not to forfeit your dream.

Write new chapters

Your life is an unfolding book, a special drama and its up to you to change the storyline. You have a story and you are the protagonist. Do not let your story be a dry, uninteresting and one that just ends abruptly. If your life was turned into a book, would anyone want to buy it? If it was turned into a movie, would anyone want to watch it?

Do not be discouraged by the chapters you have lived through so far. Get out of your shell and live life fully. Life boldly and write new pages into the book of your life. Ask: what could I do to make my life interesting? What could I do if I was not afraid? How could I make my life worth living and reading?

Do not let the current chapter of your life be the last chapter one. Determine to make yours a great life. Do not denominate your life in the currency of the past. Do not let discouragement be your life’s narrator. Stop playing discouraging and sorrowful songs as your background music. Find another title for your life’s book better than “The Lamentations.” Your wilderness moments are too precious to be wasted telling scary stories to would-be great dreamers. Your story is not ended yet, open new chapters and verses. Do not die until you are really dead. Open new scenes in the movie of your life. No adversity is strong enough to stop you. There is no challenge that comes you way that you cannot handle or profit from. No personal tragedy is big enough to write you off. Do not take yourself off the shelf before your sell-by date. Life is too big to be wasted in empty living and discourses of dismay and disaffections. Do not be discouraged. Disheartening jeremiads are not an investment business case. Dream again and live the question of greatness.

Committed to your greatness.

Milton Kamwendo

◆ 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.