Sundaymail Editor
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
In life things happen — good and bad. What you think about what happens to you is more important than what happens. The attitude you bear along the road of life is important. Choose to be an activist in life. Defy the odds and live on the transformative edge. Choose to fight instead of thinking and behaving like a victim.
Life should not be a passive and idle journey to the grave. Stop wishing to die and dare to live. Never lose your interest in life because of the challenges that you face. Problems can be solved. Issues can be addressed. Difficulties pass. The impossible changes. Challenges are overcome. Do not lose heart and do not stop trying and stretching.
The waves of fate may be angry, seemingly gashing at you and threatening to drown you. You will not drown unless you choose not to swim. Do not let your head hang low. Rather get up and get busy doing your best. Every step of the way counts. Every stand you make matters. Feed your mind with what matters. Do not stop dreaming and doing your part, even if this means taking modest steps forward. It is better to move forward slowly than to stand idly by.
Nothing remains the same. Every single step takes you forward. The clouds of doubt and despair that hang low will shift. Greatness is waiting for you to show up. The pace may look slow but do not lose heart. One day at a time is not too much to ask. You may even feel like you are paddling backwards. Do your best where you are and keep believing in greatness.
Life is a journey of the heart, the mind and a rich tapestry of experiences. Things happen. Challenges come. Whatever happens do not grow bitter and cynical. Keep striving, working and dreaming. Keep a proper perspective to life. Get up and do that which you can.
Mr Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 — 1883) knew that carrying this positive-can-do mindset was a necessary tonic. In 1838, H.W. Longfellow wrote a poem that he titled “A Psalm of Life”. He also appropriately subtitled the poem “What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist”. As you mature and experience life, keep a young and hopeful heart.
When Longfellow wrote this poem, he had just experienced the death of his first wife, Mary Storer Potter, and was willing to face with courage whatever fate had brought his way. He knew that life has to be approached with the winner’s attitude.
H.W. Longfellow’s poem “Psalm of Life” reads:
“Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Finds us farther than today.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act — act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.”
Things may not be always be what they seem. What comes your way may not be what you expected. Rest assured that life is not an empty dream. Do not go through life in a dreamy state. Stop thinking there is another easy and painless way to greatness. Face life as it is and not as you wish it was. Stop living your life in the wishful lane. Do not live in the past, where all things are usually cast in the rose-lighting of nostalgia. Live now because greatness is a journey. Enjoy the ride through whatever terrain you face.
Do not give up and do not despair. Do not allow bitterness to take root and canker your soul. Keep leading from the heart and not from your hurt. Life is real and the grave is not the goal. Do not look back or let up the great dreams that you hold so dear.
Keep sharpening yourself and improving. May tomorrow find you better than yesterday. If you do not innovate you are at risk of remaining in the past. Doing things by old rules leaves you vulnerable to attack and extinction. The spirit of innovation behoves you to wake up and think deeply.
Know that you cannot park in past and live in it forever. What you knew yesterday could be irrelevant today. Past success is not a guarantee of success in the future. Your security is in getting up daily with an eagerness to learn, passion to grow and a heart that is dreaming and daring to do.
The challenge of change is that the knowledge and skills of today could easily become tomorrow’s liabilities. The game is always changing and keep watching what is happening. Be alert and aware. Having mastered the art of dribbling and manoeuvring the ball in soccer, this skill could really be a drawback when the game suddenly changes to basketball, volleyball or cricket, without any notice being published in the media.
Doing is not enough, only the perishing can pride themselves with knowing all there is to know. Unless all you know is being challenged to its roots, you are probably under-learning. You need to be thinking about the things that you need to unlearn as much as the things you need to learn. Which competences do you need to forget?
Every day in your quest to learn, you need to be unlearning those things that are no longer relevant and that no longer serve you or move you forward. Such is the attitude to change and life that you need. Doing without innovating is no longer enough unless you are so preoccupied with history that you have become history.
Doing is not enough, you have to question what you are doing and its value to your customer. Ask questions and do not run away from them. When you run away from questions, you are running away from growth. Pretending that things are working when they are not leaves you vulnerable.
Nothing you do should be insulated from the power of enlightening and incessive questions. Questions challenge the status quo and reveal the hidden cobwebs and the rotting skeletons. If you do not face your reality, change will expose your nakedness. Doing is not enough if you are not taking time to question what you do. You may find yourself doing what no longer requires to be done at all.
Doing what you have always been doing in the same old way leaves you bored, tired and demotivated. This is because you are likely going to produce results that are inferior to the ones you got the last time round. Network with other people and see things from a different perspective. Walk around, look, learn and observe. Going through life in a blind stupor and drunken mindlessness is not the way to greatness.
Be up and doing. Explore and experiment. Think and keep on thinking of possibilities. Impossible are the things that you have never tried. Impregnable are the things you have never attempted. Do not despair because you cannot see the distant future, just keep working your model. Refuse to be hemmed in by the past boundaries of thought.
Challenge yourself to truly live. Change will come, but let it find you ready to meet it. Keep stretching, becoming better and not bitter. You need to keep reaching for new goals and attempting new possibilities. You can do great things. You just have to dare take small or great steps as occasion serves. Be up and doing.
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 web-site is: www.miltonkamwendo.com
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter