Andrew
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
Steve Bantu Biko wrote a collection of articles under the heading “I Write What I Like”. Biko was a South African anti-apartheid leader who arose after the first generation that included Mr Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned.
The system then tried to silence his voice but they could not muzzle his spirit. He was murdered for his revolutionary activities. As Biko wrote, in life, you write as you like. It is up to you to dream and dare.
You are not a victim
Steve Biko grew up and lived in an oppressive system that seemed to have enveloped him and marooned his dreams. However, he refused to think, talk or write like a victim. His view was that the greatest weapon in the mind of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. The most terrible prison and dungeon is a mind that thinks and dwells on self-pity and victim status. Whatever happens, you cannot outsource your life or give up responsibility for your greatness. Giving up responsibility arrests innovation and potential; it snuffs out passion.
You are not a victim. You are not powerless regardless of how you may feel at this moment. Refuse to think, talk and complain like a blind victim who has lost all hope. Do not give up on life. Do not stop thinking and trying. Choose to be the writer of your life’s story and not just its reader. Write as you like, not as the situations and circumstances like.
You are able
My High School’s motto was: “We can because we think we can”. At that time, this did not seem to make much sense to me. We would see this written in some of the old materials around the school but it was never talked about much. Perhaps, the school administration then had lost the essence of the founding ethos of the school.
The founders of the school believed in possibilities that come out of the power of thought. Clearly, there was evidence that they built this school on this empowering motto: “We can because we think we can”. As you think, so you become. As you think, so you are empowered to do. The first step of creation is, therefore, a thought. Greatness starts with the seed of thought.
For my high school, many generations later, the building and structures were still standing and other people inherited them. Regrettably, they did not inherit the charisma of the school. The written motto still existed in the old records but they never so much connected with it. It was never recited or repeated. But, because it was written, it caught this young man’s attention, and I was always in awe of this fact that “we can because we think we can”.
I embraced it as my life’s motto.
You are able to write your life’s path and dream. You cannot write when you feel that you are condemned to being a passive reader of the dictates that others have set. Greatness starts in your thoughts. You are able and you can. Write as you dream. Write as you like.
You can do great things. Great things start with great dreams of possibility. The impossible is the untried, the unthought. It has not been read because it has not been written. It becomes possible when your mind starts to dwell on it as much as possible. There is genius in you. It may not look so, but you can always say: Not yet! I am still on the way.
What if?
Great dreams and possibilities start when you pause the question: What if? Entertain the impossible, embrace the challenging and seemingly absurd. Dare to dream big and bold. What is your what if? To write a new chapter for your life and what you do, you have to see through your mountains and dream through the negativity around you. Get on now and start with a few “what ifs . . .” What if your sales were to multiple 10 times? What if you started a new career today?
What if you took action? What if, what if, what if? Play make-believe, create and entertain great fantasies. Let your mind run wild and run wide. Creation starts in the mind and do not limit yourself. The limits you place on your life are the ones you accept in your mind. What if you think differently?
Why not?
The giants of today are the molehills of tomorrow. Today’s impossibilities are tomorrow’s staple. It may seem hard, impossible and may have never been done before. Start writing a new page. Ask: Why not? You may be tempted to believe that other people have special endowments and that you are not special in any way. That is a lie. There is a lot of potential in you. There are possibilities that are beyond your wildest dreams.
Just outside Bulawayo, there was a hotel that was aptly named Why Not Hotel? Perhaps, this may not be the best of names for a hotel, but this should be a metaphor for everything that you desire that seems impossible as we speak. Why not?
If you knew that all the money you require is there, every licence you need would be granted and you could not fail in any way, what would you go for? If you were not afraid what would you do? Write as you like. Dream as you dare. Today, you stand at the edge of the runway of your life. It is up to you to fly or watch others on the wing. The runway of life is not for those who have lost the hope and desire of flying and are content to watch other planes land and take off. Your dreams may look small, but they are yours. Believe in their beauty and nobility. Write as you like, live as you have imagined your greatness.
Committed to your greatness
◆ 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
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