Thrive in storms of negativity

STORMS come and with them also come sudden changes in wind speed, direction and momentum. What matters in a storm is not the storm itself or the news coverage it gets, but your own mindset and posture in that storm. If you remain stuck in your ways, you risk being uprooted. If you change your thinking, you will transform your life. Your inner resolve is more important than the severity of any storm. Determine that whatever storm comes your way, when it is past you will still be there, pursuing your destiny and focused on your mission.

Stormy times are not times to stop thinking, strategising and learning. Keep moving, face-up, and speak in line with your designed trajectory. Negativity is a luxury you cannot afford. Thinking like a victim in a storm will make you a really sad victim. Storms carry opportunity and every wind of change has its blessings. Your role is to direct your focus and escape the negative social conditioning.

In any storm, know where you stand, watch what you listen to, think about what you are doing, ask carefully who you are following, and reflect seriously about where you are going. Sleep walking through a storm is a dangerous pass-time.

Your advantage

You cannot change the past, it happened and it is what it is. The present is a short window of opportunity. The past has happened, do not park in it and forget that the future is coming. The present is passing fast, do not camp on it and think that it is all there is. Your greatest leverage is in the future.

The best time to have planted a tree would have been ten years ago and today you would have been harvesting. However, the next best time to plant a tree is not tomorrow, it’s today. Procrastinating your life because you are waiting for the perfect moment is self-deception and unnecessary delay. Carpe diem! Seize the day and use it well. What you do today should have a clear view of your desired future. What you say today should reflect where you are going. Where you hang out today should show where you want to live tomorrow. The present is not a mere gambling chip but dough that you can use to mould a great future. Anything you sincerely believe in and desire, you can have if you are willing to stick your neck and follow through.

Waste no time in negativity because the future is coming fast with great fury, it does not take excuses kindly. Squander no moments in idle cynicism because the future has no time for justifying foolish behaviours. See this moment as your golden moment and special hour. Seize the day and give your best to this moment. If you are willing, you can eat the good of the land. If you are serious, you can shake off idleness and start a personal success revolution. You are only limited when you access limitations in your mind, use excuses as a shield and keep blaming your circumstances.

Beliefs drive

What you believe has power over your life. Your belief systems colour your world and determine the way you think and act. You cannot rise above the level of your beliefs. To change anything, change what you fundamentally believe in. A word that is used by some people to denote the way you see the world, your belief systems and mental maps is “Paradigm”. Nothing will ever change until you change your paradigms. Your belief systems determine your inner dialogue, the way you process whatever happens to you and the way you act. When people share a common paradigm, they create a culture. Audit your culture to ensure that it is not dragging you down and confining you to mediocrity. Quit relationships whose currency is negativity, complaining, apathy and gloom. Nothing happening outside you will change much until you change what is happening inside your mind. If the light in you is darkness, no light from anywhere will matter.

Waste no time in conversations that lack inspiring ideas that you can use to plumb the future. Idle complaining is not strategic planning. Career criticism is not strategic pivoting. Instead of looking for opportunities to curse, mock and jeer, ground yourself in your vision of greatness, stand clear and look for opportunities to make a difference and bring change and improvement. Moaning every morning is not strategic analysis and execution. Do not waste your emotions on things that you cannot change when you can invest your passion in pursing your magnificent vision.

Lamentations are not a strategic iteration or a blue ocean strategy. Invest your time with people that see the future, and you will not have time for recreational complaining. You will be inspired and motivated to use what you have and stretch to the next level. Invest your moments of reflection on the big issues that matter and you will see clearly what matters the most. Let the scales of negativity fall off your eyes. Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. Invest in people that produce and you will realise that great things are happening while others are sleeping, dozing and mindlessly complaining. Think like an investor and always be on the look-out for opportunity, talent and space. Waste no moments whining because you cannot carry it to the bank as a business proposal.

Paradigm shifting

When the ground shifts, change your map and relocate yourself on the map. When things stop working, you know that this is a sign that some models of the past have expired. When smoke starts rising, you know that a new flame is required. When things start feeling uncomfortable, you know that the past will no longer serve you in the future. Crisis is a sign that something different is now needed. When change happens, you know that seasons have changed.

Refuse to be stuck in old paradigms, old seasons and building monuments on unsustainable ideas. Make serious decisions and not just wishes. Commit to doing great things and move new directions. When you make a real decision, things start to change. Stay on course and follow through what you decide. It is not what others are doing that matters but what you are doing and are committed to doing. You do not really have a strategy if you are not willing to carry it out.

If you choose, you can move from ordinary to extra-ordinary. You can move from despair to inspired; from looking down to looking up. Take bold actions and start moving and making things happen. It is all in your hands. You are responsible for your life and all that is in your care. Blaming and excuses will not cut anything out.

Results speak

Speak all you want; make all the noise your lungs can take but do not forget to check the results often. The results speak for themselves. Do not curse the results, change what you are doing and thinking and you will change your results. You do not afford the luxury of just floating along and hoping that things will change themselves and you will wake up to a different experience. Expecting change and doing nothing for change to happen is self-deception. Focus your life on greatness and continuous improvement. You can be better than you were yesterday. Keep moving focused. Invest your life into understanding it and how to make greatness work for you.

Do what you can to move forward. Be obsessed with moving forward and making your life different and better. Break your glass ceiling and apply what you learn. Instead of studying why things do not work, study how to make things work. Instead of studying what is not working, study what works and build on it. Instead of believing in lies, focus on making your dreams come true. You are unlimited and unstoppable. You can become anything you want to be if you focus on it, change your paradigms and focus on your goals.

Be uncomfortable with being where you are. Stop listening to people that do not know what they are doing and where they are going. Look for people producing results and duplicate what they are doing. Look at your paradigms and shift them. Do not spend your time just reflecting on the environment around you, affect the environment. Spend time really thinking and not just venting unguided emotions. Think critically and move into focused action. Your actions must reflect thought and not just reveal negative conditioning. Merely filling your mind with facts is not thinking. Shift your attention to where you want to go and not where you do not want to go.

In the absence of clearly defined goals, you easily become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia and engaging in recreational complaining. Define your goals and change your mental maps, then pursue those goals until they are begging for mercy. Committed to your greatness. ◆ Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and executive coach. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: mkamwendo@gmail.com and Twitter: @MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634. His website is: www. miltonkamwendo.com