Don’t lose heart
The future is too delicate to discount. Think big and dream bold, then add reality to your dreams and your future will come rushing towards you.
DO not lose heart and do not despair. Do not kill your dreams, do not despise your modest efforts because what you hoped for is taking too long to manifest. Flip the script and change your posture. Change from adding dreams to your reality to adding reality to your dreams.
Greatness is not what happens in the future, but who you are already on the inside and you are working every day to manifest. The future is impatiently waiting to be manifested and revealed. The future is not coming it is already here because you are here. It is just not yet evenly distributed.
See what is not yet here and speak it until it manifests. Look at what looks impossible and ask why not? Stop looking for excuses and telling yourself that you are unable. Stop the: “Why me narrative?” You are not a victim, but winner. You are a creator, a mover and a shaker. Dream big and take action. Stop blaming and start doing. Create from your faith and rich resource of thought. In you lies a power beyond your imagination and estimation of your forebears.
As you think so you become. As you believe so you manifest. As you dream so you do. Your fixed intention and dreams are the gateway to the future you desire. Dream in bold strokes. Dream in colour. The future is too exciting to ignore, and too enticing to be pursued without clear intentionality.
Do not kill the future or abort it because you have met obstacles and are going through a tough phase. You do not stop because it is hard. Keep moving, whatever the pace, whatever the obstacles.
Stop scaring yourself and telling yourself stories of defeat, despair and disdain. Stop dreaming up monsters devouring your future. Stop dreaming of death and defeat. Dream possibilities that you can clothe with reality. Feed your faith and not your fears. Choose
what you pay attention to and who you pay attention to. Choose to see the great one within. Do not squander your attention on those that despise your dreams and laugh at your plans.
Listen to feedback, but do not listen to cynical critics. The do not see what you see or know what you know. Do not listen to armchair analysts, who use the past as a ruler and measure of the future. They do not see with vision. They dot not use back-from-the-future thinking. They could be historical in thought but you are visionary in orientation.
Do not listen to skeptical commentators, who have never been in the arena of action. Do not be bitter with those who fight you, because they do not know what they are doing and have no idea of what you are doing. They can see your action but they do not know your motivation. They do not know what revelation is inspiring you. They have no idea of the zeal that his consuming you.
Do not let anyone walk through your heart with their wet-blanket of doubt and despair. Do not lose heart. Do not let anything and anyone stop you from thinking big and dreaming possibilities. Jot notes, vision-board, day-dream and do everything and anything to add reality to your thoughts. Compute possibilities and not fears. Do not kill your dreams by lying on them, sitting on them or sharing them with those that are blind to strategy and visionary thinking.
In 1995 South Africa was hosting the Third Rugby World Cup and was pitted against the best teams of the world. Having just started
reaching out to the world after years of being regarded a rogue state. It was playing for national pride and it dreamt that it could win. It was determined to win, but the odds were not in its favour.
The role of leader is to inspire greatness, encourage the heart and encourage bold action. Leaders encourage dreams to take hold and challenge the popular narrative. Great leaders inspire greatness in others, who make you be seeing it in themselves. They make the future look viable and possible.
Before this 1995, World Cup opener, Mr. Mandela, the President of South Africa, encouraged the Team and gave a special message to Francois Pienaar, the Captain of the South African Rugby Team. Inspired by this igniting message, and the inevitable hardwork, the South African team went on to win the World Cup and defeat the famed All Blacks of New Zealand. What was this magic message?
Mr Mandela’s message was borrowed a line from William Ernest Henley’s poem, “Invictus”. The power reads:
“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”
You are the master of your fate. You determine your end spot. Obstacles and challenges do not have the final word. Count what really counts for the future.
The future is never changed by those who face life with a sneer or blind negativity. It is changed by dreamers who look at what is and dare to challenge it. It is changed by those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. It is never enough to park around problems, admiring them and give them permanent-residence status.
Stay in the game long enough to show results. Keep fighting and moving, believing and working. The pace may be slow, the tide high and the challenge nigh. You may have to sigh, but do not sign out just yet. Keep your dream alive and keep moving and mowing through your challenges.
The rewards usually sit at the end of the road and beyond the rough patch where other people feel the road has ended. Do not give up. Do not stop dreaming even if every nerve cell in you is screaming and telling you: “Give up! Give up! Give in!”
Results are the sweet spot that you hit when vision is aligned to mission, aligned to strategy and aligned to execution. Vision lives on long after the copycats have stopped copying and are too tired to take more notes. Keep dreaming and taking action on your dreams and stay as long as is necessary for you to achieve your greatness.
Break down your dream into a crystalline life agenda. This becomes your daily marching orders, otherwise known as mission. Be a person on mission, working to add reality to your dreams. Turn your dreams into a bold mission. Keep your eyes on the banner at the end of the line.
The pot of gold lies at the end of the rainbow! Keep working the game plan. Your strategy tells you how you will play to win. All these things do not mean much if you are not willing to play. Take action and keep taking action and everything starts coming to life. 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: mkamwendo@gmail.com and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com