Attempt the Impossible!

October 7, 2009 by Milton Kamwendo
Filed under: Unleashing Greatness 

Every bold attempt to bring improvement, every pursuit of a big hairy dream and every daring dream of transformation has been labelled insanity, absurdity and/or impossible at some time. Without any such daring attempts to do the impossible there would be no progress of any nature. Nothing is impossible to the person who has made up his mind, focused his faith and is determined to do what it takes to realise his dream. When we attempt to do the ordinary all we can be is mediocre. When we attempt to do the normal all we can be is someone’s shadow. The impossible is begging for daring souls to challenge it. The present will remain as it is until somebody challenges the status quo.


You cannot fail
If we knew that we could not fail what would we do? Sometimes before we have even attempted to do anything meaningful we are already scratching around for alternatives. So long as there is an alternative we have created opportunity for failure. Greatness is easier when we make it the only alternative. The journey to greatness is not easy — it is simply possible. The rough terrain and thoroughfare that we have to painfully manage and negotiate leads to the heights of greatness. When we act as if it were impossible to fail we make success our first option. B.C. Forbes once said, “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats”. The challenges and problems we face must not discourage us; they must inspire in us a determination to win at all costs.

Disability is not inability
Negative circumstances never mean that the journey is over. Nothing is impossible except in our minds. The great 17th Century poet, John Milton (1608 – 1674) became blind in 1651 at the age of 43. Although he lost his sight he never lost his love for literature. Sixteen years later he wrote Paradise Lost, a literary classic. Whatever misfortune we face should never be a death knell to our dreams. The impossible can still be done and done exceptionally well. Even though he was now blind, Milton continued to participate actively in politics and literature. Each of us has some disability, it could be physical, mental, spiritual or emotional, but this must never stop us from attempting big ideals!

The love of comfort is what kills most of us. Many of us would rather have old familiar problems than take action and face the prospect of new solutions. I have heard many say it is better to face and live with the devil. You know that one, that you do not. A devil is always a devil and it is better to deal with him than to accept him as a gift! In life, we only progress when we choose to stick our necks out and dare the impossible.

The greatest pleasure we can have is to do what people say cannot be done. We cannot simply live in the shadows of other people. Life is real and so applies to its challenges. When we attempt the impossible, we often get the best possible. Any person who approaches life with this attitude can be delayed by adversity but he or she cannot be denied.

Dare to Fail
Failure is the womb of success. May of us fear failure so much that we are
immobilised by it. The risk of failure is always there in any venture. When
we respect failure too much, we increase its chances of becoming a reality. It is better to fail attempting something significant than to succeed at something insignificant.

There are risks to any programme of action but these are far insignificant when compared to the long-range risks of comfortable inaction. Unless we try something beyond what we have mastered we will never grow. Unless we try something that looks bigger than us, we will never experience miracles. Unless we try something extra we will never experience the extra-ordinary.

Don’t Let Fear Rob You
Most people are robbed of greatness by fear. They fear people and their opinions. Others fear death or presumed hunger. Others just fear the feeling of fear. Fear is only real in our minds. The only way to unmask fear is to do that which we fear and see if we are alive afterwards. Truly, 99.78 percent of our fears do not happen. Most of these fears are ridiculous when we look at them in retrospect. Greatness is not for the timid souls that prefer to interfere with no one, attempt nothing and do nothing.

To caress one’s fears is to caress mediocrity. Most people do not die because of attempting big goals; they simply expire from life with unexploited potential. The biggest form of abuse for which most of us should stand trial is “mental abuse”. We use our minds for so little and just do the basic things that maintain our metabolic functions. Our minds are yearning for creative deployment not idle preservation.

To your greatness

Milton Kamwendo

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Digg
  • Technorati
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn

Tags:

Comments

One Response to “Attempt the Impossible!”

  1. vitalis matura on October 8th, 2009 5:27 pm

    Am inspired and l have changed my way of thinking, stay blessed!!!!!!!

Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!