Born for Greatness

Inside all of us is a person that strongly wants to succeed and be great. Inside is a champion, a hero, a giant and a winner that has to be unleashed by any means necessary. The truth of the matter is you are born into this world to succeed, to be great and to experience all the goodness life has to offer.

I would like you to believe that you are born with all components within to make it possible to succeed. You are born for greatness and God has no plans for you to fail. His plans are that you flourish in every way.

You are designed to experience all the elegance that life has to offer and you are destined to succeed at anything that you set out to do. Any person who will tell you contrary to this is ignorant, irresponsible and reveals their foolishness.

2 Corinthians 8:9 seals it all:

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich"

Jesus became poor so you MIGHT become rich. Here the bible uses "might" because people can be so cynical and negative sometimes that they may doubt the power of these words. They lock their mind's focus in the here and now. To them, where they are, is all they can be. It is important not look at your status quo and think that is all you are or meant to be. Do not look down on yourself no matter what situation you might be in. Your present status quo is not final. It is very much temporal and its days are numbered.

Your first discovery in life is to recognize that you were born for greatness. Jesus died for you so that you might become affluent and joyful.

This is the reason every toddler approaches life with a lot of enthusiasm and great expectation for great things. The child is excited with life and feels great to be alive. When my son, Tlhalewa, was only one year and two months, all I had to do was play a bouncy song and he would put his groove on instantly. He would start to boogie, jump and chuckle. You may wonder who teaches children how to dance. They do it because it's inertly in them. From birth, all of us approach life in this enthusiastic manner.

However, somewhere during our upbringing we lose all the enthusiasm and excitement. We become sulky and sloppy due to the strain life exerts on us. The best way to describe it is that we become brain damaged because we are told more about our limitations than our potential. This is the reason many people live far below their potential or where they would have been if they were told more about their possibilities. Society does not brainwash us to succeed but programs us to learn to earn a living and end up like every one else. Brain washing for success is simply telling a child their potential and speaking possibilities in that child's life. Programming for failure is more or less telling them what they can't do.

BORN TO BE APPRECIATED

Inside every person young person or adult is a desire to be loved. Children and adults alike feel good when people appreciate and love them. In fact appreciation has a lot of positive effect on the young ones.

I always ask parents this question,

"When was the last time you told your son or daughter you loved them?"

Many just stare at me like I had spoken in tongues. The expression "I love you", in my opinion, is a magical phrase that does wonders in a child's mind. It builds self esteem than you can ever know. Just the reassurance that you, as a parent, love him or her means a lot to the child.  Every child wants to be appreciated, cared for and loved. The child feels good and knows it is loved.

To illustrate more on the impact love can have upon a person's life; I will take you to adolescence.

Have you ever wondered why adolescence is a very crucial stage in any person's life?

This is a period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood. This is a period when boys often experience wet dreams and girls fantasize about romance and the fictitious handsome prince they read in romantic books. This is a period of awakening the man or woman inside them. They become of age and this is a moment in time when many a girl starts to feel like she is losing her mind.

During this time, fathers need to be sensitive enough to reassure their girl child that she is loved. Talking about saying, "I love you", many girls are never told by their parents that they are loved.

Hence, when a boy tells a girl these magic words, she hears them for the first time and melts as the words resonate in her ears and mind, then right before she discovers who she is, gets impregnated.

I am reliably informed that sixty percent of teenage pregnancies are a result of a young woman seeking love from the wrong person at the wrong time and place. The only time some fathers talk to their daughters is when the daughter has done wrong. The words that often come out of the fathers' mouth are negative utterances, degrading and offensive.

It is sad to say that these words end up embedded in the mind of the young girl. For the boy child, this is a time when parents or guardians think he's acting strange due to marijuana influence.

I clearly remember being accused of smoking the herb when I didn't even know how it smelled or looked like. This was, in my opinion, verbal and mental abuse.

Coming back to the present, you will agree with me that the above description is very familiar. Maybe you can relate it to your own life or someone else you know. You probably did not receive the love or affection you deserved as a result the cycle goes on unless broken. If you received a lot of affection from your parents, siblings or guardian you probably would have achieved more in your life than you already have. Recent studies indicate that, kids who are appreciated and live happy home lives tend to do well at school and are successful in life but it is the other way round for those that come from broken homes.

Regardless of your past, it is not too late to discover and unleash the greater you. However, it is important that you break the cycle by adopting the deliberate policy to make your children be peak performers by brainwashing them to believe in their abilities and dreams.

YOU ARE NOT PERFECT AND NEVER WILL BE

During one of my live motivational talks in Harare, Zimbabwe in October 2007 at a youth camp meeting, I asked one participant this question;

"When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see?"

His response bemused me. He replied, "I see an ugly person looking back at me." This sent the whole crowd laughing. I could not help it but laugh as well.

The point I would like to stress here is that, every person has one part of their body they dislike. I know that as an individual, you may not have the looks of the people in a beauty magazine and may not posses the skills you admire. It is important, on the other hand, to appreciate and accept yourself regardless of the self imposed flaws. At least you are a great individual, an original who is about to discover his greatness.

Here is part of my life story. I am the twelfth and last born in the family. From an early age my parents showed me all the love and tender loving care any child could ever dream of. I think this made my older siblings burn with envy. Later in my adolescent years, as a dependant in my older siblings' homes, I was verbally abused and usually punished for things I never did. I remember being told, I had a "Super loaf head" and that I was just an abandoned baby and later picked up along the rail and adopted.

As a result, I developed a low self esteem and always lived in fear and thought lowly of myself. They made me believe I had a shapeless head. In those days, I never would cut my hair short for fear of being laughed at by other kids. I remember clearly in the ninth grade, one classmate drew a caricature on the black board and labeled it, "Aaron's osmosis head." The whole class laughed but I was not amused at all. I was so embarrassed and it was the ultimate degradation at that time.

However, my turning point came when I confronted myself that if I didn't accept my big head and who I was, no one will. Gradually, I started to gain appreciation of my head and would joke that I loved it big because big is good. It is important that you invest in a good wardrobe and always ware good cologne and In order to unleash greatness, look at yourself in a mirror and say, "hey handsome you look charming!" if you are a lady, tell yourself, "hey baby boo, you are hot!! Then go out there and walk with your head up. Be confident in yourself because there has never been anyone like you, there isn't and never will be. You are unique.

BE CAUTIOUS OF THE PEOPLE YOU LOOK UP TO

You see, every person has the potential of being great in life regardless of their social, educational or family background or where they are in the present day.

But we need to be cautious of the people we looked up to. They can either mess our lives up or help build them. How do they achieve this?  By the words they use on us over and over again. It is important to have people that are confirmatory around. They may not believe in your dream but should cheer you on.

Come to think of it, we are who we are today because of what someone said we would end up being. My mentor Les Brown says if someone close to you tells you that you are not good enough, that, it hurts very much than if it's coming from a person you don't know. If such talk is coming from a family member , it hurts even more.

Maybe you were told,

"You will never amount to anything," by someone you looked up to.

Others where told,

"There has never been a wealthy person in your family so you can't be successful,"

As a result they rested on their low rolls.

Sometimes such negative talk can come from acquaintances that should be cheering you on. It is always advisable to avoid such people. Many people you call friends or family may not be pleased with your success and aspirations but may feel threatened by them.  You can tell from their talk or actions. Begin to distance yourself from them.

There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. - Gilbert K. Chesterton

I remember, in July 2007, after a live motivational talk at Fairview Hotel. One so called Motivational speaker came over where I was chatting with some colleagues and told me,

"You can't make it as a Motivator because you do not have any influential people in your circle of acquaintances."

When I was getting ready to respond, he interjected and replied,

"I didn't say you name them."

He went on to brag about his vehicle;

"I have a brand new BMW parked outside, these are the keys!

Then asked me,

"What car have you parked in the parking lot?"

I responded, "A car isn't amongst my priorities and my better days have just begun."

Eish!! I was surprised by his cynicism. He was a person I expected to congratulate me but there he was pulling me down in front of my other friends. I was not pleased at all but didn't react negatively. I let people judge who the idiotic one was. Lastly, I informed him,

"I am writing a book,"

He laughed scornfully and said,

"Ya? Who will read that book, ba Motivator?"

My belief is that it is very immature and irresponsible for anyone to disregard your dreams and aspirations when they don't even comprehend what you are made of. In fact, they have no right to say anything negative at all. It is advisable to avoid cynical people as much as you can. The advice to such people is," If you can not bring a person up, for God's sake, don't bring them down." No matter how great they might be, Winston Churchill once said that the price of greatness is responsibility. It is important, thus, to be responsible enough not to make anyone feel small and worthless.

It is habitual for cynical people to say humiliating things to you in the presence of other people but always recognize that their talk is their opinion and shouldn't have any effect upon you. What I learnt from that encounter is that, the fact that you are born for greatness doesn't mean you will not be disrespected or ridiculed by some careless people.

It is important, however, to combat every negative word and believe in your inner conversation that says, "I was born for greatness". Regardless of what any one says, shout out loud, "Hey! Greatness, here I come!"

The lesson here is, do not tolerate any person to down on you. You can allow a bird to fly over your head but do not let it make anest on your head.

TAKE THE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY TO GREATNESS

As a young man, my late father with six of his friends walked from Malawi their native country, to South Africa in search of job opportunities as well as look for his elder brother who had earlier migrated there. Many immigrants had made a fortune by working in the mines down south and would return wealthy and had stories to tell.

For some reason, dad never wanted to talk about this expedition. I heard the story from one of my nephews, Jeffrey and I was curious to hear from the horse's mouth. My father, nonetheless, didn't want to talk about it because my nephew made fun of the matter. He always told dad that walking from Malawi to South Africa was the craziest deed any man could ever attempt.

One day, when he was very happy, he finally narrated how they had traveled for months and ate whatever they could find and sometimes walked for hundreds of kilometers without water or food. From the enthusiasm and smile on his face, as he narrated the story, made me realize how much eagerness he possessed to pursue what he desired most. He was willing to die pursuing his dream than to live a mediocre life back home. In other words, it was better to pursue his destiny than succeed at something else.

Distance, hunger and the danger of being eaten alive by lions did not deter him and his friends. Even though they found human carcasses on their way, there was only one way to proceed - onward.

He went on to narrate how one night as they slept in a tree; a pack of lions came underneath the tree. Unfortunately, one of his friends was very tired, hungry and slept so much that he fell and was eaten alive; One down and six to go. At this moment, they were scared to hell and thoughts of backing down rang in their heads but could not be deterred still. They were focused on achieving that which they desired. Though on empty bellies, the journey continued.

Finally, they reached their destination after seven months though feeling very frail and exhausted. My father had no skills, no money, no family, no identity card, no beddings and the only thing he had was a strong desire to find his elder bother and succeed. No sooner did they arrive than were thrown into prison as illegal immigrants. They later worked on a farm as laborers. Since my father was the youngest in the group, their new Boer boss put him in the kitchen to help with washing dishes. It was in this kitchen that he discovered cooking skills and soon became a chef of high competence. He later worked at a small hotel in Piet potgieters rust

What do we learn from this story? It is just a matter of time. Life can look very ugly and bleak but things can be begin to look up regardless of the valleys and mountains you are experiencing. Anything is possible if you strongly believe and pursue it with your life. Distance doesn't matter neither does cynical comments from your acquaintances. My father had to put his life on the line in order to achieve that which he strongly desired. Similar to Rambo, no law and no war should stop you on your quest to greatness.

A valuable lesson my father taught me is,

"If you desire something so strongly, go out and get it done as opposed to sending an emissary."

Now, the first question I have for you dear reader is;

How much are you willing to sacrifice all you have in order to achieve that which you strongly desire?

Indeed, great sailors like Christopher Columbus used ships to travel around the world and discovered a lot of new lands, animals and fruits.  These were daring expeditions in those days. In the same way, you need to do whatever is necessary to achieve greatness.

The other question is;

To what extent are you prepared to go in order to discover yourself and achieve greatness?

You do not have to wait around, but endeavor to discover the greater you. I can't promise you that it will be trouble-free. It will be tough and you have to get ready to get bruised and scarred. However, I am confident that ultimately you will make it.

THE JOURNEY TO GREATNESS

I would like you to be aware that the journey to your greatness is not written in pages- you have to freestyle it all the way. The road to greatness is not a straight one or a tarred boulevard but a crooked one with thorns, snakes and you might lose direction at one point or another. You have to go through disappointments, rejection and humiliation. I know that too well. You will go through difficult seasons, valleys and fire to refine you for greatness.

Let me condlude this article with lyrics from Osibisa- a Ghanaian Afro rock group formed way back in the fifties and it goes. The title of this music piece is "Woyaya"-meaning; we are going.

We are going,

Heaven knows where we are going

We know within

We will get there

Heaven knows how we will get there

We know we will

It will be hard we know

And the road will be muddy and rough

But we'll get there

Heaven knows how we will get there

We know we will.