Dream Radically Big and You Will Go Places

Dream Big, You'll Be Great!

Everything forest starts with a seed. Every nation or movement starts with a progenitor. You are not small and your dream matters. 

Every great building starts as a simple dream narrated to an architect. Simply paper napkin sketches have been known to develop into mighty ideas, concepts and edifices. 

Do not despise your dreams and simple thoughts. Dreams are pregnant with possibility. Capture your dreams in your notebook or journal. Sketch and preserve the dreams. Ask someone to draw the model, plan or do the numbers. 

Your imagination is the drawing room of your life. Your simple ideas are the sparks that you need to start your greatness engine. Dreams today; brick and mortar tomorrow. 

In every dream there is a seed of something great that can be built. Seeds must never be wasted, or aimlessly scattered. Without the power to dream, life is empty space and lacks colour and purposeful action. 

What dream are you pursuing? What dream had you given up on? Start dreaming again? 

Take Action - Just Do It!

At a 1988 meeting of the advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy, Nike's advertsing account handlers were looking at coming up with a powerful campaign that would carry the Nike brand into the 1990s. As they banged around various thoughts, Dan Wieden, the Agency's founder had a flash if inspiration from a novel he had read. He remembered Gary Gilmore's last murder me words, "Just Do It!" And that cut it. This campaign with this buy line from Nike went on to have global recognition and captivated minds in the highly competitive sports category for more that a decade. Wherever it's recited, everyone knows you are talking about Nike. 

Many people know what the should do, where they should do it, but they just do not Nike it - just do it. Some in an effort to embolden themselves a little more will take another course, attend a seminar and all the while they know what to do and how. They know they must just do it. After all has been said and done, you will always come back to this compelling and seminal idea: just do it if you want it to get done. 

Life is not waiting and the time for hesitation is behind you. Just do it. Time is fleeing past and aging does not sound an alarm bell. You are not as young as you were last week. The message is: Just do it! Take massive action, refuse to vacillate, equivocate or quiver. Nothing will happen unless you just do it. Take action and you will be pleased with yourself. Just do it. Just do it. Just do it. You will never learn doing nothing. 

Use this weekend to start taking action. Get moving what are you waiting for? 

Learn from People!

People carry vital information, insights and knowledge. People are a vital resources and guideposts. Always be open to learning because learning can occur anywhere and sometimes in the most unlikely places and times. Always be open to learn from anyone you meet. Learn from the happy, they have overcome adversity. Learn from the sad, they grew complacent. Learn from the wise, they are repentant fools. Learn from fools, they have courage and fear nothing. Learn from the old, they fought hard battles. Learn from the young, they still can dream. Learn from the wounded, they know the meaning of healing. Learn from leaders they excelled at following. Learn from followers, they see where leaders stray. Learn from the great, they were once small. Learning opportunities are everywhere. 

Whenever you meet a person you can be sure there is something you can learn from him or her. People are mobile libraries and information portals.  Failure to learn and glean useful knowledge is usually because you are not alert or attentive enough. When an old person dies in an African Village it is analogous with the burning down of a vital library.

What did you learn today? 

Big Ears, Big Mouth

Take good care of those ears and take good guard of that mouth. 

What you hear determines what you think. Deliberately position yourself to hear inspiring things that charge you forward and inspire you. Negativity and cheap gossip is the staple diet of fools. You do not have to wait for other people to inspire you with their words. That would be placing your destiny in the hands of other people. Speak to yourself and program your mind for greatness. Tell yourself where you are going and not where situation is taking you adrift. Some people call this affirmations, other people call it positive confession and whatever you call it, please just speak it to your ears. 

When you write out your goals always make sure you make your goals big and inspiring. You can tell if your goal is big enough by the way your mind rebels at the mention of the goal. Small goals will leave you always obsessed with toys. Once you have set your big goals the next step is to verbalise the goals.  Speak and verbalise your goals until your believe them yourself. Every morning when you awake read out your goals. Read them with passion and let your ears hear and you will not be where you are for long. 

Your greatness is in your mouth. The words you speak spoke have become your reality. to or boom for you speak positively. Refuse to speak like a fool. Your words are shaping your reality. To change your life change the words you have habitually speak. Your vocabulary sells you out  as a winner or fool. Never speak to placate the negative people around you. Speak according to your faith  and not according to your fears. Let your mouth carry you to your destiny. 

Hear big, speak large bold and inspiring words. 

Dale Carnegie - His Influence On My Life

I was doing my form two at Hamilton High School when I can across Dale Carnegie's book, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." I found this book interesting and I devoured it like a hungry man. As I came to the close of the book, I could feel that I have found a man who was doing what I wanted to do with my life. He was helping people face their challenges, tame their fears and overcome their worries. Later, I found a tattered copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People." I meticulously restored, rebound and covered the book. It inspired me to be more relational. It underlined that the art of leadership is influence. I never knew that one could find a new book by Dale Carnegie. I was wrong, Innov8 Bookshop just got some new copies and I am considering auctioning my dated copies that I have had for decades, read several times and underlined. Perhaps they will one day be worthy collections.  

Work does not kill

Looking back, it would sound like child abuse that I had to contribute to the family income through trading at such a tender age.  Yes, I had to stand at places I would today consider dangerous and unfit for children. However, then we thought little about it. While some people could have felt pity for me, I never felt I was a victim, of what? Selling was fun  it infused some adrenalin rush into my blood system. I still feel this pulsating feeling whenever I am in the retail store. It is a feeling that cannot be equated to anything. Only retailers would relate to what I am saying. 

Work is only drudgery when you have not connected with your passion and you do not see meaning in your work. I knew that after school, I would remove my uniform and get on with the business. I never thought I was being forced or abused. Work does not kill but laziness does. Work is not abuse but development regardless of income. Work is fun and anyone who has not discovered the thrill in his work is a glorified slave and is not likely to make a success of his career. Work is pure love in action and to take my work away from me would be to kill me. 

Take Relentless Action!

It is easy to take action when it suits us and when it is comfortable to do so. Easy convenience is not a cousin of greatness. True greatness is revealed when the stakes are high and you dare take action relentlessly when you would rather quit. Quitting is easy and most people do. Giving up is easy, and most people do. The true hero is one who can stick to the knitting against all odds. Who can take action despite the sting of opposition. The key to greatness is action, relentless action, undying action. Without action there is nothing else. Behold the mighty tortoise who makes progress when he sticks out his head out of his shell. 

Calvin Coolidge was full of insights into the anatomy of heroism when he wrote: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” 

There is no silver bullet to heroism except persistence: stick-to-itivenss. Certificates, impressions, history, pedigree and anything else we may dare parade can never take the place of persistence and relentless action. 

Facilitating a Strategy Workshop for Kwekwe Polytechnic College at Lodge at the Ancient City near Masvingo, Zimbabwe in 2011.