 What rubs off your life depends on what you allow and the circumstances you breed. You are not a creature of your circumstances but a creator of the circumstances. You are not under the circumstances, unless you have been listening to the wrong voices and under bad influence. You have so much power and potential. Change your field of attention, sphere of association and regime of conversation and your life changes immediately. You are where you are because of you. To move to another place requires you, and you alone. You are the main actor in the movie of your life. Change your associations and you change your life's narratives.
You may have had this familiar experience where you purchased a favourite T-shirt. You then wore it and the next thing it finds its way in the laundry. If you overlook separating colours that rub-off, you then find after the wash your T-shirt has coloured other clothes. It is never a pleasant experience. So it is with life, many things rub-off or wash-off. Behaviour, habits, attitudes, mindsets and beliefs also have the wash-off tendency. If you want to change your life change the people that you associate with. You are an "average" of the people that you hang around with. This is because whatever the people are will rub off on you. It you are not happy with your life look around your life. You are likely surrounded by other malcontents. Your Power
You have power within you, more than you know or can imagine. Do not let anyone suggest otherwise. Many people are afflicted by the feeling of powerlessness reinforced by other people who keep suggesting this narrative. Let that inner power slumber and slither no more. You are not a useless victim that is waiting to die. Rise and be what you were meant to be. You have a special purpose and place. Bring this thought to all you do and you will distinguish yourself. You were never meant to be a ball of emotions that is crying for unending attention and pity. Feeling pity for yourself and behaving like a special case will take you nowhere. Becoming a career activist is not the path to greatness. You may feel vindicated, but sympathizers are not necessarily a vision community. A crowd is not an army of purpose and wise intent. Stop hanging around people that excuse you from responsibility and feel pity for you. Get it now and get it fast - no one owes you anything in life. Be open to receive help, but not pity. Do not go around life thinking and behaving as though someone owes you a living. Victim thinking at whatever level is corrosive. You are not a special case, waiting to be lavished with pity. Do not allow yourself to be treated like one. Do not allow other people to breed in you an attitude that says you are a special case that deserves handouts. Your excuses are not a special badge of honour. You may be down, but that does not mean that you are out. You may be disabled but that does not mean you are unable. Disability does not mean inability. You may have fallen that does not mean that you died. You may have failed, that does not make you a failure. You can restart, relaunch and reposition yourself for greatness. Things may be tough, that does not mean your life is finished. You have power within and unlimited potential ebbing within you. Be Motivated
Take heed to what Orison Swett Marden said at the turn of the 20th Century: “Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.” You have great power within. There are people who are like wet blankets. These always know what will not work and how it has never worked. They are afraid of everything and anything. Instead of boldly daring they have countless examples of people who failed. For them risk is too painful to contemplate. For them it is always better to do nothing meaningful and play it safe. A wet blanket is never comfortable to lie in and people that are wet blankets drown spirits. Take action and see differently. Instead of hanging around wet blankets stick around people that inspire you and challenge you to think bigger and do bolder actions. Elevate your thinking and you will elevate your life. Tape into the power within you. Keep knocking until the doors open. Your Vision
You will never rise above your vision. A rag-picker will always be a rag-picker so long as he keeps hugging the vision of a rag-picker. Where you are now is not a crime, but the the size of vision you are carrying may be. In its simple sense, vision is the picture that you see in your mind. When you do not have a vision you are just stuck in routines. If you see yourself as a footnote in life, so will your actions be. The people you hang around influence your vision. Dream big and bold and you will captivate other dreamers. Elevate your vision and intensify your focus. Do not let anything stop you from dreaming, thinking and acting. Never let your challenges of today be a wall in your face and a stumbling block in your thinking. See beyond the current challenges and limitations. Your vision attracts your associations. Vision always attracts provision. Pictures are important. They fertilize the mind and water dreams. The pictures you share affect your thinking. Bold and exciting pictures of the future liberate your energy. Do not let those who have given up on their situation prompt you to give up on yours. Do not let those who have no dream prompt you to throw away yours. Keep dreaming and feeding your dreams. There is light ahead and opportunities beyond your wildest dreams. Waiting Syndrome
There are people whose life is on "pause-mode" waiting for change. They are waiting for things to be different, seasons to shift or people to resign. This is a purposeless pursuit. Great things happen to those who act and not those who wait. Stop waiting and start doing. Stop threatening action and start acting. You cannot live life suspended waiting for an indeterminate tomorrow. Stop hanging around "tomorrow people" Tomorrow people are people that have given up on living today and their lives and conversations are denominated in tomorrows. Today is real life, live it to the full. Start where you are and build on that. Waiting is squandering your life and opportunity. While you wait, life passes you by. Do not waste time waiting for extra-ordinary opportunities and circumstances. Perfect circumstances are a myth. If your dream requires perfect circumstances it is an imperfect dream. Seize common occasions, mundane moments and make them great. Weak people wait for opportunities and keep clamouring for change. Strong people create the circumstances that they desire. If necessary they will move against the tide because they are not tied to any tide. They start taking action when everyone is asleep, complaining and negative. When you are positive at a time when most people are negative your are rewarded with an unfair share of advantage. The opportunities of this moment are not coming again. Arise and meet them with faith and greet them with resolute action. Stop listening to nay-sayers and those with no vision. Those who look up are seeing a different picture from those who are looking down. Tough and rough times and not times for rough sketches and detail-less dreams. This is not time to slow down but to pick pace and bring the pieces together. This is time to move forward and not to regress. Do not follow the wind and the tide of negativity. It is not how fast you move that matters but that you keep moving in the direction that you have desired. Do not let those who have given up seduce you to their ways of hopelessness, cynicism and thoughtlessness. Opportunity Scouting
The opportunity that you seek is not in the environment. It is not outside you. Your opportunity is in side you. When you understand this you stop running all over hoping that changed circumstances will change anything. You carry your opportunity within you, so stop running and start focusing. You have an inexhaustible supply and immeasurable wealth within. If you listen to wrong words, you will be convinced that you have to travel to find opportunity. Traveling the world leaving opportunity in your backyard is mindlessness. What you have inside you is rare, precious and important. Nurse the dream and focus your effort and thoughts. Stop thinking like a victim and exchanging victim conversations. Committed to your greatness! Milton Kamwendo | 
