sapientbreeze

What is greatness? Perhaps you think that greatness is somehow related to popularity. If you’re “the best” at something, that’s greatness, right? If that’s your definition, then put that aside, and keep an open mind.

Greatness is not a destination. Perhaps when one begins their journey, they aim to pursue greatness by being the best. That can serve some people, but greatness and being the best are not the same. Greatness is a state of being: the relentless pursuit to be better than you were yesterday. Be better how? That’s up to you, greatness does NOT describe how good you are at this by activity, or that activity. It’s YOUR pursuit of what YOU value.

In life, 80% of people will just float through life, never even beginning to reach their potential for greatness. These people usually have ready excuses for settling in life. Meanwhile, some 16% of people find a piece of their own greatness, and stand apart from others. These are people that have overcome hardship, and found some semblance of peace and happiness with themselves. Ultimately, they will not find this greatness in all aspects of life, but 3% of people will be seen as great by the rest. They will be looked to as examples, role models… proof that anyone can rise in life and find happiness. The remaining 1% never stop pushing. They never “arrive” at greatness, for no one ever truly does. They wake up every single day ready to push forward in every aspect of their lives.

The lesson here is simple: greatness has nothing to do with inborne talent, advantages, or gifts. Honestly, having advantages in life will stifle most people’s progress in finding their own greatness. The determining factor is simple: you never say “I have come far enough” – there is no “arrival” to the state of greatness. Rather, greatness can be thought of as a relentless pursuit of self improvement. Relentless, in that it does not end.

The biggest misconception in the modern era is the notion that everyone is “enough”, while others take the other extreme and think many people are insufficient the way they are. Both of these sets of lies are told to serve political agendas, and they both will paralyze their respective followers. There is no such thing as being insufficient or sufficient… these are childish insecurities that we have collectively decided are acceptable in political discourse. The reality is that ANY SINGLE PERSON can improve every single day. This is not to say that life is fair to all, but fairness is a double edged sword here.

To pursue personal development, you begin by deciding on what aspects of your life are important to you. Then, you look deeply into yourself and decide how you can make incremental changes to handle those aspects of life better. If everything was always handed to you, and everyone told you how great you already are, you likely will never reach greatness. For those that have been ground into the dirt, have been told that they are worthless, and that they can never be anything… they will actually have better odds of reaching greatness.

Let go of the idea that you or anyone is great; greatness is a state rather than a destination. Anyone can reach for this state, and that’s what matters. Today, find something to do better than yesterday, and you’ve taken a step on the path to greatness. You need to be honest with yourself: are you really satisfied where you are? Would you describe yourself as happy? Are you proud to be who you are? Be sure that you can look yourself in the eye and say the answer to those questions is yes… anything short of that means you’re off the Path.

The Path, yes it all comes back to the Path. The pursuit of greatness is what the Path really is! It mean you are pursuing YOUR goals… not parents’ goals for you, nor society’s goals, nor your employer’s goals. Your goals… whatever matters to you. This could mean being a good person, or being a good parent, or a better friend. It could be to make your business succeed, make your team succeed, anything! Once you have a goal, then you need to be honest about what you’re doing to move towards that goal.

Anyone reading this is doing things that are helpful and detrimental towards achieving their own goals. The difference is attitude: you must get real, and admit that you CAN DO BETTER. It doesn’t mean that you’re in sufficient as you are… for what are you anyways? You are a complex entity that is loaded with conditional programming imposed on you by everyone around you. Shedding those false expectations and judgments is NOT easy – you can do better, and that makes you AMAZING. To accept that you are fine and don’t need to improve is simply a lie that others will tell you so that you dont make THEM feel inferior.

The secret is in recognizing that we are capable of doing hard things. If you were pampered, you’ve got some work to do to prove this to yourself. Make every day about moving closer to your goal. If you aren’t making progress, perhaps you’re goals should be reevaluated. Is this truly your goal, or what you think should be your goal. Once you find your purpose, next comes your drive.

Get grinding warrior, you can do this!