Greatness Is Grown, Not Given

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The story goes like this,” a tourist walking through a small town in Europe asks an older man, ‘Were there any great leaders born here?’ The man replies, ‘No, only babies.’”   Many people dream of being great, whether they think of greatness as being a world leader or a mom who takes care of her children,  people dream of greatness.  The problem is, many people “DREAM” of being great but never act on the dream.  Most of these people want greatness handed to them with no strings attached.  They have a skewed view of greatness.

What is the right view of greatness?

You must first realize that greatness is grown and not given.  You can not wake up “great” one morning unless you have put in a lot of time learning to be great before that morning.  I heard John Maxwell say, “What you are in ten years will be determined by what you are reading today.”  If you do nothing you will get exactly that.  Work is part of greatness.  If you want to be a great leader then you have to work toward that.  If you want to be a great parent, you have to work toward that.  If you want to be a great person, you have to work toward that.

Don’t confuse Greatness with Fame.

Many people in today’s American culture believe greatness is being on television or being famous.  The problem with that thinking is, being on T.V. does not make you great, and from what I have seen it usually makes you a jerk. From the local news guy or woman to the Hollywood star or starlet most people who are “famous” to us are great bu any means.  Don’t confuse politics with greatness either.  Think about it, how big of an ego do you need to believe you are better than anyone else in an entire state or nation for one job.  These guys fall all the time because their ego has to be continually fed.   Don’t get me wrong, we used to have great leaders and great news people and I am sure we still do.  The majority makes the great ones look bad and they all get lumped together.

Spend Time Working On Yourself

Make a habit of getting up daily and going to work on yourself.  Spend as much time as you possibly can every day reading books and listening to Cd’s or mp3′s from speakers that build up your life.  Change the way you think about life and the world.  If you hate everything or if you complain stop doing it.  Make a conscious effort stop the bad habit.  If you are a religious person spend time reading your holy books and learning from them.  I am a Christian and I spend time daily not just reading the bible and praying, but trying to practice what I have learned.

Work with a coach if you need a good swift kick in the rear a coach is great for the job. I offer coaching but if you need someone to run through a thought process you are having, feel free to contact me.