Greatest huh❔ What comes to your mind when you hear the word greatness?
What kind of picture do you perceive as greatness?
What makes ordinary men to rise to take territories and dominion?
Where does greatness come from?
Where can one find greatness?
These are a few of the many questions I have been asked over the years.
If you want to be great then the question is, what do you do when things hit the rock bottom and gets uncomfortable?
What do you do when everyone is at sleep?
Here is a quote I will like you to give it a thought for a minute
“ the source and sustainability of GREATNESS is light; but found in the place of darkness“
Bright Anderson
Greatness is being extremely good at what you do consistently over a long period of time.
Statistics have shown that virtually everyone desires to be great yet merely 1% of the people in all endeavours end up becoming great. The question here then, is WHY?
Do you also know that Greatness is achieved when one’s life inspires greatness in others and also inspires others to inspire people to become great?
Greatness begins with the decision to be great.
Greatness is a seed.
The seed of greatness is in everyone. People however, do not plant and nurture the seed but rather eat it.
People eat their greatness by compromising value, giving up, and practicing instant gratification.
Mediocrity is being addicted to ease and comfort.
Dr. Michael Boadi Nyamekye of the Maker’s House Chapel International once said that:
“Never compromise your excellence to accommodate the mediocrity of others“
What this means from my point of view is to plant and nurture the seed of greatness in you.
Whenever I hear the word greatness, people like Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, Elon Musk, Mahatma Gandhi, Micheal Jordan, Kobby Bryant and many others come to mind and I will tell you about them in a minute.
The story of Abraham Lincoln amazes me. In the face of many defeats, he had reasons to believe there was no way he could succeed in life or be president of the united states.
At twenty-two years old, he failed in business. One year later, he ran for the legislature and lost. When he was twenty-four, he experienced a second business failure.
At twenty-six, the woman he loved passed away and he suffered a nervous breakdown the next year. When he was twenty-nine, he lost another political race and at thirty-four he made an unsuccessful run for Congress.
At thirty-seven, he did get elected to Congress only to be defeated again two years later. At forty-six, he lost bid for the senate and the next year he failed in his attempt to become Vice President.
When he was forty-nine, he was defeated for the senate again. He had four sons, but only one lived to adulthood. But at fifty-one years of age, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States and successfully led the country through one of its most difficult periods. Wow, what a journey!!!!
Many people would have given up and said “NO WAY” but not Lincoln. He never gave up. So why do people give up?
You can’t afford to give up on your journey to succeed for greatness comes from the furnace of affliction.
Now let me unravel some deep mysteries of great men to you. I call them THE FIVE MYSTERIES OF GREATNESS.
1. Great people understand the power of darkness and adversity.
Great people understand that, “Greatness comes from the furnace of affliction “.
When darkness befall them, they shift their perspective on the situation, and realize that they have to get developed in obscurity in other to excel in the face of popularity because they know that the stage is for performance and not for rehearsals.
Great people understand that every new day begins at midnight and so do anything worth it begins with a great affliction.
Your ability to patiently endure and go through the process whiles maintaining the right attitudes and values is what will set you apart for Greatness.
They know that diamonds are made by applying extreme pressure!!!!! So when they face any pressure, they realize that they are on their way to becoming diamonds.
They embrace failure and never give up.
These people understand that, to survive at the limelight, one needs to develop his capacity in the dark to accommodate the heat that comes with it because light does not only give illumination and glory but also produces heat.
Great people are comfortable with getting uncomfortable!!!!
The story of Elon Musk is a perfect portrait of the life of a great man.
In 2006 the first Space X rocket failed in just three seconds after lift-off. In 2007 and in 2008 the second and the third chance to establish the company’s credibility also ended in failure while he was going through a toxic divorce.
The third failure almost killed the company, Musk had money that could only fund the 4th launch and he had to borrow money to pay for his rental apartment.
On 28th September, 2008. The Falcon 1 rocket was successfully launched and achieved earth orbit. Alas !!!!!! History was made.
The Falcoln 1 became the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the earth.
On December 23, 2008. NASA awarded Space X $1.6 billion contract to handle cargo transport for the International space station.
All rockets are designed to burn up on re-entry but Space X rockets cannot only withstand re-entry, it can also successfully land back on earth and refly again.
Consistency is a prerequisite for greatness.
2. Great men have unusual belief system.
Great men believe in themselves more than the doubt people have in them.
They are very optimistic about the future and believe that everything is possible.
No one believed it was possible for humans to fly in the early days until the Wright brothers believed it was possible and their little optimism has revolutionalize the world.
Great people have the belief system of endless possibilities.
Here is the key; no one will believe in you until you have done it.
Stop looking for validation from people and just do it as Nike ✔️ says it.
3. Great men are men of PRINCIPLES, VALUES and HABITS.
My studies of greatness has proved exponentially to me that all great men are men who live by their relative principles. Their life thrive on habits.
More importantly, they always stay hungry for the very first thing and reason why they started.
They never get satisfied!!!!
It is required of one to stay hungry if one wants to travel the journey of greatness. Their daily routine mirrors how discipline they are.
They have standards for themselves.
They stay committed to their daily routine and principles until it becomes a lifestyle for them.
They are all students of life and that of greatness.
They life a life of daily progress and felt gratification.
They sacrifice for the future.
4. They are mentally tough and have insane work ethics.
one cannot be emotionally driven and still be at the top and among the great.
One cannot achieve greatness without hard work.
Great people grow through pain. They are mentally strong and cannot be broken easily.
When it comes to work ethics of the great, then the perfect example it the legendary Kobby Bryant.
Kobby understood the principles of average skill and phenomenal will.
He understood that the only way to get what you want when a million other people want what you desires is to outwork everyone. — Execution. Execution. Execution.
The great do not compete. They DOMINATE.
Kobby’s work ethics mirrors that of a lion’s.
What makes a lion to look like they way it looks like and the king of the jungle is the actual process of huanting.
They enjoy the process more than the end goal. And so was Kobby Bryant.
Kobby used to workout five times in a day while his mates work out only for two times.
He works out through out the summer break when his peers and other mates in the league were out there partying and chilling. Hard work fuels greatness.
No wander he achieved greatness.
5. Finally, greatmen create a powerful circle of positive influence.
Great people understand the power of their environment and inner circle.
They believe that you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with so they surround themselves with greatness ( other great people).
Their circle of friends drive them to always become better.
They understand that “ your network is your networth”
In conclusion,
If you really want to become great, then be ready to sacrifice who you are for who you are becoming.
Create your own visionary ideal person that you would love to be like and transform yourself into that.
Don’t eat your seed of greatness. Plant and nurture it and eventually, you will become GREAT.
Here is the challenge for you:
Commit totally to your dreams, goals, self-growth and personal development for the next five years and see how it turns out.
Greatness equates SACRIFICE.
Written by: Bright Anderson (Level 100 student of the University of Ghana)
