inspired to greatness
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend an open source software conference that was being held locally, featuring a number of well known speakers from open source projects and organizations. Like many people there, I found the conference worthwhile, and on some level,inspiring. I’ve been to seminars and conferences on other subjects as well, and found them inspiring as well. Often I find myself thinking, dang, I could be that good if I try. Then I go home and everything goes back to normal, and the idea of greatness is lost until the next time. I want to spend a little time talking about why I think we are inspired to greatness, and what we can do to actually achieve it.
I think it’s a reasonable assumption to make that at one time or another, we have been in a group of people where the leader has been considered great at something, and that we experienced what some people refer to as a peak experience. This typically followed by a letdown once the experience is over with and that peak experience becomes just a memory. But it doesn’t address what occurs during the experience itself. Why do we have a peak experiences to begin with?
I have several reasons that help explain it, First, the person leading the event. Something in this person has brought them to a place where they are considered ‘great’ at something. But unlike many people, their greatness reflects the people around them, and allows others, at least for a while, to see that potential within themselves. Another big reason is that for a while, the people in the audience, or participating in the event, give up thinking thoughts that block them from achieving their potential, Think about that for a minute. People give themselves permission to begin realizing their potential instead of putting all their energy into creating reasons and explaining why they can’t. And third, they’re in a place with other people who are thinking the same way – in essence, not only have they suspended their blocking thoughts, but now they’re in an environment full of supporting people who believe they can be this way too. A massive spiral of positive feedback, an ideal environment,
There’s a term for the letdown after such an event, though it escapes me at the moment. After the event, everyone goes back to their daily lives, and the greatness people see for those shining moments in time disappears in the grind of daily routines. As the saying goes, if you do what you have always done, you will always get what you have already gotten.
The heartening thing from all this though, is that it doesn’t always have to be that way. We are free to change our lives, do things differently, and achive what we want. It just has to be done one step at a time.
Having said all that, trying to achieve greatness is a sucker’s game, one bound to lead to ruin. Why is that? Look at people who are ‘great’ at what they do, regardless of what they do. Very few, if any, are great because they wanted to be great – rather, they’re ‘great’ because they love what they’re doing. Greatness, fame, fortune, what have you, is simply the by product of what they’ve done, not the end they’ve been aiming at.
There’s one other subtle trap that also comes along with aiming for greatness – comparison, Greatness is relative – like everything with 2 sides, greatness has an opposite, and we are likely to associate where we are with that opposite. And no matter how great we think we become, there will always be someone greater. Trying to achieve greatness requires a comparison to other people – people who are all walking a different path than we are. At times this can prove disheartening and discouraging. At it’s worst, we stop acknowledging the validity of our path in favor of another.
So to anyone who wants to be great, the first thing I would say is stop trying. Rather, approach whatever your chosen subject is with an open mind so you can learn whatever is there to learn. Enjoy what you do, learn all you can, and let the rest go. Life is a journey, not a destination.