Inspired by Greatness (part II): No Such Thing as a Role Model
I’m different. Inspired by greatness.
A challenging circumstance. Greatness seems to be in short supply these days. Where are the heroes? Where has the greatness gone?
Greatness is not a career path. And inspiration is not a measure of accomplishment.
So how do you use these notions of inspiration and greatness to make decisions? Decisions that impact your earning power? Decisions that affect your ability to support your family? Decisions that lead to the next decision along life’s way?
I’m not sure, but if you’re inspired by excellence or greatness, then you are, in effect, excited by people, processes or things that
represent the best. People who do different or challenging things better than others – and make it look easy. People who take a stand on something that others may not have had the courage to face. People who work really really hard to achieve because it’s the only way they know how. People who are faster, smarter or better than most, but who also help others catch up…
And even as I write this, it occurs to me that each of these folks must have at some point realized that they were different too. They accepted it; got comfortable with it, owned it and decided to go their own way. And that may be the differentiator… That may be what determines greatness or excellence anyway, right?
Someone who not only does something exceptionally well; but someone who does something different or unique or unusual extraordinarily well!
So then, maybe if greatness or excellence is your inspiration or motivation – there are no role models.
If excellence, or greatness, is your aim… If that is your inspiration or determination, then maybe all you can do is look around you for a frame of reference and then acknowledge that your path is the one less traveled. Your trail is the one not yet blazed. Your path is uniquely yours.
Maybe we can have heroes, but there are no role models. What you are trying to do is something that even your heroes wouldn’t have even dared! That makes you different; and that’s OK.
Benjamin Elijah Mays might describe the quest for greatness in this way:
“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin.”
#DBTE #XEQTE
