5 Ways To A Great Life

Donald J Trump is a great man. He has a monomaniacal focus on his mission to ‘Make America Great Again’. This determined focus has taken him to the White House.

Listening to him, I get a sense that he has a very clear vision of what he believes America should be, who should be allowed into the country, how America has to structure deals with trade partners etc. You may not agree with everything he says, his vision or how he goes about pursuing the vision, but you have to give him credit for fearlessly going against popular opinion and talking about his vision to make America great again. This attitude has put him in the history books.

Have you ever heard of or encountered any great man or woman? People who have defied the odds, risked it all and come out on top? I have, and they totally fascinate me. I am fascinated by people who achieve amazing feats in their lives. Evil Knievel, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Napoleon Hill, Mary Kay Ash, Jack Ma, W. Clement Stone, Oprah, Will Smith, Elizabeth Taylor, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet aka ‘The Oracle of Omaha’, Folorunsho Alakija, Darren Hardy, Og Mandino to mention a few.

One thing these people and most other successful people have in common is an almost monomaniacal focus on the things that matter to them; they have their eyes on their purpose, mission in life, goals, and vision of the future.

If you know anything about great men and women, you will agree that they are all successes in their fields.

• Evel Knievel was the best motorcycle stunt man to have ever lived. His name is synonymous with foolhardy courage, daring and resilience.
• Napoleon Hill left us his the seminal tome ‘Principles of Success’ as well as the book most global leaders quote ‘Think and Grow Rich’.
• South African Elon Musk created PayPal, which he sold and then became a technology maven giving us the Tesla electric cars, the Hyperloop and SpaceX. His electric car manufacturing company is now more valuable than Ford and General Motors.
• Mary Kay Ash was the driving force of the Mary Kay brand which she started at the age of 45 and at times where women were relegated to the home, nursing profession or school room. She is a legend

• Steve Jobs we all know changed the face of mobile telephony and disrupted an entire industry with the iconic Apple phones, iPod, iPad Air etc.
• Andrew Carnegie was mentor to people like Og Mandino and Napoleon Hill; this one time richest man in America was an immigrant and many of our notable success gurus, coaches have him to thank for the founding principles of their subject matter.
• Oprah, a woman who grew up in abject poverty, a victim of sexual molestation is now one of the wealthiest women in the world. I doubt if she needs any introduction as her brand (spanning print and broadcast media) is iconic of our times.
• Will Smith grew up in West Philadelphia and like other impoverished African American male found his way out of the projects in music. Will Smith is one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars- a far cry from his humble beginnings.

These men and women have all made names for themselves; on the flip side, we have the regular Joes who go through life content to be ‘normal’ and ‘ordinary’. Many of these are unfortunately forgettable. Are you content to be forgettable? One way to describe these people is that they are at best double minded, risk averse, unable to articulate values, vision or goals. They have no commitment that stretches them to greatness. Obviously, I am not describing you since you are reading this. Or am I?

In my experience, the most ordinary people seem to have never identified their reason for existence. They seem to have no mission and no driving force to push them towards achieving anything. This means that they unfortunately will not achieve anything nor will their names be sung in the annals of great achievers of their times. This has nothing to do with a lack of abilities, nor does it have anything to do with the conditions of your birth or a lack of opportunity, rather it has everything to do with mind myopia.

Like its physical counterpart Mind Myopia is marked by an inability to see anything further than ones immediate environment; it is shortsightedness of the mind. Other symptoms of mind myopia include intolerance, prejudice, a negative mental attitude, ‘excuseisitis’ (an abundance of excuses for everything) and even pride. Do you suffer from mind myopia?

There is so much at stake, and I believe that everyone has the potential for greatness in themselves. So in summary, in response to the question how to be great I say:

1. Focus: Having read about, watched, read from [books] written by some of these stellar achievers, I find a single minded, burning desire to achieve an articulated goal… almost a laser eyed focus on a goal to the exclusion of all else is the foundation stone of greatness. What is your single minded focus?
2. Drive in your lane: I remember when Michael Jordan retired from basketball, and wanted to start a career in baseball. He tanked. He shifted lanes. You can only become great when you stay in your own lane – play to your strengths, passions and call. Identify your purpose and pursue it with the eye of a cougar on prey.
3. Mental Toughness: In an interview I heard Will Smith say …”Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic. You know, while the other guy is sleeping, I am working”. Do you have a sickening work ethic? What are you doing when others are asleep?
4. Tenacity: Napoleon Hill and W Clement Stone coined the phrase ‘stick-to-it-iveness’. The capacity to stick to it until the job is done. Do you have ‘stick-to-itiveness’? Will you give up when the going gets tough, or will you tough it out?
5. Refuse to be ordinary. In my book ’45 Reasons not to be Ordinary’ the first reason I proffered was that ‘Ordinary invariably always ends up as roadkill. Being ordinary you’ll never be faster than, smarter than, stronger than or better prepared than’. Living an ordinary life is not the path to greatness; it puts you at grave risk.

Do you have what it takes to become great? I believe that you do. The bigger question is ‘what are you going to do about it?’

Maybe you know deep inside you that there is more to you than the life you currently are living. My passion is helping people connect the dots to the life of their dreams. See what some of these people have to say.

Give me the privilege to work with you and help you unearth your true passion and discover the kernel of greatness inside of you. Why not schedule a 30 minute discovery session and we can get you on your way to living the life of your dreams?