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3 things you must implement to get there
Money and greatness go hand in hand, but the most important thing to remember is that greatness has to be measured by your standards.
The feeling of being great is a drug that can lift you up and take you where you want to go. The accolades can be enticing.
It’s hard to understand unless/until you move into that “next-level” mental space. If you haven’t embraced this “next level” mindset, you start to think that other people who have it are different or maybe even smarter than you, but they’re not. They just look at their surroundings a little bit differently. They have the mental strength to push through the hard stuff, and you, too, can learn how to achieve your greatness.
Bear-hugging the President
I don’t know if you remember this, but there was a Naval Midshipman who was attending his graduation from the Naval Academy. It was May 25, 2001, and Bobby Rashad Jones was so excited to graduate he couldn’t contain his joy. He had fought long and hard to get through the academy, and he was the anchor. The anchor is someone who is in last place or who has the lowest GPA. Here he was this six-foot-two, 235 lbs. football player barely graduating with a 2.06 GPA. Elated by one of his greatest accomplishments, he jumped and cheered; full of bliss, he ran over, grabbed the President of the United States of America, and lifted him into a bear hug.
Outranked by infinity
I remember this being aired on the news as a feel-good story, but I also remember thinking, Oh, he’s screwed. At the time, I was also in the military, and I knew that he was breaking all kinds of protocol. There is no specific rule on the books about this; however, when people outrank you by infinity—such as the President of the United States— you don’t run straight to them, pick them up and bear-hug them. It breaks the discipline one should maintain while in uniform.
After the incident, I didn’t hear anything about him, and I just figured that his career was over. Well, I was wrong. One of my friends posted an article about him, and I finally got to see what happened.
Commander Bobby Rashad Jones is still in the Navy and is achieving at a high level. Not only did he persevere through the Naval Academy, but he also made it through the whole bear-hug-the-president situation. It wasn’t a simple feat, they took away his assignment, which was going to be in Annapolis coaching football at the academy prep school; instead, they sent his butt to Japan. He had to write apology letters to the Navy’s top brass, and I am sure his immediate chain of command didn’t speak softly to him.
It’s safe to say that his punishment was another hurdle to jump.
If you had asked me back in 2001 where he would be today, I would have guessed driving a forklift somewhere wondering why he hugged the President so hard—but he persevered.
Have you ever been broken mentally and physically, but experienced a breakthrough? Have you ever wondered if you were going to make it, and then you did? Maybe you’ve done something great— something that few people in your world can do? Whatever makes you the big fish in your world; The thing that gives you the confidence that you can accomplish almost anything. That is the drug—that is your greatness.
Your greatness can only be defined by you, but I will tell you this, the type of people who achieve it have decided to implement specific ideas that make them easier to work with.
1. They didn’t do it alone.
More than likely, if you’re the type of person who had to struggle to get to the finish line, you had some help. You know that without this help, you wouldn’t have gotten to the finish line. Maybe it was a great coach or a great teacher who cared. When you finally find a great person to take advice from, you accept their word as almost gospel. You know that they don’t necessarily have all the answers, but at the moment they have more answers than you do. While under their leadership, you see how that person operates, and you observe and identify the characteristics that you mesh with; now you know what type of qualities to look for when you are seeking help and what qualities you need when you return the favor and help others.
2. They know what perseverance looks like.
They know what hard work is. You don’t have to tell them. These are also the type of people who you can’t lie to about working hard. They can take one look at your situation and tell you that you are working hard or not because they know what hard work looks like. They know what it’s like to want something so bad you are almost in tears about it. They’re not ashamed of who they are and are proud of what they have accomplished. They persevered; they made it happen, and they know how to adjust to make it happen again if they need to.
3. They don’t sweat the small stuff.
For one, they understand that there will be losses from time to time. Greatness involves calculated risks.
Pick your battles; you don’t have to argue with everyone. You also don’t have to try to help everyone either. Mentally, you are looking for as much balance as possible. Don’t sweat every little detail or every little failure. Those things are going to happen, and they allow you to grow.
The difference in people who achieve their greatness
People who achieve their greatness know and understand these principles.
If you are in a situation where you want to make more money or make significant changes in your life, sometimes it just means you need to get up and move. Challenge yourself! You have to test your limits. You have no idea what you are capable of unless you put forth the effort. If you need help, find help.
People who achieve their greatness have typically had a million hands to help them reach their goals. Once you achieve that greatness, remember, to reach down and pull someone else up too.
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Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
*Investing involves risk. Depending on the types of investments, there may be varying degrees of risk. Investors should be prepared to bear a loss, including total loss of principal.
