The Gravitational Pull of Greatness
Have you ever been fortunate enough to be around people who pull greatness out of you? Perhaps they challenge you to be better or offer you a perspective that causes you to level up and become more effective. Have you even been confronted by situational excellence? You did not know how strong, creative, or innovative you could be until a situation put a demand on your potential. This is what I call the gravitational pull of greatness. You are being confronted with people and situations that are stretching you beyond your comfort zone and beyond your previous knowledge. Your skill set, talent, and raw gifting are crying out to be expressed and developed to reach full potential.
Greatness makes you take action. It makes you start, launch out and take risk. Greatness cannot thrive in the incubator of your emotional intention. It must be expressed! Greatness is functional. Desiring to be great must be met with the expression of greatness by way of your actions and efforts towards accomplishing a goal. Intention without action fosters stagnancy and frustration. Consider, if you will, one of my favorite Proverbs:
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12, NIV)
Here are 3 things that you should keep in mind when it is time for greatness to be expressed in your life:
#1: Let Good People Help You
Here is something you may not know; people who are extremely successful like helping others!
Most experts want to share. They look for opportunities to invest in others, but they recognize stewardship. If you are serious about your growth and development, people can recognize that. The people that you admire who have a track record of success want to invest in you. You should never turn down an opportunity to be developed. If a mentor, a senior leader, an expert, or any significant person of significant influence offers you their time, take it! Too often, we think we are not worth people’s time or we think we are bothering people. If a person of influence is willing to give you their time, you should allow them to do so. Get your notepad and pencil out and capture what they share with you and be a steward of the information. Find out what they believe it takes to be successful and allow their perspective to widen your informational inventory. Listen to their advice, even if you cannot apply it all; allow it to broaden your scope.
#2: Information Is Currency
Money is a crucial component to success. It takes capital to build. However, do not underestimate the value of solid information. Where there is measurable success, there is a system in place that sustains that success. If a person has a proven system, and they only offer you money, they have given you a lesser investment. Learn to value knowledge and experience. Having money without having a mission will lead to short lived success. When you have the opportunity to learn and be exposed to working systems, treat that exposure like money in the bank that gains interest over time. Watch the motives of people who only invest in you financially but won’t give you advice or enhance your perception. (Listen to Advice and Advantage – Level Up Leadership Podcast )
#3: Don’t Get Detained By Distractions
There are a lot of things that compete for our attention. The “ding” of our smart phone notifications, random feelings of fear and anxiety, a demanding to-do list, and the constant bombarding of breaking news stories in our news feed – literally feeding us news. There may not be a way to keep distractions from coming, but there is a sure method in preventing yourself from being held hostage by the shiny light of distractions. Feed your focus. I avoid anything that is not synonymous with the direction my life is trying to go. This includes negative conversations, complaining, or spending too much time doing things that do not support productivity. Manage where and how you spend your time. If you give too much time to the wrong things, it robs you of opportunities to give to the right things. If I know I have a brand to build, strategy to develop, networking opportunities to schedule, or a blueprint to follow, I cannot get detained by things, thoughts, or people that do not support where I am going.
Want to learn more? Consider these resources:
VERY MOTIVATIONAL, PROUD OF YOU CUZ….
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