Unleash Your Greatness
Becoming great on your own terms.
Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.
Inspiration comes to one in many and various ways. Most of the time, it skirts around the edges and makes itself elusive, so the motivation one seeks must be earned to enjoy. Occasionally, it appears as divine revelation, and if one doesn't acknowledge and act, well, as God indicated to the drowning man in the flood, I sent rescuers three times, you shoulda got on the boat.
Then, like a bolt outta tha blue, inspiration comes at you in the most sublime of ways so that its message cannot be ignored. Such was the genesis of this post. My readers are well familiar with my system of writing if one can actually call it that.
I metaphorically bang my head on the wall or desk until words and concepts start falling out. Yeah, I too wonder how this advice will look someday in the “Habits of Highly Successful People” lists that we all love to click on. Again, yeah. Making some positive assumptions is good self-talk, right?
So, where did today’s flash of brilliance come from? It actually comes from a product designed to motivate. Now, motivation comes in many designs and colors, just like people. I’ve been living in this apartment since last November. This item was here when I moved in. I’m sure I’ve used it to transport an ice-cold beverage or three to the pool.
In a remarkable state of obliviousness, I never noticed, or rather, never even bothered to notice, the writing on the wall, as it were. Plain as day and hard to miss, as they say. The quote from The Rock that was lurking in my inbox crept into my head.
Then, impatiently waiting for the Keurig to do its thing, I just so happened to actually notice the words on the side of this Freeway Flyer of sorts. Read them for yourself below.
The pursuit of athletic greatness is perhaps the most metrically-measured human activity of merit yet devised. IQ tests etc., notwithstanding, athletics provides a forum in which your back story is not as critical as your now-story. If you don’t run faster or score more, you lose. Period.
So it makes sense then that sports axioms and coach-speak are incorporated into our daily lives, to inspire and motivate those of us with zero athletic ability in our own individualistic pursuits of greatness.
And therein lies the beauty and secret of life. Your search for, and achievement of, greatness is totally and completely dependent upon yourself. Sure, we should all have solid support systems, and I thank God that I do. Call it privilege or circumstance, so be it. I find myself where I am, and I live with myself there.
My idea of greatness is not dependent on the number of readers I have, the amount of money I make, or the cars I drive. I am great because I am an improved version of myself from yesterday. I am not perfect, and I will never be. But I am awesome, and I believe that to my core.
And guess what? So are you. What are you doing to achieve your greatness? I ran across a couple of articles, from publications about as far apart on the social spectrum as could be, but both with the same message. Hmmm, strange how we (I) keep finding example after example of how similar we are in spite of the current atmosphere that thrives on dividing us.
Why we need rituals, not routines
Rituals can be an artistic process, a meditation, a communal celebration, or a simple act of observation, according to Kate Southworth, a London-based artist whose works are rooted in ritual. “Rituals often have an intention,” Southworth said. “I think the framing of that intention to be as important as its enactment.” It’s a form of resistance, she added, “to let go of the rational mind of habit and routine.”
‘80s Alabama heavy-metal prodigy returns as an acoustic singer/songwriter
As for Onder, he says, “I don’t have any regrets. Going on the road can pay really well, but I’m not doing music for the money. I’ve got more important things here. And now I think our relationship speaks for that, you know? Adrianne sang on this new album and she’s singing at church with me Sunday. It doesn’t get any better.”
Differences come in many flavors and intensities. Speaking of them causes distaste for some and delight for others. Differences are at the basis of the Theory of Intersectional Identities. I have a whole section devoted just to that topic.
Some weeks, the theme of the piece presents itself and the words tumble out. Other weeks, the news is overwhelming, and beating the dead horse is too emotionally draining. Tying two diverse ideas, concepts, or people together is a skill I possess, and one that I share here with my readers.
I would love to start a discussion thread on this topic. If you have any ideas please share them with us.
I find rituals AND routines both to be useful in my everyday. And I do draw a distinction between the two. My routine includes activities such as making my bed the first thing I complete in the morning as my coffee brews. Activities like hanging my clothes in a certain order in my closet, cleaning the bathroom weekly, and doing laundry on Sundays give me a sense of regular rhythm that I need.
Those activities create structure in my life when other structural supports have been erased. The Youngest Daughter speaks to this with raw emotions on the topic. Having played softball since the age of 9, the end of her playing career caused a crisis of confidence at age 22. Starting her grown-up career demanded a structure that she had not built for herself.
Softball had provided the over-arching structural platform in her life for over a dozen years. She counted on knowing where she will be on opening day and what days will be spent practicing or playing. She depended on her coaches and teammates for support: mental, physical, and emotional. Living without that caused her to suffer anxiety.
It’s apparent that routine is important in one’s life. Look at your actions. Determine if it’s a nervous tick, tiresome habit, or an actual routine that is intentional. That’s another routine that I have incorporated into my life - Intentionalism.
I removed the word TRY from my vocabulary. Just think about the word. It’s intransitive. It has no object. It literally means not doing anything.
I replaced it with DO. This is an action verb. It’s transitive. It gets shit done. Even when one fails and the word becomes DON’T, one still learns a lesson. What’s the last lesson TRY taught you?
I don’t know if it ever taught me anything. (See what I did there? I didn’t try).
Check out John Onder’s work.. It’s really great. I will write about Rituals next time, and what mine mean to me.
Make today your greatest,
Ric
