We all have a seed of greatness; we’re born with it. Every human being that lives and breathes on this planet has a gift or talent to provide the rest of the world. The full expression of that gift is what causes us to relate to them as great!
Michael Jordan reached greatness!
Mother Teresa reached greatness!
Muhammad Ali reached greatness!
Frank Sinatra reached greatness!
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reached greatness!
Along with many others…
What sets these people apart from the rest of us?
Afterall, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
Mother Teresa was an ethnic Albanian named Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu whose father died when she was only eight years old.
Muhammad Ali was an undersized heavy-weight boxer, who early in his career was often anticipated to lose his boxing bouts very badly.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an African-American preacher from a small congregation in the south, during the height of racial tension and inequality in the United States.
Frank Sinatra became a famous singer without having an extraordinary voice.
My point is this…
All of the people we label as GREAT…they were just normal human beings like you and I, that decided to do great things!
Now, being great and doing great things isn’t easy, otherwise we’d see the evidence of each others greatness everywhere direction we turn.
…and the unfortunate truth is, that we don’t.
It’s my belief that we all have the capacity to be great, so I’d like to help you identify some of the things that may be suffocating your greatness and limiting your power!
Here are 7 Weeds That Are Strangling Your Seed of Greatness:
1. Junk Food Diet
Now to be clear, I’m not talking about sugars and sweets. While consuming that type of food isn’t good for you, I’m pointing at your mental diet.
- What do you watch on television?
- What kind of music do you listen to?
- What are your friends and acquaintances whispering in your ear?
Consider that all of these things will either grow or strangle your seed of greatness.
Want to be great? Then you’re going to need a greatness diet!
Be thoughtful and critical about what you consume mentally. You’re personal greatness is on the line.
2. Undistinguished Fear
You’re afraid of what people will think if you shine. You’re afraid of what people may say if you chase greatness. You’re afraid to fail.
All of these are common. These fears we can identify. These fears we know.
Believe it or not, it’s not the fears we know, that can hurt us most. It’s the fears we haven’t distinguished quite yet.
This is especially true for men. We men tend to make ourselves believe we aren’t afraid of anything. The truth is that we have just as many fears if not more than our female counterparts.
Consider that anytime you are stopped from being your greatness, it is because you are afraid. The next step is to get clear on what the fear is, otherwise you may stay frozen in mediocrity.
3. Ignorance
Okay, so you lack the knowledge to grow your dream…now what?
A decade or two ago, I would have said go to your public library, but now it’s the 21st century and all I have to say is, “Google!”
Not knowing how or what to do is no longer an excuse. We live in the information age. Act like it!
If you notice that you still won’t take action, consider that you’re just freakin’ scared and re-read the consequences of weed #2 – “Undistinguished Fear”
If it’s not fear, then check out what my old school friend, B. Franks has to say about that…
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
4. The Need For Safety
Safety is an illusion! Safety is nothing more than a feeling. You can be in the toughest neighborhood in your city and feel safe or you can be in the confines of your home is the safest suburb of your city and fear for your safety. It’s all an illusion.
September 10, 2001 most Americans felt pretty safe. We lived in one of the greatest and most stable countries in all the world. It was the dawn of a new century and a new era.
…and then, less than 24 hours later on September 11th that feeling of safety evaporated into thin air.
Your dream is more tangible than safety, because the feeling of safety will come and go, but that dream…well, if it’s anything like mine it’s not going anywhere!
For more on safety and other illusions check out my blog post written in 2012, titled: The Illusions All Around Us
5. Lack of Confidence
Your gift is insignificant, right?
Nobody would benefit from anything you have to offer, right?
Wrong!!
To be great you must have confidence. That means you’re going to have to shift your behavior and your thinking!
Confidence is a behavior. Therefore confidence can be self-taught like any other behavior. If you know you lack confidence, that a great start. Knowing is half the battle. It’s impossible to address a problem, if you don’t know the problem exist.
Now that you know that lack of confidence is an opportunity, you should begin finding resources on how to be more confident. Your mental diet should consist of things that inspire and motivate you to take steps of faith with more confidence.
You cannot learn a new behavior if you don’t practice behaving that way.
The alternative is to just live a life with no confidence and watch your lack of confidence literally pull your seed of greatness out of the fertile soil of your life by the root!
You choose!
6. Not Enough Time
With the exception of fear, ‘not enough time’ is one of the most common weeds that strangles greatness.
You really don’t have enough time? Well, I suppose that means you don’t watch television, you never socialize and you have no clue what the word fun means.
Oh, that’s not you? Then you do have enough time!
Consider that not having enough time is just an excuse to camouflage one of the other six weeds I’ve written about here.
…and yes you have enough time to finish reading this! Stop limiting your power and bullsh*tting yourself!
7. Exhaustion
To go after your dreams, you must take action. Action is the antidote for fear. Taking action is the beginning of creation. Action creates momentum and motivation. Action is everything…
…but if you’re always exhausted you won’t have the energy to take action!
No energy, no action!
This is a deep-rooted weed that kills the seed of greatness. Taking care of your body is an essential part of being great!
What are some other weeds that choke out the seed of greatness. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Please share and be sure to stay inspired; it’s a lifestyle choice!
About the Author:
Linal Harris
Global Entrepreneur – Certified Life Coach – Media Personality – Speaker
Linal Harris is a global entrepreneur, certified life coach, author, and media personality. As the founder of Inspirational Perspective® Publishing, LLC and Insights 4 Life™ Coaching, LLC, Harris challenges his global audience and coaching clients to Murder Mediocrity® and live their best life possible. Harris concentrates his work as an ontological coach with clients on what he calls the 4 pillars of life; the relationship we have to ourselves, the relationships we have with others, our relationship to work and money, and the connection we have to our spirit and life’s purpose. Harris coaches CEO’s, executives, entrepreneurs, athletes and celebrities. Harris is the author of “Slay Your Goals”, where he provides his readers with scientific and research backed tips for achieving their goals. Harris is an expert goal-setter and has been called upon by Fortune 500 companies to assist with setting their strategic priorities, facilitate goal-setting sessions and provide inspirational talks.
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This is great stuff! I’d like to hear your thoughts on apathy or indifference and also how miserly vs. splurging behaviors can effect my success of lack of it.