they think you are ordinary. what do you think?

<<associate with the best>>

I was doing this questionnaire a few years ago, and in the end, it revealed that I tend to want to associate with the best.

To be honest, I didn’t expect that.

So I asked myself, why, if it was true, why was I doing it that way? Why do I want to feel somehow related to the best? Why do I spend my time studying their lives, their ups and downs? Why?

Why do I mention Darren Hardy on my blog, Ben Carson, Jack Canfield, Napoleon Hill, Emerson, Wallace D. Wattles, Confucius, why?

And the simple answer came straight to my mind… that I like to associate with the best because that way I can surely tell as to whether I am making a progress or not.

But the other thing is this… most of us would like to be rated above ordinary.

Who want to be seen as an ordinary person in life?

Well, no personal development student I know.

But when you think about it.

It’s in the ordinary that the seeds of greatness are.

Look at Richard Branson for example.

Isn’t he ordinary?

He talks like most of us.

He did quit education, so obviously there is nothing great about that.

He keeps his hair long and dress not like the most CEOs or presidents are known to dress.

He talks about having fun in business. Ain’t nothing great about that!

What about Obama? Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Hill, Emerson, Wallace D. Wattles, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, etc…

At some point, these people looked ordinary to their neighbours… and some even looked very ordinary to their families.

But these people had something bigger, greater, nobler than ordinary thoughts inside them.

These ordinary lives are known for:

• being good listeners
• believing that little voice from within… because the opinion within is stronger than the opinion without. So they made it their business to grow from within.
• adding to humanity because they know/knew that we are one – that what adds to one adds to all and that what takes away from one, takes away from all
• not taking nothing for granted
• great time management because after all, life is on a timer
• not avoiding failure… but avoided not doing what they think/thought they ought to do
• investing not only in themselves as growth beings but for others as well… for the future generations
• not having trouble with racial issues… because they knew that racial issues sprouted from within
• not judging others
• respecting others
• loving others
• encouraging others
• standing for what is/was true and right

You see, to these men and women greatness is/was not attached to titles, names or badges.

Greatness is from within.

We can be great in anything we put our minds and love to… even without titles.

Because if we don’t have those virtues, no matter what titles we get, we shall wind down and stay true to what we are inside.

So you too, dear reader… you are great.

Stay that way.

It’s so fine if other people see you just an ordinary guy/girl.

That’s a good thing.

Because soon or later, when you rise and shine like a bright summer morning, they will know and believe that if you can do it, they can do it too.

I remember…

When I appeared on the local newspaper for the first time, my neighbours started to give me a strange look.

Some spoke to me better than they did before.

But some, even today, don’t seem to believe that this very ordinary neighbour has the power to influence the local community on a local paper. I wonder what they’d say when I’ve been on the national press.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter what they think we are or we aren’t.

But it matters everything on what we think we are.

If we continue to grow from within, if we continue to sharpen our continuous improvement strategies, we shall write our names on the history books.

We can do that because we know that titles, names and badges aren’t what make us great, we are already great even before they award us anything.

And so let’s stay that way.

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#RichThoughtTip:

¬ Define and clarify your life purpose, because that will help you stride toward your greatness.

¬ But remember, greatness as we know it, comes not from receiving from others, but from giving others what helps them achieve their greatness.

¬ And so to stay in the course of helping, serving others, we must continue to improve from within.