Will Smith (0:26) – “Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, god-like feature that only the special among us will ever taste. It’s something that truly exists in all of us.”
Everyone is empowered to tap into her/his respective greatness. It is simply being your greatest self consistently. Consistency. That means because of your real pride no matter what you’re doing, you go hard to unleash your greatness. Don’t take my word for it; hear it from The Greatest himself.
Muhammad Ali – “I would have been the world’s greatest at whatever I did. If I were a garbage man, I’d be the world’s greatest garbage man. I’d pick up more garbage and faster than anyone has ever seen. To tell you the truth, I would have been the greatest at whatever I’d done.” (Article Link)
Think about the above. Does the quote positively or negatively resonate with you? Perhaps you instinctively thought to yourself, “It’s just picking up garbage, so it doesn’t matter.” Also ponder how in my last post, Kevin Garnett was crying over his team losing basketball games. You may have thought, “It’s just a game, so it doesn’t matter.” If you find yourself saying, “It’s just _____” to anything and having a negative attitude about that, then you’re lacking perspective. Caring intensely and going hard at something is not devaluing circumstances of greater value. In fact, the recognition of the trivial importance of a task can be the lead ignitor to go hard at such task.
Ray Lewis on a person battling an illness (6:48) – “Wow, you can smile and still go through that. And they’re talking about a game. There’s nothing I won’t give up. There’s no play I’ll take a break on. If a man can fight for life, then I can go out and fight for a game. These are the things that takes you full circle in life and for me, that’s where I’m at right now … (8:09) When you see tears in my eyes, it’s not about the wins or the losses, it’s about the opportunity.”
Ray’s understanding of pain & tragedy in the world is not dampening his efforts on the football field. It’s his fuel. His recognition and appreciation of his fortune to play football adds to his passion, not subtracts. He doesn’t say, “It’s just a game, so I’ll put forth less effort.” He instead says, “It’s just a game, so I’ll put forth more effort.” The two statements are the same recognition! But two different perspectives that lead to either mediocrity or greatness.
These perspective battles occur constantly & tie to everything – exercising, diet, how you spend your time, etc. For example, does your recognition of “just 1 workout/set/rep … ” in regards to exercising fuel your intensity or weaken your efforts? For anything you do, choose your perspective wisely.
Inky Johnson (11:09) – “Everything I did I took a certain level of pride in it. People thought I just wanted to be a great football player. What they didn’t understand about Inky Johnson was this: I could have washed cars – I guarantee you I would have been the best car washer there was in the world. Because the thing I understood, I wasn’t just representing myself. It wasn’t just about me … “