No one has ever attained greatness in a job they hate. There, I said it. Let me take this a step further. No one has ever been good at parenting who has hated being a parent. So much of what we do in this world is controlled by our core attitudes and beliefs. From our core beliefs come our actions.
This concept on greatness is quite simple. If you don’t have your heart into what you do, you will not excel at what you are doing.
Let me flip it. We live in a world where many around us do an excellent job at what they do. Some accomplishments are harder to measure than others. In most cases it’s very hard to quantify greatness. A track sprinter can be determined to be a success because of a measurement recorded by a stopwatch. A selfless mother or father who pours her or his heart and soul into their children can be a major success at parenting, yet the success cannot be measured into a single numerical score.
What I’m saying is that there are individuals with greatness around whom we are unable to measure the fruits of their efforts in a quantifiable number.
What we do day to day is so important. Whether it’s family, work, or other organizations we belong to, if you are miserable in any of these areas of life, I guarantee you that you will not do great things in the area you hate.
Warren Buffet once said, “I tap dance to work each day!” This attitude in any person about the job they work gives the potential for greatness to follow. I like the saying “Take this job and love it!” This type of passion can lead to great things.
Most of us serve others for a living. It’s so important to add value to others. I think that to really enjoy the one life that each of us has, success is not what we do for ourselves, but what we are able to do for others. I think that from the time a baby first cries for attention through the last breath a person takes, by default mankind is naturally self centered. But we can consciously choose to overcome this personality trait.
In the lives we live we’re either adding to those we interact with or we are taking from them. Some take more than others.
To add value to others, you need to find your strength zone or your gift set and then develop it to the fullest. If you’re operating in your gift set, greatness is possible.
To add to the value of others, the first thing you need to do is to value others. If you don’t value those you interact with, you will never be able to add value to their lives. Looking down at those around you’ll result in devaluing others and you’ll not add to someone who you don’t believe has value to begin with.
To add value to others, you need to work on making yourself more valuable. You can’t give what you don’t have. Your growth and improvement is an important element of helping others and will better equip you to add to their lives.
To add value to others, you need to learn what others value. If you value others and have added value to yourself, then, with good listening and observing, you can find the best way to pour yourself into others.
Columnist and author William Arthur Ward applies the attitude we have to the course we move with his “ship at sea” analogy. He wrote, “The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails.” Country music singer Jimmy Dean picked up where Mr. Ward left off with his quote, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
Business philosopher and motivational speaker Jim Rohn drives the point home with, “It is the set of sails, not the direction of the wind, that determines which way we go.” And American author and poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox took a similar run at this concept, “One ships drives east and other drives west by the same winds that blow. It’s the set of sails and not the gales that determines the way they go.”
Bottom line, wind happens. Not one of us can start the wind and not one of us can stop it. All any of us can do is factor the wind into each of our worlds and navigate accordingly. We can live as a pessimist and spend large sums of energy complaining about the wind. We can be optimistic and put our lives on hold waiting for the wind to change. Or, we can accept the wind and intentionally navigate to a point that we desire to reach.
My challenge to you is to add value to the lives of others that you touch. Don’t shake your fist at the wind. Don’t lose time waiting for the wind to change. Adjust your sails today to move in the direction you need to be moving. It is all about taking action.
To add value to others, identify your strength zone. Take your God given gift set and develop it to the fullest. Grow and improve, not because your life is about yourself, but so you’re better equipped to add to the lives of others. Value others and determine in what ways they need value added. What you give to add value to others will survive the life you live.
Apply this in your personal life and in your job. Work a job where you can tap dance your way to work each day. Move in the direction you need to be moving regardless of the direction of the wind. And in the process, go out there and change the world, one life at a time!
Just a thought...
Rick Kraft is a motivational speaker, a syndicated columnist, a published author, and an attorney. To submit comments, contributions, or ideas, e-mail to rkraft@kraftlawfirm.orgmailto:thekraftlawfirm@aol.com or write to P.O. Box 850, Roswell, New Mexico, 88202 - 0850.
