Achieving Greatness is for You and I

[Guest guest]

Originally from: Symphony of Love <http://www.symphonyoflove.net/blog/>

 

According to WikiAnswers

<http://wiki.answers.com/Q/In_the_average_lifetime_a_person_will_walk_th\

e_equivalent_of_what> , an average moderately active person takes about

7,500 steps a day. Assuming that the person walks everyday starting from

the age of one till the age of eighty, he/she would have taken more than

200 million steps in his/her lifetime. Who would have thought?

We started walking intuitively and probably from seeing our parents and

other adults doing it; we imitated them. We fell and we picked ourselves

up repetitively and fearlessly. Pretty soon we were walking steadily and

the daring ones were already running. Through sheer hard work and

encouragement, we had not only mastered the art of walking but also

doing it with ease. Had we ever questioned the hard work we put into

learning to walk?

 

Are there something which you are hoping to do well? I have an

interesting news for you. With hard work and I mean a lot of hard work,

you can achieve excellent in what you hope to do well. And not just hard

work, " But work of a particular type that's demanding and

painful, " according to a report by CNN on the Secret of Greatness

<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/83917\

94/index.htm> .

 

" I do not have the innate gifts to be successful. " From the

above mentioned report, British-based researchers Michael J. Howe, Jane

W. Davidson and John A. Sluboda conclude in an extensive study, " The

evidence we have surveyed … does not support the [notion that]

excelling is a consequence of possessing innate gifts. " The first

major conclusion is that nobody is great without work.

 

A lot of people are working hard and yet not many are achieving

excellent results. Where did it go wrong? The biggest challenge is that

most people are just blindly charging ahead. A friend of mine shared his

Cycle of Excellence with me a few years back. It is a simple feedback

system he uses for his students so that they can constantly monitor

their own results through feedbacks. Through the system, the students

can pin-point what produces positive results and do more of that.

 

Besides monitoring which of our hard work produces positive result, a

paper published by professor K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State

University and two colleagues in 1993 notes, " Elite performers in

many diverse domains have been found to practice, on the average,

roughly the same amount every day, including weekends. " Thus, we

also need to put in consistent hard work.

 

Many would have spent the weekend otherwise. Not many are willing to go

the extra miles and that is why not many can achieve greatness. At least

we know now that achieving greatness is not only for the privilege few

but available for you and I.

 

" What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with

diligence. " - Samuel Johnson