How do You achieve greatness, You have to believe You can first!
The funny thing about greatness in any aspect of life is that the great make it look so dang easy! When I try to do something, it feels so dang hard. Maybe you experienced this too? Greatness, as in being the best, illustrious, distinctive, above all others in a given skill or achievements, the G.O.A.T., is an accumulation of a lot of simple things mastered through a lot of hard work. If you have taken the time to read or listen to any great performer or artist, you likely will come away with a message that sounds too easy to be true. They all say the same thing, their accomplishments start with self-belief, they believed they could be great. With that being said, they all also promote doing the small things, taking care of the details, knowing the big stuff would happen if they just took care of the small stuff.
In golf you hear Tiger or Annika saying it all the time, it’s in the foundational things when it comes to hitting great shots or performing well under major tournament conditions. Winning in the big moments didn’t happen because they were “naturally” gifted, they won because they learned how to master the foundational things that support their intentions in the moment; when everything was on the line to win or lose. When you hear Rory, Brooks or Jack Nicklaus talk about how they became legendary you hear them talk a lot about how much they believed they could do something, how in the most demanding circumstances they are able to embrace the moment and focus on doing basic stuff to pull of the most incredible shots or putts in the most intense moments of victory or defeat.
No one in the history of mankind is born great!! Most everyone has an opportunity to do something extraordinary. David Robinson, retired Hall of Fame center/forward from the Naval Academy and San Antonio Spurs NBA, said he believed he would do something great as a kid but wasn’t sure what it was having not played the sport until his junior and senior years. As someone who paid attention to details, Robinson became obsessed with learning the details of the game from all aspects. As he grew from 5’9” as a junior in high school to 7’0 as a sophomore at the Naval Academy, he had the knowledge of the game from all perspectives and used the skills he earned as a smaller player to become arguably the best all-around basketball players of all time. He paid attention to details, from how his socks fit, and shoes were laced, to know exact dimensions of the court to direct players around in space, to the ball inflation weight. He was a mathematician in the US Navy and enjoyed understanding things from the mathematical perspective. He was obsessed with being the best version of himself on and off the court, the details of working out, to acquiring basketball skills along the way, consistently trying to improve on the smallest of details for the edge to win or compete at his best against the best.
For you to achieve your greatness, it first starts with you believing you can, then you have to put in the work! To be obsessed with the small details, to accumulate the quality and quantity of skills it takes to be the G.O.A.T. There is no skipping out on the work or fast track or easy way around what it takes, and by the way, there is a lot of failing in becoming your best!
Enjoy Your Journey to Greatness!
