Article published on LinkedIn.com: June 14, 2023

04_becoming_great_061423.pdf

Becoming Great

To become great, you must focus your attention on developing your unique and dominant gifts.

Do you love to sing, fix broken things, talk to people, or sell things? Whatever it is you like to do, you must focus your attention on doing it to the best of your ability. Give that dominant talent your focus, and allow it to develop through training. Given sufficient time, and enough focus, we will consider you great.

Martin Luther King, Jr. provided us with a wonderful thought about greatness: If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

Remember that there is always room at the top for those who are dedicated to greatness, so whatever you do, do it well or not at all. I believe life is too short only to give 50 percent.  You only get one bite at the apple. You only live once, so why not live life to the fullest? Why not play life to the hilt? Why not die empty, with no regrets? You have everything you need inside of you to succeed.

You just need to put yourself in the right environment, so you can grow and become all that you were destined to become. Life is too short for you not to be great!

What about the talent myth?

Think of the greatest athlete, musician, artist, or business professional that inspires you, such as Michael Jordan, Frederick Chopin, Albert Einstein, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, or today, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

Each of them was born with a special gift.  Each was given talents and abilities at birth that most of us do not have access to, right?

Research shows that it is not that simple. In fact, many child prodigies do not go on to major success in the area of their early gifts. And many of the greatest performers, athletes, and business people never showed any early signs of aptitude. So, how did they become great at what they do?

Professor K. Anders Ericsson and his colleagues from the Florida State University published a paper in 1993, on expert performance, which along with the additional studies around the world that it inspired, made some very interesting discoveries:

Nobody is great without lots of hard work. Early aptitude is not a predictor for greatness in a given field without consistent practice over a long period of time. The most accomplished people in any field need about ten years of hard work before they become of world class quality. They call this the Ten Year Rule.

Many of these scientists are now saying that targeted natural gifts do not exist at all. You are not born a CEO or chess grandmaster. Rather, greatness is achieved by hard, focused work over many years.

However, you and I both know people who work very hard. Many work for decades at a job or hobby without approaching greatness. Why do they not become world class then?

It turns out that only hard work is required. Focused, consistent practice over a long period of time is also needed, something the researchers are calling deliberate practice.

Truly great people in any field devote many hours to deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is an activity that goes beyond repetition. It is consistent practice where the goal is continually to improve performance, reach beyond current capabilities, and seek feedback on results.

Whatever it is that you do and have a passion for, you can improve and become truly great at, if you are willing to put in the work, that is. Approach each critical task with an explicit goal of getting much better at it. Set goals that are just beyond your level of competency.

As you do a task, focus on what is happening and why you are doing it the way you are. After the task is completed, get feedback on your performance from multiple sources. Do not get emotional about the feedback, and make changes in your behavior as necessary.

Remember to continually build mental models of your situation, of your career, your organization, and your industry. Expand the models to encompass more factors, and do those steps regularly, not sporadically. Occasional practice does not work. Consistency is the key here.

Also, in the same chapter you can familiarize yourself with questions, reflections, and answers about:

What does all this mean?

Do I already know how to be Great?

What does it take to be Great?

Why the extra step?

What is a Hero?

How can I be patient?

How can I become a great Person?

How can I become a great Finisher?

Do I want to become a great Leader?

Do I want to become a great Follower?

How might I become miserable?

Can I become a strategic Thinker?

Is Life a call for action?

Can I simplify any problem?

How can I become a great Friend?

How can I become a great Facilitator?

How can I become a great Parent?
How can I become a great Mentor?

How can I become a great Seller?

How can I become a great Communicator?

Do I need to surround myself with people better than myself?

Is success an accident?

What about accidental success?

What should I consider?

Change Your Future, Now!

This 642-page book is the result of a four-year project called Project Tomorrow. During the four-year period, we followed more than 500 trainees, aged from 16 to 72.

The trainees were from colleges and reinsertion programs in administration and computer science. Some of the trainees that were implicated where dropouts from school districts, and others were new immigrants or unemployed workers from different economic and social backgrounds.

To graduate, the trainee had to perform during a period of three months in a business environment. At the end of that time, an appreciation evaluation was performed to determine both the amount of change the trainee experienced during the period and the impact of that change on the trainee.

Many of the questions, reflections, and answers presented in this book are issued from our findings during this period. We would like to thank all the trainees for their efforts and determination during the process.

In a nutshell, to change your life for a better future, you will need to be completely open and transparent as you look inside yourself to answer the tough questions about what you think you need to do to succeed in life.

To help you to develop a clear and detailed program, for your personal growth and happiness in life you will need Change Your Future, Now!

The book through questions, quotes and reflections provides the necessary elements to explore your soul, to find out who you really are, what your true passions are and how you can become more efficient and effective, so you can shape your life.

This 642-page book is the result of a four-year project called Project Tomorrow. During the four-year period, we followed more than 500 trainees, aged from 16 to 72. It is also the fruit of forty years of experience acquired with local and international organizations and companies and during consultancy, change management, transition, and marketing services. For more information go to: www.webtechpublishing.com .

About the Author In addition to writing, Germain Decelles acts as Change Management Strategist. He has over 40 years of business and consultation experience with local and international markets, including sectors such as retail trade, distribution, information technology and communications, transportation, manufacturing, financial services, and government organizations. Other publications: ISO Pour Tous – Le manuel d’information ISO – Le guide de préparation ISO – La gestion du changement en affaires – La gestion de projet d’affaires – Le changement POUR TOUS – Change Your Future, Now! – Mon succès est votre succès – My Success Is Your Success. Press Contact Germain Decelles, o.s.j. WebTech Management et Publication Incorpored

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