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 On Greatness

This post is about greatness. We all want to be great, but it's hard to tell what it actually means. So this post will talk about the qualities of greatness and how they manifest themselves in different people. Finally, we'll share some thoughts on how you might measure your own level of greatness so that you can be confident that you're resolving in the right direction.

Perhaps in the quest for greater greatness, we could learn from some of our fellow Americans. "Greatness" is not just a word found in a dictionary, it's an artifact that exists as a state of being and is constantly present to be discovered. The idea of greatness and what it means inherently manifests itself in our society, and has to be discovered by each individual. It may influence our lifestyle choices, but we still have to make the choice of what will make us great ourselves. I'll be using the metaphor of "greatness" as a story, because I think our individual stories are tied to the actual manifestation of greatness. Stories tell us who we are and they reveal the world around us. The story of greatness is the same, but its purpose is more specific to those who set out on their journey to fulfill that story.

There are two types of stories: stories about how you become great, and how great people behave when they're being observed. Some of the events in our lives are dictated by what we do to make this story about greatness come about, others are simply told for us to witness. This article is about the latter. It's about how great people behave regardless of whether they're being observed or not, and how that behavior can be used to understand and measure greatness.

There seems to be two main approaches when it comes to measuring greatness: one's based on external events that happen, another relies on internal qualities of the being that you want to become great.

The first is about what you've done in your life. It's about the accomplishments and the accolades that you've been awarded by others, and by society. A lot of times these are things we don't choose to do, but rather things we have to do to gain social status. In a society dictated by economics, we're rewarded for a very narrow range of human behavior. The main story of this type of "greatness" is that the person has been able to subjugate themselves and their time for the benefit of others.

One of the main consequences of this type of greatness is that it is explicitly not personal. It's solely about what you've done for others, and how others have responded. All greatness in this type of story is entirely a product of external events, and in no sense reflects any internal attributes in the person making that story happen.

This approach seems to be about reaching a goal or attaining a certain level of stardom, but it mostly ends up being about the accolades that result from achieving said goals. The focus is placed on the physical manifestation of your greatness, and not much else.

The other form of measuring greatness is internal. It's about what you're capable of. It's about the potential you have to make a difference, and the capability to achieve it. This type of approach doesn't judge any given activity as being inherently greater than others, but rather considers each activity in its own right. 

This type of story is about looking at yourself from an abstract perspective. It takes into account both your goals and your methods. It considers the totality of who you are, not just the parts that are readily available to view by others. This type of story determines greatness based on the quality of your character.

It's about what you do and how you do it, but not only that. It's about how it affects others, and how they respond to you in turn. This type of approach looks at the big picture, and what kind of grand impact your actions have on yourself and others in the world.

The first of these two stories is about greatness from the outside in, the second is about greatness from the inside out.

As we see, these two stories are vastly different. In one story you're judge by how your character affects others, while in the other case you're simply a passive actor that's being observed. In one you're responsible for making something happen, in another you're simply a product of your environment and circumstances.

The first story is about becoming great, the second one is about being great.

Who are you?

This post started out by explaining what greatness is. But what exactly is it? What makes someone or something great? It's a word that's thrown around a lot, particularly when talking about people or things we admire and respect. We tend to use it in positive connotations. But what does it mean to be great ?

The best way to answer that question is through examples. This post is about greatness and what makes us great. It's about telling you a story of greatness, rather than just telling you an abstract description of the term itself. And the best way to tell a good story is with examples from our lives.

So this post will focus on looking at stories of greatness and the attributes that make people great.