"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a great and wonderful world." -The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali
Deep within each one is an inner longing to live a life of greatness and contribution-to really matter, to really make a difference. The ultimate goal of every individual is to create a legacy.
The world has seen many great men and women pass. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King (Jr), Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein and the list continues. All of them still being celebrated to this current day. We all want our name to be on the list someday. Looking at the life of the people on the list, we find that they all had some characteristics in common. These are 5 Characteristics of Great Men.
1. Found Their Voice
"What counts in life is not the mere fact that we lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lived". -Nelson Mandela
What do you dream about? Is the context of your dream only about you being successful in your field. Creating a legacy results from following your heart and living a life of contribution. It is about discovering your voice, what you stand for. Your voice agrees with your mind, soul, body and your innermost being ; your spirit and then inspiring others to find theirs.
We may doubt our ability to do so, but we have the potential within us. We all do. It is the birthright of our human family (Read 4 Reasons Why Dreams Don't Come To Pass).
2. Believed In Their Dream.
"I have learnt that courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it...A brave man is he who doesn't feel afraid but he who conquers his fear." -Nelson Mandela
What do you believe in? What do you stand for? Is your dream worth dying for. The path to success is the path less taken. It takes courage, consistency and your believe to thrive on this path. Believing is actually seeing the end from the beginning and knowing that you have the ability to achieve your dream without settling for less no matter the obstacles that come your way. This really sounds easy in words but it takes lot of determination to convince yourself that you have the ability to achieve your dream.
The main difference between success and failure is usually the level of believe. Your believe makes you keep going when your peers gives up, keeps you going after you stumble. Nelson Mandela had so many stumbling blocks during his life but he kept on going because he believed in his dream. The same kind of believe is found in Martin Luther King (Jr), Thomas Edison and the list continues, they all believed in their dream which led to their legacy.
3. Never Gave Up
"The greatest glory of living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall" -Nelson Mandela
On the road of this your new found path, creating a legacy, there are obstacles. Success doesn't come at a cheap price; you pay the price to win the prize. It is not how many times you've fallen but how many times you bounce after your fall. Looking at the life of Nelson Mandela, who transformed the lives of both blacks and whites in South Africa, he was imprisoned for 27 years during the apartheid. That still wasn't able to stop him because he had found his voice, he had found something worth dying for.
Human beings celebrate success. People only care to know how many times you had previously failed only when you are successful. Keep the work going, keep moving forward and in sooner time than you expect, you will get to your destination.
4. See a Need, Fill a Need
"It is what we make put from what we have not what we are given that separates one person from another".-Nelson Mandela
One of my favorite animation is an animation produced by 20th Century Animation titled "robots" in which there was a robot named Rodney Copperbottom who came from a humble background, his dad was a dish-washer, but had a dream to be like a robot named Bigweild who was the greatest robot of their time. He tried all his best to meet his role model but stumbled at his every step. Eventually he saw the need of other robots around him, he decided to be a solution by repairing faulty robots thereby solving a societal problem and finally ended up being great and a successor to his role model; Bigweild. He had a motto: "see a need, fill a need".
Most times, people look too far for opportunities, ignoring the ones around them. Looking at our heroes of time past, we find that they all saw a need and they filled the need. Creating a legacy is about accepting responsibility of situations around you and being a force for a change. Is starts out with as little as seeing the need of your next door neighbour and filling the need, seeing a need of your immediate environment and filling the need. It is the small needs you fill that grows up to become your legacy.
5. Success Means More Work
"I have taken a moment to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, for with freedom comes with responsibilities, I dare not linger, for my long work is not yet ended." -Nelson Mandela
There are two effect success causes : the progressive effect and the regressive effect. Most times, you find out that most people fail after they have succeeded in what they have been doing for a while. They loose focus of what they were doing before and focus on something else. This is the reason in which some great companies or people moves from prosperity to mediocrity.
Success has a way of obstructing the view of where you are going. The more successful you get, the more challenges and pressure you handle. You shouldn't forget what brought you to where you are and loose focus of where you are going because of the little success you have achieved. Part of checking this is regularly reviewing your GPS.
Final Words
What are the other things you do that helps create a better legacy for you. Share it with us. Leave it in the comment section below.
In memory of the life of Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013)
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