Greatness

“Do not be afraid to be great.” Coach Bill “Congo” Congleton repeated this motivating statement continually during our two championship seasons of cross country. This, along with a plethora of his other patented phrases, are permanently branded on my cerebral mass—my brain. Imagine Greatness fills my website banner.

“Why is anyone afraid of being great?” As a teenager, I firmly believed everyone sought greatness. Greatness personifies America! Freedom and responsibility of pursuing one’s dream provides opportunities for greatness.

“What is greatness? You have it on your website, and you speak of being great. How do you define greatness?” Chuck presented an excellent question.

We speak of great teams, great performances, great achievements, etc. etc. In 1869, Francis Galton associated greatness with genius. Do you believe genius achieves greatness? Other define greatness as possessing great strength, intellect or power.

Would you agree defining great achievements hinges upon one’s values and effort? Greatness equals the value of the achievement multiplied by the percentage of our maximum effort.

The chart below and graph above illustrates on a scale of one to ten, with ten as the greatest, an activities value multiplied by the percentage of one’s maximum effort. (Apologies, all formating disappears when clicking "Publish Post.")


Act Values Effort / Ability Greatness Score Avg
Feeding the Hungry 10 80% 8.00 8.00
Clothing the Poor 10 80% 8.00 8.00
Visiting the Lonely 10 90% 9.00 8.33
Encouraging others 10 95% 9.50 8.40
Praying 10 95% 9.50 8.58
Loving God 10 85% 8.50 8.57
Loving Others 10 75% 7.50 8.44
Thankful 10 60% 6.00 8.17
Joyful 10 50% 5.00 7.85
Gentle 10 67% 6.70 7.75
Peace 10 80% 8.00 7.77
Work to Benefit Mankind 10 70% 7.00 7.80
Recreation for Recovery 8 95% 7.60 7.79
Computer Games 5 85% 4.25 7.39
Studying for Profession 10 90% 9.00 7.48

Consider creating a list of your activities, assign a value of one to ten (highest) to their positive-permanent impact on you, your family, business, community, and anyone else you feel compelled to affect.

Next evaluate your percent of effort based on your ability in performing these tasks. Multiplying the value and the effort provides your greatness score.


Rick E. Meyer
See, Believe, Achieve Inc.
www.rickEmeyer.com