Strive For Greatness And Success

“If you don't have the ambition to be the very best at what you do, then what's the point? If you aim for greatness but keep missing -- fine. At least you had the guts to aim. There's honour in failing that way. But there's nothing honourable about settling for mediocrity.”

― Benjamin Wood, The Ecliptic

Success and greatness mean different things to different people. Striving for greatness and success has more depth than most of us understand. It is about finding your life’s purpose and living it out on a daily basis, it is about impacting the lives of people around you and people you may never know. It is also about being true to who you are and being the best version of yourself. It is about passion, tenacity and unleashing the great power within.

Here are some of the reasons why you need to strive for greatness and success:

1 . You owe it to yourself to be great and successful

Cambridge dictionary defines owe it to yourself as “to deserve and need to do something that will be good for you.” It may sound selfish but it is not. The person who benefits the most from your failure or success, a life of greatness or mediocrity is yourself. Living and settling for a life you don't want doesn’t serve you, your purpose or anyone around you. You owe it to yourself to live the life you want to live, the life of great achievements and massive success. You owe it to yourself to live in total freedom; financial freedom, freedom to spend as much time as you want with your loved ones etc.

2 . Be a positive motivation and role model to those around you

Our environment, culture, and tradition influence our life in a great way and sometimes it is difficult to break the cycle of unhealthy conditioning. Striving for greatness and success is realizing that you are not just living for yourself. You are living for your family, your community, even people who don’t know you. It is living a life and setting example that dares to lead a different path even if that path is less travelled. Your elevation in life will help other people to elevate themselves and strive for their own greatness and success.

3 . Philanthropy and charitable giving

It is clichéd but you cannot give what you don’t have. The greatest philanthropists are influencers living a life of greatness and success. They donate various resources to those in need and less fortunate. Whether it is funding new upcoming entrepreneurs or supporting different charity organizations through cash donations, time and knowledge. This point links to the one above in that it is about influencing the lives of others in a positive way. Giving back it is not only a sign of humility and gratitude it is also humanity.

4. It is about knowing your worth

Celebrities and other influencers turn down lucrative deals because they simply don’t align with their values and beliefs. Apparently, Beyoncé turned down a deal with Reebok because it wasn’t reflecting who she is. You can find the full story here. Another example is devout sportsmen such as Hashim Amla and Sachin Tendulkar who refused to endorse alcoholic brands. Check out the full story here.

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” William Shakespeare. We can all achieve greatness and success if we dare to go after our dreams with everything that we have got or at least die trying.