“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

― Mark Twain

Book Update:

The Book to be Named Later is coming along. This is the last week to submit title names and win an all-expenses paid trip to the Panera Bread of your choice, not including airfare or lodging.

Editing about 200 pages and planning on a Spring release.

Morgan Myles Update:

An emerging artist that my son follows made it through the first 'live' voting round on The Voice, thanks to you/us (at least that's what I am telling myself.

She also made it into the top ten Thanksgiving Week and on Monday made it to the top 8!

Running Update:

Last Thursday was my final race of the year, and maybe my career. Not sure what my plans are for 2023, they are still in the formation stage.

If I stop running, I will surely miss the Falmouth Road Race and put on about 20 pounds, so there's that. We'll see how I feel after the new year.

What is greatness anyway?

Do a great steak and a great kid and a great wine and a great brother and a great car and a great company and a great game and a great volunteer and a great shower and a great day and a great computer and a great event and a great shirt and a great show and a great zoo and a great race and a great book and a great movie and a great concert and a great beer and a great school and a great doctor and a great friend and a great flight and a great golf course and a great hairdresser and a and a great deal and a great trip and a great teammate and a great boss and a great office and a great fisherman and a great meeting and great shoes all have something in common? 

If we want to be a great ________, what do we need to do? Greatness to me has three factors:

Greatness means a higher standard.

However you contribute, and to whatever or whoever you contribute, it means setting a higher standard for you. In all the examples above that are modified by the word ‘great’ that word clearly means “not average” at a minimum and ‘unbelievable’ at a maximum.

Sometimes we 'settle' for less than great because we are too busy or too stressed or too tired or too lazy. We know when we move to a higher standard, because we can't avoid knowing we've moved to a higher standard, because we are proud. Higher standards mean more pride, and that feels good.

So, the first criterion for greatness is not settling today for what was ok yesterday. 

It could be the cleanliness of the trunk of your car or how you treat your significant other.  It could be your effort or your output.

If you want to be great, raise your own bar. Greatness means deciding that ‘good enough is not enough.’

“Great” means “better.”

Greatness means facing reality and reacting to it in a positive manner. 

It means looking at the hard-cold facts of your situation, and some of those facts may be revealed by a mirror. 

Face it, none of us leads a perfect life with a perfect job and a perfect boss and a perfect family. That is not a revelation. No one is perfectly motivated, disciplined, and dedicated. At least no one I've met.

What leads to greatness is honestly looking at your situation and deciding to take action to react to your environment and in many cases to 'pro-act' to your environment.

• It could be that no one is calling you back (boo-hoo). 
• It could be that you just lost your best volunteer or client because she moved (oh, my).
• It could be that your car needs major repair work. (Oh, @#%$).  
• It could be that your significant other doesn’t appreciate you enough. (likely?) 

Greatness is not achieved because of the lack of obstacles; it is achieved by overcoming obstacles. 

Greatness is rarely achieved by people placed in perfect situations with no problems or issues. Lots of people give up, lots of people quit, there is rarely greatness in those behaviors.

Don’t think you won’t have obstacles in the upcoming year, you will. Get ready now to have a mindset to overcome them. Face the hard-cold facts and act. Good enough is not enough to overcome obstacles, it is good enough, at best, to maintain the status quo, and even that isn't a certainty.

“Great” means “action.”

Greatness means working hard at something without supervision. 

Can you think of a better compliment you could give someone other than “you work hard when no one is watching?” 

Chances are, you’ve never said those words because the people who work hard without supervision are the kinds of people who don’t need anyone to compliment them. 

How could you possibly achieve greatness by only working hard when someone was watching? It doesn’t make sense and doesn’t happen often. Good enough is not enough.

“Great” means “work.”

If you combine the three criteria:

Being Great means working hard at something when no one is watching as you’ve faced up to the hard-cold facts of your situation and decided to act in a positive manner because you’ve set a higher standard for yourself. 

I think that is something we all can do, if we decide good enough is not enough and we are striving for everyday greatness.