The Greatness Within

When I was first getting started as an online entrepreneur, I was blessed enough to participate in a 100 day Business Building Challenge. It was like an intensive cramming session for newly pressed online marketers, but there was no exam at the end. The real test was entrenching good business habits into our daily routines. The single biggest change many of the participants gained was an understanding of the greatness within them.

Part of the process early on, was to come up with a vision board. You know the kind of thing where you pick different pictures that have personal relevance and meaning? The images on the board are there to inspire us; pictures represent our dreams, illustrations that embody our visions. The purpose of this kind of vision board is to get you dialled into your ‘why’, to sustain you in the lean times and keep you grounded in the fertile times. Your reason for being here, your ‘why’, is one of the most important things to discover in this life.

One picture that I chose to put on my board wasn't particularly exciting, just an old dilapidated country pub. Strange choice you may say, after all this exercise is supposed to inspire, isn’t it? Well yes, and the horror of seeing this run down old pub got me thinking about my retirement. Would I end up in some run down old peoples home where you have to walk around the holes in the floor? It focused my attention like nothing else. Most of my life I have been a worker, a link in the production chain, a cog in the wheel of manufacturing. Never did I ever imagine the government making the pension age 70 and the cost of living so high you can't afford electricity anyway. This is how I drew my inspiration to start my own home business. It drove me to earn enough money so I could secure my own source of residual income. I purposed to buy from ethical manufacturers; resolved never to trust a multi-national corporation press release ever again, or believe another political campaign promise. But I couldn't rely on negativity to build me up, I had to develop the greatness within.

The fact of the matter is, when we try to live up to our own expectations we annoy everyone around us, so we tend to shy away from our own greatness. Maybe we've come to accept we aren't great because we haven’t achieved anything yet. Sometimes we look at others and think to ourselves, when I am like them, I will be great. Ever suffer from comparitis? Compare your skills to any great champion like; Cadel Evans the bike rider, Ian Thorpe the swimmer, Pat Rafter the tennis player, and every time you will come up short. They turned up to practice day after day; they chose to develop their greatness within. It’s time to wake up and realise you already have greatness within you.

Here in tropical Australia, we have two seasons, the wet season and the dry season. Now during the dry season (winter to most people around the world) life is pretty normal, but during the wet season we have over 300mmm (12 inches) of rain in one day. Do you know how much the damn grass grows with that much water on it? The stuff grows so tall that it quickly overgrows bush tracks, bikeways, footpaths, buildings and even encroaches on to roadways. Out comes the mower, or ride-on, or in some cases the tractor with a slasher in tow. Now let me ask you, is your favourite walking track still there even though the grass has overgrown it? It’s just a matter of mowing the grass and once again we can walk your favourite path.

That’s so much like the greatness within you. Honestly it’s not about developing new skill sets, creating new knowledge, doing things differently. When you uncover what is already hidden within you; joy, enthusiasm, energy, excitement start to shine through in your life every single day. So if your backyard is overgrown by the grass, let’s mow it down and uncover your greatness. Whatever is overgrown; fern of fear, shrub of sarcasm, hedge of hatred, tropical tree of temper tantrums, native flower of negativity, starting today you are going to cut them down. Let’s clean up this wet season’s growth and free you from all those years of your family and friends pouring water on your greatness. You have the ability and now you will take responsibility for cleaning up your own backyard.

People who can’t acknowledge their own greatness, look at the overgrown backyard and think, that can wait for the dry season and the grass will die off all by itself. Some people might dream of employing a builder to come in and concrete the whole yard so they never have to mow it again. But why would you bury your greatness? Others may want to spray noxious poison all around to kill of the grass. Ask yourself how can pouring scorn and negativity into your soul build you up? You are not broken, you don’t need to be fixed, replaced, covered over. What you need to do, what I encourage you to do, is find the greatness within!

Look, I realise it’s easier said than done. It’s not that easy to see yourself as excellent, to acknowledge how great you are. But just get out in that backyard and start mowing down the grass. Hack down those overgrown layers of self-doubt, cut through all the self-pity and frustration, mow over all your anger, setbacks and failures. You can see the immense value in this because it will improve you as an entrepreneur and a make you a better person. When it’s all cut back and cleared out it will be so much easier to keep it clean on a daily basis.

Let us uncover our greatness, now we have a different context, a different perspective. A lot of times we don’t see how damn amazing we are. We think to be great we have to be in the ring with Mohamed Ali, but if you’re only at level two, why jump in the ring with a level 10? As if we really enjoy getting the snot beaten out of us? And while we’re here, forget about limiting yourself to level 5, just keep cleaning and uncovering your greatness daily. The best thing about being an entrepreneur is you don’t have to be the best to win, but you do have to turn up.

We are turning away from the negativity so common in today’s culture, news, movies, rap songs. Whilst you’re mowing your lawn; hook up with thanksgiving, gratitude and happiness. Find the reason you are here on earth, because that will bring you the greatest joy. The day you adopt the mental attitude of stepping into your greatness, instead of looking toward the negative and being fearful, holy cow, that is powerful + right there. Could you imagine how you will feel when you get past these self-limiting attitudes?

Your faith and belief in your greatness will come across in your videos, ad copy etc and that’s what people want to follow. If you lead with fear/pain then you will absolutely get people’s attention, but are you going to keep it? Just imagine for a minute how people will react to you when you get their attention and share with them your greatness? You tell them it’s not about running away from the pain; it’s about living up to their potential. Powerful.

Until you believe in your greatness, that has been, is and always will be inside of you, then you’re missing the mark. Now I realise this sounds like I've gone nuts and some of you will be thinking, Ah c’mon ren0vator, there’s no way this is going to work for me. But it works for thousands of people, every single day, all around the world.

Are you here to accept scraps from someone else’s table, eking out a meagre existence? Or are you here to make dreams come true? Forget about working at your J.O.B. because we are here to change lives. We are here to make a difference. If you can see life this way, congratulations, you are starting to see your greatness and your role in the big picture.

Now if this fires you up even just a little bit, run with it. You've got a glimpse of the greatness inside of you. The time is past for ignoring your greatness! Aren't you tired of hiding from yourself? Open that blind eye now you have turned and faced yourself. Is it easy to step into your greatness? No, but it’s simple. It’s a decision you can make at any time of the day. Is it scary? Heck yeah because as you put yourself out there, people full of negativity are eager and willing to pull you down. Is it hard work? Damn straight! But you've just got to make an honest assessment and push your mower until that catcher is ready to be emptied again. Don’t try and mow the whole yard in one go.

Now you are mowing other questions will come to you. How might I mow longer, faster, straighter? This is such an important breakthrough for you because now you are questioning your how instead of your who. You can become more of your true self instead of this overgrown heap of who you should be. True strength is coming to you by making this realist decision to mow daily. Don’t be afraid of your greatness in your backyard, step into it. It will be the single biggest contribution you can make to the world around you. And… and it will help you live a better life and build a very powerful and sustainable business.

This is not about business this is about your lifestyle. This is not about financial windfall; this is about your fulfillment. Step into your greatness, show the world and let it inspire others around you. This is the passion and soon you will be living a life you deserve.