The mindset of greatness (2), By Sunday Adelaja

…if some people have managed to attain the status of greatness in life in one endeavour or the other, that greatness can surely be reproduced… I am a strong believer in the laws of life. I believe that God is not partial. It is my conviction that all men, if they so desire could attain greatness. I strongly believe that it is not because some have been specially endowed while others have not. I am convinced that everything depends on what we know.

“Great men are not born great, they grow great…” ― Mario Puzo

Great men are mainly great due to their mindsets. Their greatness is a result of the mindset they successfully cultivated. As in many aspects of life, greatness is a product of a certain mindset.

It would not be a curse if I say some people will never experience greatness. Why? Because their mindset would never permit them. Between you and your potential greatness stands an obstacle. That obstacle is your mindset. Why are you not in the league of the greats? It is simple, because you have been limited by your present mindset. Most people would not want to believe that there could be something wrong with them, or with their current way of thinking. Most people are naturally proud. We convince ourselves that we are okay. We argue and fight to consolidate our positions.

Sometimes even when destiny wishes to favour us and allows us to hear or read something that is not common to our ears, we mostly fight the uncommon thoughts, trying to rather affirm our positions. Well, that is a mindset. Most of us unfortunately are in captive of our mindset.  We are held as prisoners by our own way of thinking. Yet we defend it, we protect that same mentality, not knowing it is the gulf between us and the greatness we so greatly crave for.

Mentality, mindset, worldview, paradigm… Greatness is a factor of mentality. Going back to the story we started this article with, the conclusion of my dear friend that attitude to time is a major difference between ordinary people’s lifestyles and billionaire’s lifestyles, is also an affirmation of the role of mentality in greatness. What my friend was trying to say to us is that all three billionaires have a different mindsets when it comes to time. Their unique attitude to time therefore is only a result of their different mindset. It is because they have different mindset to time that they have a different attitude to time. Their attitude comes as a result of their mindset. It is their mindset that dictates their attitude, in this case to time.

“You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.” ― Rum

Friends, our clarion call of the hour therefore is, what mentality do I have to life? Does my mentality hinder or enhance the greatness I so crave for? What mentality do I have in relations to wealth? Does my mentality limit me or it enhances me? What mentality do I have to life? Is it a mentality that encourages greatness or it’s a mentality that limits greatness. This is the question of the hour friends. It would do us good to carry out a kind of inventory, survey, analysis of ourselves in this regard.

“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose, and to do it courageously.” ― Steve Maraboli,

To further buttress my point on mentality, let’s take wealth as an example. When it comes to wealth, again the factor of mentality plays a major role in who becomes rich and who becomes poor. Indeed wealth is not a question of what a man possesses, it is about what he knows. So, a man could possess today a lot of riches and yet not be wealthy. The difference therefore between the rich and the wealthy is important to know.

A rich person possesses things, but not necessarily wealthy. While a wealthy person might possess things and at times might not temporarily possess anything. Yet he is wealthy, because of what he possesses inside. A wealthy man possesses the golden rule of wealth creation. He possesses the laws of economic empowerment. He possesses the mindset of wealth. Such a man can never be poor. Such a man can never be without riches for long. Such a man would always find ways and means of creating wealth and riches no matter where he finds himself.

“Your greatness is revealed not by the lights that shine upon you, but by the light that shines within you.” ― Ray A. Davis

On the other hand, the rich man could lose his riches, and not be in the position to again create it. This has happened to too many people in our generation. There are those who won lotteries or some forms of inheritances, but because they were not truly wealthy in their mindset, they soon lost the riches they possess. A wealthy person though, even when he loses riches, goes right back to square one where he creates even greater amount of riches thanks to the amount of knowledge he possesses. A truly wealthy man must know the laws of money, unlike the rich man that could be sometimes lucky to have come across his money by accident.

“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

This principle of mentality applies to every aspect of life. Especially to greatness. Greatness is never an accident. It is as a result of what a person knows. It is not just what they know in their head, but what they have worked to become in their lifestyle and their mentality. Great men have developed themselves through discipline and hard work to only reason and think in certain directions that facilitate greatness.

It is this understanding that informs us that all great people have same or similar traits. If you study the lifestyle and habit of great men and women, you would discover that certain traits are common to all of them. We have discovered now two of those factors that are common to all great people. One is the factor of time and the second one is the factor of mentality. The reason why it is essential for us to know these factors is because all success as well as greatness in life are predictable. As a matter of fact, life itself could be predictable. If we know the laws and principles responsible for the matter at hand.

What I am trying to say in essence is that, if some people have managed to attain the status of greatness in life in one endeavour or the other, that greatness can surely be reproduced. That is what informs my writing this article. I am a strong believer in the laws of life. I believe that God is not partial. It is my conviction that all men, if they so desire could attain greatness. I strongly believe that it is not because some have been specially endowed while others have not. I am convinced that everything depends on what we know. Greatness is not an exception. Even greatness can be reproduced. To be continued.

Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Ukraine.