I’ve been fascinated by genius and personal excellence for almost 15 years now yet there is still very little of a satisfactory definition. Last night I was speaking with some friends on the subject of personal excellence and we really struggled with the very definition of the term. Somebody said it was getting above 80% (or 90% or 95%) – because that’s what it is at school. But that’s just a number – and not a very reliable or useful number at that!
Excellence has to be more than ‘good’ – being good, or even very good. Being very good is so common that it doesn’t even rate a mention these days: anybody can do it.
For me, excellence has something to do with finding your voice. Finding that part of yourself that is unique and developing yourself so that you can share it with the world. There are countless pathways to finding your voice… from NLP to work to psychotherapy to karate to mysticism to religion to intimate relationships and even sex itself.
I find that we are all drawn towards finding our voice. We are pulled towards what we enjoy and pushed away from that which we find painful. Sometimes, our conditioning or external conditions lead us to ignore these messages – that’s why we need to shut up and listen as my friend Jason says – but ultimately the message is still there.
Once we have enough excitement and diversity, enough security and stability, enough power and enough love, most of us are drawn to two higher needs: to expand and to impact. To expand is to learn and grow so that we can become greater; to impact is to leave an impression and a contribution in the world.
Personal excellence can come back values. While reviewing my NLP Master Practitioner materials yesterday, I was reminded of the ‘levels of consciousness’ concept. This model holds that individuals and societies and even the world progresses as it changes its way of thinking.
Daniel Smith
Putting more resources into a dysfunctional system makes that system more dysfunctional just as driving faster in the wrong direction just takes you further from where you want to go.
Solutions to the real problems come by lifting our level of thinking and clarifying our desired outcome. Becoming a great problem solver can come by elevating your thinking, getting better at clarifying your outcomes and framing the situation in a manner that so that it fits familiar situations (through models or frameworks).
Andrew Mwenda, in a presentation on TED, spoke about how giving aid to Africa strengthened corrupt governments and undermined the need to build the rules for sustainable wealth creation systems. But I especially loved his simple ending: That great speeches should be like miniskirts – short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the subject.
Daniel Smith
The New York Times published an article acknowledging the role played by Ayn Rand in the thinking of modern capitalists. My Grandfather gave me The Fountainhead when I was an arrogant 13-year-old with a warning that the first half was boring but the second half made it worthwhile. He was right on both counts.
While “the virtue of selfishness” might be very unpopular as a phrase, I was transformed by this book and still have it together with my Grandfather’s copy of Atlas Shrugged in a special place in my bookcase at home.
It’s not a complete philosophy. Assumptions arrogantly taken for “axioms” are adopted by ignorant idealogues undermine the intellectual integrity that Objectivists purport to uphold. However, as James M. Kilts is quoted as noting in the NYT article, Ayn Rand’s works uphold a very important value that has few other sources:
“that excellence should be your goal”
Spiritual masters, NLPers and psychologists are largely and unusually in agreement (though they won’t let you know!): Self-actualisers, prime mover geniuses and happy “ordinary” people everywhere live in accordance with the vision that Rand had for the world… rather than being the victim of what other people want for you or think of you, may we all take personal responsibilty for how you feel, what you think and the life that you live.
Be excellent.
Daniel Smith
The way that you think is largely a product of your experiences. Our friends and the books that we read are great starting point, and the internet a great opportunity equaliser. Now, while our upbringing and early life, formal education and significant events have a massive impact in how we see things, what if you hung around some of the most brilliant minds in the world for a few days?
There are a couple of these impactful events of intense stimulation now – Davos, Clinton Global Initiative and a miriad of seminars come to mind – but one of the most accessible could just be TED. They’ve just increased their price by 50% (from $4,000 to $6,000pa) but damn they come out with some awesome stuff!
Check out this video that shows what may be the future for our computer screens for example.
Daniel Smith
May I a small house, and a large garden have.
And a few Friends, and many Books, both true,
Both wise, and both delightful too.
The Secret made it to Oprah. It’s an amazing thought that in the next 24 hours, Oprah will be helping to transform this story/ documentary of one woman’s experience with focus and manifestation into an even more powerful international success. But it leaves a very challenge part of the story unsaid: What do you really want?
Although the heart must be made to conceive before the eye will be permitted to discover, I find that one of the greatest challenges that we face is to let go of our self-imposed blindness. “What would you do if anything was possible?” is a question that I have asked at many of my seminars and workshops (as well as in personal coaching and consultation sessions), and the recurring theme in responses is that very few people really know what is possible.
Great spirits certainly do encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds, yet the greatest challenge for a great mind is to make the leap to being a great spirit. For a great spirit to be unleashed, you must believe in yourself. Whether it is a (delusional?) sense of narcissim, an inflated sense of self-importance, or perhaps just the irrational spontaneous adoption of a belief in personal purpose and direction, for someone with talent to apply that talent in the disciplined and focused manner necessary to accomplish anything great or to develop any great skills perhaps demands something of a state of mental or emotional imbalance.
So where do we begin?
That, to me, is the primary advantage that superior educational institutions afford over ‘ordinary’ ones. Great institutions, employers and places tend to attract those with talent and ability, and in doing so give the individuals the exposure to ideas and people that can expand their minds in otherwise inconceivable ways. While I believe that the truths of ‘genius’ are still somewhat waiting to be discovered by each of us, travel, education and exposure to new ideas is one of the surest ways of expanding your mind…
If you really just want the small house and large garden, are the things that you’re doing along the way really helping?
Daniel Smith
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