Blog | Personal development

How to Go From Good to Great

Discovering your true greatness may forever be hidden from you and that’s ok.

One of my favorite books is Good to Great. In the best-seller, author Jim Collins identifies how major companies like Walgreens, Circuit City, and Philip Morris achieve incredible success after years of mediocre performance.

In every instance, each institution made internal shifts regarding leadership, company culture and strategic management. He refers to this shift as a tipping point.

What does this have to do with you and your journey of personal development?

Your life, your journey

For starters, most of us don’t plan ahead. In all my experience working with individuals looking to become better sales people or companies looking to shift their culture, one thing is consistent, people simply don’t plan for the future. We don’t take the time to take stock of what we’ve accomplished in order to better understand where we should be going.

One thing that is crucial to help you develop the future you desire is a trusted mentor or coach. I’m not necessarily talking about hiring someone, however. What I mean by a mentor is someone you’ve known for years, ideally decades.

The mentor you choose can be a friend who you trust but be careful. As all good friends should do, they tend to boost your confidence regardless of the situation. And even though we want them to help you point out what great accomplishments you may have achieved over your lifetime, you also want your mentor to bring attention to things that didn’t work out.

In my last post I mentioned the contestants from American Idol who tend to overestimate their star potential. Chances are that they have a very supportive network of family and friends who, though their heart is in the right place, aren’t doing the contestant much good encouraging them to follow their dreams when they have no talent to back it up.

That is where a mentor comes in. A mentor will give you an objective opinion on your strengths and weaknesses.

One of those weaknesses may be humility.

Challenge of humility

Most people tend to downplay their accomplishments. We grew up believing that admitting we are good at something is tantamount to boasting.

That’s simply not true.

There is a world of difference between admitting you’re good at something and arrogantly accepting praise for something you didn’t do.

My challenge to you is to simply say, “Thank you,” the next time some gives you praise for something you did. There’s no reason to make excuses with “yeah but,” or “it’s no big deal.” Just say, “Thank you.”

At Rich Dad, we’re big fans of celebrating all wins. Unfortunately, it’s something that is almost frowned upon these days.

Why?

Why shouldn’t we take time out to admit we accomplished something we set out to do?

You don’t need to send out a press release or pound your chest or crow like a rooster in the town square. Simply take the compliment and let it sink in.

The journey… not the destination

One area where I believe humility can be of great service to us is our purpose.

I was lucky enough to study under Bucky Fuller, alongside Robert, many years ago.

One thing that has always stuck with me is the following quote from Bucky: “Your significance, (or your purpose in life) may remain forever obscured to you. But you can rest assured that you’re fulfilling your purpose if you commit yourself to the highest advantage of others.”

But here’s the kicker, you may never know what you’re really supposed to do or what your unique gifts are.

And therein lies the key to becoming the best version of you that you can be, diligently work on yourself and moving forward to the person you aspire to be. Planning, adjusting and correcting as you go. You’ll likely find success building up around you.