This one had me stumped.  I liked the sound of those words: “The Primary Goal for Sacred Success™ is Achieving Greatness” (see my last blog entry).  But admittedly, I was also intimidated by them.  

I thought of women I considered models of Greatness: Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt,  Betty Friedan.  But I also thought of my daughters—one an organic farmer, another a nursery school teacher, and the oldest a stay-at-home mom. I may be a bit biased, but I honestly see my girls going for Greatness, each in their own way.

So I began asking myself–“what does Greatness mean?”  According to Merriam-Webster, Greatness describes someone who is “remarkable in magnitude, degree or effectiveness.”

Every one of us is capable of remarkable feats. We don’t need to be anything extraordinary.  We do, however,  need to play full out.

Here are what I see as the 15 traits of Greatness:

1.      Greatness refuses to be limited or controlled in any way by fear. (Fear is to greatness what ants are to a picnic… annoying, inevitable, and best ignored)

2.      Greatness follows ideas that come from seemingly nowhere.

3.      Greatness doesn’t act alone. It has partners, collaborators, a team.

4.      Greatness is humble, not to be confused with Grandiosity. Grandiosity comes from the ego and is, as A Course in Miracles tells us, “always a cover for despair.”  Greatness is sourced from the soul and is always a desire to do what it came to earth to do.

5.      Greatness sees the world as it’s playground and every problem as part of The Game…a lawsuit is no more serious that losing a stapler.

6.      Greatness takes its mission (not itself) very seriously, and always puts that mission first.

7.      Greatness truly enjoys Greatness, not just for itself, but for its positive effect on others.

8.      Greatness  respects and appreciates money… sufficient income is necessary to eliminate any distractions for achieving its goals.

9.      Greatness isn’t perfect, and is more than willing not to be. Greatness feeds on self trust (the definition to self-trust: knowing you can clean up what you mess up!).

10. When pain enters Greatness, it’s meant to be a wake-up call.

11. Greatness is kind, but tough, and politely endures criticism.  While Greatness doesn’t need be liked, it demands to be respected.

12. The Arc of Greatness involves many mistakes, failures, wrong turns…they are the steppingstones to  Greatness.

13. Greatness is passion made manifest.  The biggest pitfall to Greatness–doing what you should vs. what you love.

14. Greatness requires responsibility, rejects mediocrity, and resides in the unknown.

15. When Greatness dies, it doesn’t go away. Greatness always leaves a legacy behind.

Anything you’d like to add???