2017.08.23: What is greatness?
Dear Journal,
My assertion: No one ever did anything great without a ton of hard work.
Today I was told greatness doesn't have to come from lots of hard work and determination, and while certain problems are solved through such qualities, it doesn't necessarily have to. Now, I would be tempted to agree with a comment that is moderate in nature such as this one, but I find it excessively difficult to find an example where this is true. For instance, it's been said that Bill Gates never took a day off for the first few years of Microsoft. The great pyramids weren't created without someone to wrangle the thousands of slaves required to actually build the monuments. Einstein didn't discover E=mc^2 on a hunch. Einstein had been studying physics since the age of 16 and published the equation at the age of 26. All that said, it takes a great deal of effort, planning, and sacrifice to develop large-scale systems of greatness.
Further research (google: "what makes greatness") leads to articles on top of articles claiming greatness is the drive to succeed and to see failure as nothing but an obstacle. They also claim that greatness is an unwavering vision of a successful and prosperous future despite all else. Few, however, mention the part about follow-through.
“Great ideas are nothing but trivial blips of randomness in this vast universe of chaos.”
After several hours of contemplation I stand by my assertion and will go even further. Great ideas are nothing but trivial blips of randomness in this vast universe of chaos. True greatness is the unequivocal drive to follow-through coupled with a great idea. Because what is a graphical operating system without Bill Gates' follow-through? Because what are the pyramids without the slaves? Because what is the realization that time is relative without Einstein's will to be successful in academia?
I'll tell you!
Nothing but great ideas! That's it, they are nothing! Nothing but blips in someone's head. Plenty of people probably thought a graphical operating system would be a cool thing to have, but they didn't do the leg-work. Therefore, they didn't become great. Greatness is not just having some random great idea. It's not just assuming things will fall into place. It's not just the "unwavering vision of a successful future."
Greatness is the implementation of a great idea. Without the implementation there is no greatness, it's that simple. That said, implementation is difficult and the devil is in the details.
To set the record straight and condense all those lame "7 characteristics of great people" articles into a single sentence, here we go:
TL;DR Greatness is having an unwavering work-ethic coupled with the irrational belief that there is something a single person can do to make tomorrow a better tomorrow.
"Irrational" is precisely the word I wanted to use here. I have been called crazy, a dreamer, unrealistic, and insane because of my belief that I can make the world different than it is. For all those who strive for greatness, who want to be among the greatest minds the world has ever seen, I implore you to never stop working hard and never stop believing there is something you can do. Greatness is not some god-given trait, it is derived from these two qualities: work ethic and irrational belief. You will not be in the majority as someone who reaches for true greatness, you will be a minority. People will call you out on your endeavors. They'll claim it can't be done or even worse, it's a bad idea.
If the idea is ultimately building for a better tomorrow, then I hope you may be resilient in your endeavors and follow-through towards greatness.
Sincerely,
Alex
P.S. Tell us what you think in the comments. There is certainly room for error in any of the above statements. However, until I'm given an example of greatness achieved through a lack of hard work I will be tempted to continue believing these words.