The Path To Greatness
I’m going to tell you a story.
It starts with a wealthy merchant back in ancient times on a voyage from Phoenicia (now the coast of modern Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel) to Peiraeus (now the port of Athens) sometime between the years c. 334 BC - c. 262 BC. This man was quite successful and had a good life, he was creating value for many many people and helping people get what they needed to survive. But on one voyage something went wrong, a shipwreck occurred, causing this man to lose all his belongings, his wealth and everything he built. He washed up on the shore of Athens with nothing but his clothes. Walking around aimlessly he sees a bookstore and goes into it.
He had nothing better to do so he started reading Xenophon's (a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens) Memorabilia, which is a collection of Socratic dialogues written by Xenophon, who was a student of Socrates, arguably the wisest man of all time.
These readings shook him to his core and delighted him so much that he asked the bookstore owner where he could find men like this from what he was reading. Just then, Crates of Thebes – the most famous Cynic living at that time in Greece – happened to be walking by, and the bookseller pointed to him. This wealthy, now broke man sought Crates of Thebes to learn more about these ways.
‘These ways’ are what we call philosophy. And the wealthy merchant whose life turned upside down was Zeno of Cilium: Founder of The Stoic School of Philosophy who went on to teach hundreds and now influence millions of people over the years.
After building his foundation of philosophy to get through the tough times in life, before his greatness was revealed to the world he was quoted saying, “You've done well, Fortune, driving me thus to philosophy.”
You want to become great, congratulations! So do I and everyone else. There is no reward for wanting to be great, you only reap the rewards (if there are any) by doing what it takes to become great. So…
How do The Greats become great? What makes them so great? How can we be as great as them? What does great even mean in the first place?
We know great is better than good.
‘Good’ is when someone or something is good some of the time.
‘Great’ is when someone or something is good ALL of the time.
They show up and do what needs to be done while living up to their unique standards. The Greats never subscribe to anyone else’s standards, they stick to their own and trust that they are producing the quality of work that will satisfy them before putting it out into the world.
And most importantly from Zeno’s story, most of The Greats we look up to haven’t had the easiest path, they have suffered through treacherous times, usually one major defining moment that, was a make-or-break scenario. They had the choice of the setback to propel them forward to push them back. They pushed back at the pushback and went on to achieve what they were destined to.
They became Masters.
The path to greatness doesn’t start with being great. It’s the opposite, it’s starting at the bottom, with nothing and no idea what to do and then figuring it out and refining what you are doing as you go along. The destination of greatness is a natural byproduct of taking the journey of Mastery.
Seeking mentors, teachers and inspirations that you want to learn from. Become an apprentice first, entering The-Apprenticeship-Phase, learning all that you can from your mentor at that point and moving to another mentor to get to the next level in your journey towards Mastery.
All of The Master’s of the world, the Steve Job’s, the Leonardo da Vinci’s, the Michelangelo’s, the Aristotle’s of the world… they were great at one thing. Better than anyone else. They found their thing, entered the journey to Mastery and achieved greatness.
Mastery is a lifelong pursuit, but it is the one worth pursuing.
Will you do the same? Will you become a Master?
Until next time,
Brody
PS
Mastery by Robert Greene is by far the best piece of work on the subject of becoming a Master and the journey it takes to get there.
