M.A.G.A
Last night I went to see Hamilton.
Most of you probably don’t know, but I’ve relocated to the Bay Area. I got here Sunday. Went to Brunch and then learned Chuck had tickets for Hamilton!!!
A sort of graduation/belated birthday treat.
He had been torn between tickets to a talk being given by Neil deGrasse Tyson (my favorite astrophysicist) and the theater. He knows me well.
Anyway…the show.
The music…incredible
The story…inspirational.
But as I sat there, I looked around the theater at all the different people who gathered together to watch this political hip hop musical.
Then I thought about the Influencer 2019 conference and all the different people who came from around the globe for that.
And that thought was followed by flashing back to my first team meeting at Cal Berkeley Monday night and I got to take in the entire team all at once as we crammed into a undersized room.
And it occurred to me that it is
impossible
irrational
delusional
and possibly ignorant to think that anything we are a part of:
a team
a country
a business
even a family stands a chance of being great if we aren’t committed to the pursuit of our own personal greatness.
Think of it this way, who are the track teams that win the NCAA team titles. Where do their points come from?
One person? One self-declared messiah? Can you imagine the reception a recruit would get walking onto campus for an official visit, and proclaiming to all who would listen that they can make that track team great again?
At the team meeting Monday the event groups: cross country, distance, throwers, sprinters, jumpers, etc. weren’t familiar with each other. They wouldn’t recognize each other on the street or walking across campus.
Hell, there were a few of them that though I was on the team!
They don’t recognize each other yet…but that doesn’t change the fact or the reality that they need the other groups to step up. To do their part.
Do you understand what I’m actually saying…
I’ll run it back one more time. They don’t know each other, they probably wouldn’t even recognize each other on the street, they don’t know each other’s names, or their histories but that oft benign ignorance does not change the fact or the reality that they need each other to step up and in to their personal greatness.
Additionally, within each event group the individual athletes need to step up and do their respective parts too.
Because greatness is an individual pursuit
an individual pursuit that when combined with the efforts of like-minded individuals
creates an exponential energy and an electrically charged atmosphere of the same.
And yet here a lot of us are expecting greatness from the couch, with the blue lit glow of electronics reflecting off our faces as we consume everyone else’s intentions and energy while directing none to our personal pursuit of greatness.
It’s so easy to point at someone else (especially if they aren’t like you) and believe that they are the problem.
But ask yourself…
are they directly keeping you from getting out of bed before eleven?
directly keeping you from changing your diet?
directly responsible for you not picking up a book?
for you not turning off your tv?
Not exercising?
Not getting outside?
For not logging off of facebook?
Who is really the one holding you back?
I’m aware that this is a risky oversimplification of many larger issues but I hear and see the call to action: Make America Great Again (a lot less now that I’m in California versus Alabama but you get my point)
and I get hung up a bit on the word: AGAIN
Because it isn’t clear which time we’re trying to return to: again. At least it isn’t clear to me. But let’s say for the sake of this blog post we wanted to go all the way back to the beginning.
Then MAGA means- no it requires individuals, like Hamilton to not sit idly by.
It requires us to NOT remain slaves to our circumstances or upbringing.
To write like it’s going out of style.
To take the shots that provide the opportunities for growth and change.
To identify what you believe in and stand up for those beliefs with honor and conviction.
You cannot outsource the actions that only you can take.
You cannot outsource your personal development.
You cannot outsource your pursuit of greatness.
How we make anything great again is by adding our respective greatness to the pot.
That’s how teams win.
How businesses win.
How countries win.
How this country won in the beginning.
And how we ALL begin to win again.
Start looking inward at yourself again.
Start asking who you’d like to be again
What you’d like to do again
What thing you need to begin
What dream you want to make alive again
and remind yourself again and again
that you can’t be a part of ANYTHING great
if you aren’t in part getting to great for yourself.