CATALYSTS FOR GREATNESS
For all that science has debunked or demystified about the nature of greatness, there are still some traits whose origins remain shrouded in mystery…
INSPIRATION
Inspiration has a long history, originally thought of as coming from divine or supernatural forces. In ancient Greece, the Muses were goddesses who inspired the creation of literature and the arts by speaking directly with the human creators themselves. Perhaps due to the mystical connotations associated with the term, scientists haven’t touched the concept until recently. Now, fascinating studies have emerged and have allowed us to take something as seemingly elusive as inspiration and understand its operation and impact on other important psychological outcomes. As it turns out, inspiration matters. A lot.
The most recent study on inspiration looked at its effects on goal progress. The results of the study illustrate how important inspiration is to achieving greatness in our lives. Those who were generally more inspired in their daily lives also tended to set inspired goals, which were then more likely to be successfully attained.
Importantly, the relationship between inspiration and goal progress was reciprocal: goal progress also predicted future goal inspiration: achieving important goals made the participants more inspired to set and achieve future goals. In turn, people who set and pursued inspired goals and then made progress on these goals became even more inspired.
Inspiration matters. Inspiration allows us to transcend our ordinary experiences and limitations and is a strong driver of the attainment of our own potential greatness. Inspiration transforms a person from experiencing a culture of apathy to experiencing a world of possibility.
Critically, research showed inspiration has an important effect on important life outcomes.
That said, key scientific findings suggest that inspiration isn’t willed…it happens. But there are things you can do to increase the likelihood of inspiration occurring.
Inspiration can be thought of as an interaction between your current knowledge and the information you receive from the world. The research illustrates quite clearly that preparation (“work mastery”) is a key ingredient to inspiration. Even small accomplishments can boost inspiration and set off a beautiful cycle where inspiration begets accomplishment, which, in turn, inspires greater achievement.
The best you can personally do is set up the maximal circumstances for inspiration. While inspiration is not the same as effort, effort is an essential condition for inspiration, preparing the mind for an inspirational experience.
BELIEF
New research shows that it’s how you think about your level of intelligence and your ability to grow that determines how quickly you can correct even a minor error and move on. The work suggests that it’s not whether you can pump your IQ UP a notch or two, but whether you think you can that really matters.
Psychologists at Michigan State University in East Lansing conducted a series of experiments to see if “mind-set” makes a difference in how humans process and react to mistakes. And it turns out that it not only makes a difference, it does so almost instantaneously.
The bottom line: Participants in the study who thought they could raise their intelligence performed far better in tests than those who thought they couldn’t.
One common characteristic in all successful adults is that, at some point in their lives they come to realize how much the process of improvement is within their own control. This is the type of person who believes …“The sky is not the limit… I am.”
Science has demonstrated unequivocally that a person’s mind-set has the power to dramatically affect both short-term capabilities and the long-term dynamic of achievement. But why some believe and others do not is a mystery that still proves elusive.
COURAGE
Proficient artists or athletes are competent at their craft. The great ones have command over their craft and command over their fear. They can accept their own technical capacity and still be willing to leave themselves open to making mistakes.
What makes Neil Young such a transcendent musical force?: Young’s willingness to experiment and fail. That fearlessness has allowed him to transcend the era and the genre that made him famous.
“You gotta keep changing… I’d rather keep changing and lose a lot of people along the way. If that’s the price, I’ll pay it. I don’t give a shit if my audience is a hundred or a hundred million. It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’m convinced that what sells and what I do are two completely different things. If they meet, it’s coincidence.”
Neil has one of the most elusive qualities of genius: fearlessness. And it’s saved his art from the million traps that killed off the gifts of lesser musicians.
COMPETITION
Great achievers almost always need to be engaged in some sort of rivalry. Healthy competition and rivalry can help bring out people’s best work.
From a distance, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso spent a lifetime as peers and rivals whose work was inextricably intertwined. At certain key moments, both felt they were in a kind of boxing ring — or that they were players/partners in a sort of game. And the stake of that game was, for both of them, the very practice of painting.”
Picasso’s 1929 “Large Nude in Red Armchair,” for example, was a clear parody of Matisse’s 1926 “Odalisque with a Tambourine.”
From the other end, Matisse’s confidence was powerfully shaken by Picasso’s early cubism; he later created many works in homage to Picasso’s cubist works from that era.
It’s fascinating to see the way each tries to introduce, in his own language, some trope of the other — and to do something with it. It’s like: ‘You do this, I do that; you do this, I do that.’
Examples of this are everywhere…
Lennon & McCartney… Borg & McEnroe… Bird & Magic.
PERSISTENCE
Psychologists have long been fascinated with why only a handful of individuals realize the limits of their potential while the rest of us fall far short of what we could be.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
– Thomas Edison
Recent research suggests the most prominent leaders in every field share one personal quality: grit. What is grit?
Grit is perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining both effort and interest over years and years — despite failure, adversity, or even simple stalls in progress. The gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his advantage is stamina. Whereas disappointment or boredom signals to others that it is time to change trajectory and cut losses, the gritty individual stays the course.
The research evolved during interviews with professionals in a variety of fields including investment banking, painting, journalism, academia, medicine, and law. Asked what quality distinguishes star performers in their respective fields, these individuals cited grit or a close synonym as often as they mentioned raw talent. In fact, many were awed by the achievements of peers who did not at first seem as gifted as others but whose sustained commitment to their ambitions was exceptional. Likewise, many noted with surprise that prodigiously gifted peers did not end up at the top of their field.
Persistence is vital even for an indisputable genius. Mozart’s diaries, for example, contain an oft-cited passage in which the composer reports that an entire symphony appeared, supposedly intact, in his head. But no one ever quotes the next paragraph, where he talks about how he refined the work for months.
Grit may turn out to be at least as good a gauge of future success as talent itself. In a series of provocative new studies at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers find that the gritty are more likely to achieve success in school, work and other pursuits—perhaps because their passion and commitment help them endure the inevitable setbacks that occur in any long-term undertaking.
The idea that passion fuels perseverance has crucial implications: If grit hinges on passion, then so too does greatness.
That’s because hard work isn’t the same as grit, and perseverance in response to parental obligations or social norms (as mentioned above) doesn’t come close to suggesting the lit-from-within passion that drives true genius.
