Does it ever occur to you that part of what made Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. so great were the adversity that they had to face and overcome? That if you lived in a world with such injustice, you’d have cause to overcome it too and you might reach that level of greatness?

I wonder how many people think, “I’d be a better leader if only I lived at a time like MLK did or Gandhi did so I’d have a noble cause to work on.”

No way!

This is specious thinking. I think people tend to think it internally as a way to excuse not achieving their potential, but I don’t think people voice it often. If they voiced it anyone who heard would immediately set them straight. I think when you keep it inside, your mind can keep you from critically considering the thought.

Simply put, your life wouldn’t be better if your world was worse. You wouldn’t become a better leader from the world getting worse.

Either you are every bit the leader MLK was or you wouldn’t do what he did.

Think about that.

Either you are at least as good a leader as any other great leader was, or in their situation you would shy away from what they did. It seems to me thinking you could do better suggests you believe you haven’t reached your potential. If so, I suggest reaching your potential happens internally, from developing skills, not from making your world worse.

But if you think what’s holding you back from greatness is a worse world, think about what you think makes a leader great.

If you think you could do better, what can you improve that’s under your control and doesn’t require making the world worse?

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