Great Minds

Great Minds

By ©1998

We all can experience greatness. What makes a difference is whether or not we use the full capability of our mind.

My Nephews Story
I am reminded of one of my nephews who now works full time at a grocery store as a clerk. This was a young man who had a very sharp mind, did extraordinarily well in high school with never a failing grade or even marks below a ‘B’ average. He started to go to college but dropped out after a year because he didn’t like the program. So, instead of moving into something he really wanted to do, he just quit all together. It wasn’t that he wasn’t smart enough, or couldn’t find the money to continue; he just stopped right in his tracks. He certainly had the capacity but not the will.

It appeared that he no longer had a goal, or he changed his mind to accept that all he wanted to do was to work at something less than he had capacity for.

“Capacity is more about determination than it is about being brilliant.”
Byron Pulsifer

For Others
For some, their capacity for formal education may not be as well honed or prepared as others but they can still move beyond formal education by participating in various types of apprenticeship programs where there is more emphasis on doing and learning skills on the job than writing papers or attending formal classes.

A Burning Desire
The mind can adapt to a host of differing situations if there is a burning desire to succeed. It isn’t, for most, a lack of learning ability but more a lack of the ability to apply themselves over time. A desire to succeed has to be married with the desire to apply one’s skills, abilities and the continued application of energy. You cannot accomplish anything of importance by spending your time relaxing, dreaming, wishing or waiting for opportunity to come rolling along. Opportunity is there but it scares a lot of people because it is cloaked in work.

The capacity to use one’s mind to do better and to develop a career was recently witnessed when I got to meet a young man who had spent several years involved with drugs. This young man decided that his life was going nowhere and that he needed help to overcome his addiction. He not only succeeded in beating his addiction but also was able to easily turn his mind to undertake and pass exams for a journeyman in the plumbing trade. A mind wasted is like walking by a diamond lying on the street; there is no value unless it is used.

“Great minds are those that are released from doing mundane things.”
Byron Pulsifer

Mundane Things
Those mundane things can be those things that occupy a person’s mind that never accomplish a thing. We all know what they are for we have all been guilty at one time or another of watching TV when we should have been focusing on finishing a project, or studying, or writing that business proposal or marketing material. We have watched sports, we have gone swimming, or skiing, or puttering around the house doing things that are totally unnecessary.

As Washington Irving once said,
“Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.”

Do You Have A Purpose or A Wish
Those who have a “purpose” are active in setting goals and constantly working towards them. Those who simply “wish”, have no specific goals for themselves; they just go day to day allowing someone else to set their direction. Wishing for something occupies the mind but leaves the bank empty.Use your “great mind”, and set goals to achieve your purpose.

What Wishing Accomplishes
Wishing is just as ineffective as worrying – neither accomplishes anything. Next time you find yourself wishing for something, remind yourself that a wish and a hope won’t move you forward, but setting goals and taking action will!

Inspirational Quotes for Reflection:
“I don’t believe that wishing works. I think we get the things we work for.” Brendan Fraser

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.” Wanda Sykes

“Work will win when wishy washy wishing won’t.” Thomas S. Monson

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