Our capacity for greatness

Posted on March 9th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 3 commenting.

Ellen McGrit and Maxim Williams right before they went on stage.

Last week was a great week.

It ended with the best couple of days I’ve had in Greenvegas in a long while. I had the honor of being the “official timer” at the first ever TEDx Greenville. (And for the record, even though it was threatened — I never got officially fired.)

I sat backstage and chatted with some of THE most amazing people on the planet. Seriously, it was truly the best seat in the house. I have this theory that all of us are a bit vunerable right before we go on stage. No matter how much we like or dislike the spotlight. It was so interesting to see that and then see these amazing people take a deep breath, step onstage and watch their passion and stories blossom from their hearts.

I was just in absolute awe of the talent, the greatness in everyone around me that day.

The presenters, the planning committee, the attendees. Each and every person there had a remarkable story to tell.

And it was funny. Surrounded by all that inspiration, it was as if we were all seeing the potential of each other with eyes wide open. It was hard to ignore.

You know, I think we are all guilty of going through the motions of life sometimes, doing just what is expected of us. We need experiences and surprising connections to others that shake us up, and wake us up.

Hard to explain in words really.

I’ll let you know when the videos go up so you can check them out for yourselves. Believe me, there were some ideas worth spreading at this event. And I’ll do a post or two — or ten — about the lessons I learned in that one single day.

Last but not least, I promise to do a post about the experience I had with some of the TEDx presenters and attendees at the BMW Performance Center on Saturday morning. That place is amazing.

So lots to talk about. Just need to organize it all in the coming weeks.

When I finally took a moment of stillness on Saturday afternoon, I came in the office and found this piece of paper.

Funny how things like this just show up in my life.

Anyway after a bit of poking around yesterday, I discovered they were Cordell’s wise words. And I want to share. Enjoy.

“The capacity for greatness is seeded in each of us. The journey to discovering starts with understanding that your greatness is yours alone. For too often we look out at the world and we see others greatness as the greatness we want. In doing so, we limit ourselves and far too often fall way short.

For some greatness is something they feel unworthy of. Maybe even fear the embarrassment of their own unique greatness because it feels out of sync, peculiar or taboo.

For others the enemy of greatness is good. We reach good and we give up on great. Maybe we decide good enough is good enough. Maybe we get scared the chance at greatness isn’t worth that chance of losing what’s good. But whatever barriers exist, exist only in our hearts and mind. The world is always ready for the next thing. All we have to do is own our greatness and let it shine…”

Hmmmm.

Let your greatness show this day. Come on. The world is waiting…