There is only one personally meaningful measure of greatness.

That you gave your gifts without apology and at such a high level you inspired others to reach for the same or more, while being personally at peace with yourself.

There is no greatness if you never feel at peace with your effort or achievements, because you will always feel unsatisfied.

It’s hard to feel great if you are filled with regret, or never gave your best, or never achieved the level of success you aspired to.

In my conversations with Olympic and Professional Athletes, Emmy Award Winners, Fortune 500 Sr. Executives and other highly successful people, one thing is clear:

The inner peace comes only from the self-honesty of whether you laid it all on the line or not.

Measured perhaps by the mirror test that the most decorated US Winter Olympic Athlete  Apolo Ohno talks about in his book Zero Regrets;

• “Did I do everything I could today to become a champion?”

You might ask; Did i do everything I could today to achieve my outcomes?

Did I personally win the day with my effort, my focus, my commitment, my resolve, and my leadership?

The mark of greatness lends itself to being fully aware of these things.

The other element is how you handle pressure.

The higher the level, the greater the heat.

Great people are able to meet pressure with the delivery of their best effort while embracing the pressure. Some part of them wants to lay it all on the line giving their best; win or lose.

While everyone wants to win, or achieve at high levels, giving everything you have is in some ways more meaningful.

Maybe victory over self is the sweetest victory of all.

The imposter syndrome defines those who would fear to be found out as frauds for achieving their attained levels of success, because they have not had to dig deep inside themselves to give their best effort, nor had to overcome harsh adversities on their path to success. In many ways their path was too easy, and knowing this eats away at their self-worth.

Awards and achievements will never fulfill compared to the personal satisfaction and inner peace obtained through the delivery of your best.

And if you aspire to do great things, you will find that the delivery of your best is an upward moving target.

Reach out to me here if you are ready to tap into more of your own greatness.