Make Others Become Great

"Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great"  ~Mark Twain

This is an interesting quote to think about. It is true if you think about it. Who in you life do you feel is a great person. It might be a teacher or a boss or someone else who you think does amazing work. Why do you think they are great? Usually it is because they have made you feel like you yourself might be great as well. That teacher prods you to do well on a test or compliments something you have written.  The boss tells you that you have been doing a good job and instructs you in ways that will make you a better boss.

One of my favorite examples is when we read authors. We think they are great. They don't know us. They have never spoken to us. They may never speak to us. Somehow, though, they are able to make us feel like we are someone great. I don't know what it is. Maybe because we get the opportunity to read something in their world, become part of that world. We get to see a small part of what is inside them.

We all strive to be great in some way. We all strive to be like those who we admire. The ones who, in our eyes, are already great. In that way we try to me more like them, making even the slightest bit of greatness. What we don't always see is that those we see as great once saw someone before them as great, someone who made them want to be better, to be great themselves. Soon you will have people looking at you wanting a little bit of your greatness to rub off on them. All you can do is be as great as you can be.

Pride in Your Appearance

You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure. - Zig Ziglar

 I have spent a lot of my life not really caring how I look. I have always preferred dressing for comfort than for style or impressing other people. I have never really had people say anything about how I dress except maybe the ones who live in my house. I figure most other people don't care or they care and don't say anything. Either way, I think there is a time when one should start caring more about his or her own appearance.

There is a time when your appearance can hurt your chances for something you want. You have heard the old saying: You only get ten seconds to make your first impression. That is all the time someone needs to make up their mind about you and how you might be able to help them. If you are dressed like a slob, they are not going to believe you are going to be able to help them. They will think you are someone who does not care. If you don't care about looking like a professional, then why would you take your job seriously and do the work professionally?

It is one thing to dress professionally when you are working. Many people dress well when they go to work, but then they let things fall when they get home. For the most part, that is OK. Think about this though. If you thought you looked good all the time, would you be more willing to take chances when the opportunities arose? These opportunities could be anything.

Lets say you went to the store to get something. There is a woman at the checkout who doesn't give you a second glance because you look like a slob. If you were dressed presentable, she might smile at you, maybe even spark up a conversation.

What if someone came to the door to offer you some sort of service. If you are dressed like a slob, they would not take you serious. If you are dressed like you are someone who could help them, you might be surprised at what they might give you for free just because you held yourself in a professional manner.

When I worked retail, It was often someone would walk in in a dirty T-Shirt and shorts with holes in them. They would walk around and no one would help them because they didn't seem like they had money. I found on more than one occasion that if I helped these people, they would shell out thousands of dollars on things they were looking for. If he dressed cleaner and more like someone who had money, he would have received help right away and possibly gotten a better deal because of that top notch service.

Make sure you dress for success.