The 2 Greatest Days in Your Life: The Day You Were Born and the Day You Discover Why.
By Dr. Ben Lerner, BN, MSPSY, DC, Doctoral Candidate in Business Administration
SIR ED; A Man on a Mission
When Edmund Hillary was just thirty-two years old, he would climb to the top of Mount Everest, hoist high the British flag, and stand where no one had ever stood before. A year earlier, however, when he tried to achieve such a feat, he failed. When he returned and had a press conference, the people laughed at him. They said, “Edmund, you’ll never climb to the top. Everyone who’s ever tried is either up there dead or came back down in defeat.”
On that particular occasion, however, Edmund brought a large picture of Mount Everest and had it on the wall. He said, “I want you to see how big it is, and I want you to see how tall it is, but I want you to remember that Mount Everest stopped growing a long time ago.” He said, “I haven’t stopped growing yet. I’m going to get larger in my heart and my spirit.” Then he said, “A year from today, I will climb to the top of Mount Everest. I will hoist high that British flag, and I will stand where no one has ever stood before.” A year later, May 29, 1953, he did just that. Hillary was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and became Sir Edmund Hillary.
Sir Edmund found his calling, his purpose. As a former World War II air force pilot, he clearly had a spirit of adventure. He went on to many other iconic expeditions and established the Himalayan Trust to serve the Sherpa people of Nepal. He influenced the world in a way that gave him a place in history and left the world a better place. What about you? What’s your calling? Your purpose? What legacy will you leave?
Michael Phelps; Purpose makes you “Swifter, higher, stronger”
I had the opportunity to be the first-ever chiropractor for the U.S. Wrestling Team. It all started at the 1995 World Championships and turned into the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Eventually, I established a training for chiropractors and we’ve now covered several more Olympic events and teams beyond wrestling.
I’ve fallen in love with the Olympic motto, “Swifter, higher, stronger.” Not as a theme for athletes alone, but for all of us currently walking the earth. The greatest Olympian in terms of gold medals won is Michael Phelps. Yet, in many ways, his unparalleled accomplishments are merely a great metaphor for discovering your purpose in life like He and Sir Ed have done.
Phelps is someone who is doing precisely what he was put here to do. He practically has fins instead of shoulder blades, fingers that are so long they’re actually better than webbing, and feet that are so big and flexible a dolphin would have tail-envy. He clearly chose the right race!
Imagine if Mr. Phelps chose to be a ballet dancer instead of a swimmer? You know what he would’ve been—a tall, geeky loser. While he could have been a big winner, he’d be someone who failed to find his unique calling and be used by God the way He originally formed him in his mother’s womb to be used. The result would have been like that of far too many people—stressed, struggling, wondering why life is so unfair, or God doesn’t love them.
Michael Phelps’ talent is second only to his decision to focus his life on exactly what race he was designed to run. The decision is the real brilliance—the twenty-five-foot wingspan was a gift!
Former Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, is another story of discovering purpose. Initially, she aspired to be a great concert pianist. At a competition when she was young, she saw one of her opponents pick up a piece of music and in a matter of minutes start to play the piece. Condoleeza had spent weeks learning the same piece. When she saw that others in the competition were that much more naturally gifted than she was, even after all her efforts, she realized she was running in the wrong direction and changed course. She went on to study history and politics and ended up carving a place for herself in U.S. history.
We’re all here on assignment. We’ve all been given a purpose; a race to run. Your goal is to focus on that race you were not only born to run or finish but a race you were born—or even born again—to win. To discover your right race, there are some important things to consider if you want to make the Hillary, Phelps or Rice discovery and decision.
A Simple Path To Discovering Your Purpose: Evaluate Your TPP: Talent Passion Proposition
Olympic ski jumping is fascinating to watch. People sling themselves off of a ramp several stories high and travel more than a football field in the air at high rates of speed, with only skis and some snow to land on. You almost can’t help but ask yourself, “How do you find out if you’re good at that?” If you’re wrong, it’s going to hurt –really bad.
What ski jumpers have done is discovered that they love heights, speed, adrenaline, flying, and have a unique talent. They’ve found their TPP. Something that few others can do.
You can find your same unique TPP.
To determine your TPP, focus on strengthening your strengths and not just improving your weaknesses. While improving areas that are holding you back is important, the best thing you can actually do is spend time making your strengths stronger. It’s like a frog with a passion, skill, and ability to hop who determines that he is going to learn to fly in order to get across a pond instead of just hopping over it. He’d get over the pond much more quickly and efficiently if he practiced his hopping—something he was designed to do in the first place. Hopping is his God-given forte, and when he improves his hop, rather than wishing he could grow wings, he maximizes his TTP.
Many people are “jacks of all trades and masters of none.” There are many things about which a wise man or woman should choose to remain ignorant. You don’t have to do it all or know it all—nor should you. Phelps mastered swimming and Sir Ed mastered climbing and the success along with the multitude of opportunities came from there.
If you want to be great at something, you can’t try and do everything. Everyone has one thing that they’re better at than the next ten thousand people. Focus on that!
Don’t try to turn areas where your talent is a two into a four, on a scale of one to ten. You’d be much better served by turning the areas where you’re already a six or seven into nines and tens. Plus, when you work in the areas of your strengths, you enjoy it. It doesn’t feel as much like work and you don’t find yourself becoming a tall, geeky ballerina!
That’s the key to your TPP; do what you love, and master it so that you do it the very best that you can. You can’t be anything you want to be, but the great news is you can be everything you were born to be. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help determine your unique talents.
- What do you have a passion for?
- What skills, professions, or games come naturally to you?
- What work or job descriptions do you tend to excel at more than others?
As you investigate these three questions, you begin to discover the calling, talents, and skills that make up your TTP.
Have fun saving the world
Dr. Ben
