16 Characteristics of Greatness
from What Makes the Great Ones Great
by Don Yaeger
Taking the answers from the Greatest winners of our generation, I compiled sixteen characteristics of Greatness that can be translated into anyone’s life:
1. Hating to lose more than loving to win.
2. Appreciating the value of association.
3. Placing faith in a higher power.
4. Having contagious enthusiasm.
5. Preparing for all possibilities.
6. Having no off-season.
7. Visualizing victory.
8. Using adversity as fuel.
9. Being a responsible risk-taker.
10. Knowing how and when to make adjustments.
11. Becoming the ultimate teammate.
12. Being motivated by more than money.
13. Doing right by others.
14. Living with integrity.
15. Being a role model.
16. Creating a well-rounded legacy.
A constant within these characteristics is that those who shared them were worried less about being Great than pursuing Greatness. They understood that Greatness is a journey, not a destination. It is in the chase of this principle that character develops and in that development that the routines, thoughts, and actions of Greatness begin to appear. This is a “doing” list, a series of behaviors. The quest for Greatness does not happen through wishing or through comfort and shortcuts. Greatness is both the goal and by-product of its own pursuit.
When I began this journey, I was hoping to find a secret formula that separated the talented, notable, attention-grabbing,or flashy from the athletes who seemed to have something more. What I realized is that it wasn’t about a secret formula. It was about doing common things uncommonly well.
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