Uncanny Perseverance: 5 Common Threats to Greatness and How to Survive in Spite of Each (Going Great #5)

Greatness doesn’t come easy.

It wouldn’t be very great if it did.

When you choose this path, you accept challenges, pain, and adversity—all of which come with the territory.

You can’t run from this hardship and hiding isn’t an option either, so there’s only one thing you can do:

Persevere.

And today, I’ll show you how to do just that.

I’ve gathered the best ways to counter five threats facing anyone who’s Going Great. This post will explain the purpose behind each threat and give you practical methods to survive them all.

5 Common Threats to Greatness and How to Survive Each

Threat #1: Abandonment

The greatest test of leadership—that’s what abandonment is.

It’s easy to act when you have support, but what about when you’re on your own?

Will you quit after being thrown to the wolves? Or will you march home leading the pack?

Your response will decide your fate.

How to Survive: Accept Solitude

I’ve been left for dead so many times now that it’s humorous.

Yeah, abandonment would have hurt me in high school. It may have stung some right after college too. But now, I laugh it off.

I’ve been forced into solitude so many times that it doesn’t bother me. In fact, I’d say it’s preferable now.

That’s not to say I don’t like people. It’s just that I work best on my own.

If you want my work to suffer then surround me with others. Don’t give me space. Talk to me constantly. That is my kryptonite.

I’m not sure if this preference stems more from personal experience or natural desire, but whatever the reason, I’ve learned to accept solitude, and you should too.

Again, abandonment is just a test. It’s testing you to see if your drive is dependent on others.

Some may see this test as a negative but I honestly don’t. Leaders who can’t stand alone aren’t leaders at all. Abandonment is the quickest way to weed out the fakes.

So I challenge you to accept this test when it comes. Stand your ground, form a with-or-without-you mindset, and do your thing whether they stay or go.

The ones who leave were probably just in it for themselves anyway. But if you survive in spite of this, you’ll find people who care on the other side.

Threat #2: Hate

It doesn’t matter how well-intentioned you are, how many facts you present, or how clean your name is, if you are in the public eye, hate will come.

There’s a zero percent chance that 100 percent of people will like you. And you know what? That’s fine.

Greatness isn’t about getting everyone on your side. It’s about doing as much good as possible for as many lives as you can.

The loud minority will stop you though if you let them. So here’s the best way to survive.

How to Survive: Go Deaf and Blind

Do not return hate for hate.

That’s rule number one for troll prevention.

But what about rule number two? You know that one?

Rule number two is never respond to hate with logic.

People who hate without reason are telling you that their words don’t matter. They have no interest in problem-solving, no desire for change, and no love for their unfortunate target.

What these people crave is power. Power to say, “I told you so.” Power to say, “You need me.” Power to say, “I’m better than you and I control what happens in your life.”

Do you think logic will stop a fool who thinks like that?

People will find something wrong no matter what you do. And addressing them will only waste your time.

For example, this site doesn’t get tons of traffic, but even I could spend all day fighting hate:

You here to label me as a hypocrite? Well, I wrote a post on that.
You say I’m not nearly as good as I think I am? You misjudge how I think of myself.
You calling me a loser behind my back? Please tell me something I don’t know.

I’ve already addressed this stuff in my work, so really, these are pointless discussions.

It’s foolish to retaliate and foolish to explain, so the only option you have left is ignorance.

You go deaf and you go blind. That’s how you survive.

Words are powerful and they can hurt, but if you don’t value the source, those words are empty. So find people whose words actually matter, and then shut out everyone else.

Threat #3: Fear

It’s ironic that the feeling meant to protect you from danger is more restrictive than danger itself.

Danger always occurs in response to an action, but fear occurs before you even move.

This is what makes fear such a fatal threat.

Action doesn’t always bring danger—in fact, action often leads to results that outweigh the risks. But the inaction caused by fear is useless.

Inaction won’t even afford the opportunity to do great things, and this is why your response is so important.

How to Survive: Prepare and Trust

It only takes two steps to counter fear:

Prepare
Trust the work

Most people know the importance of practice, but the second part is where they stumble.

They reach the exam, or the game, or the stage and they get anxious. These people spent hours reading textbooks, shooting jumpers, and reciting lines, yet when primetime comes, they fall apart.

These people don’t trust the work, so fear cripples their performance. It doesn’t matter how much they practiced because to them, it’s not sufficient.

But if you seriously prepared for what’s coming, what do you have to fear?

Sure, the feeling of fear may still be there—it’s an instinctive response after all—but practice helps you face it boldly.

I’ve published more than 70 posts on this site for example, many of which are thousands of words long, so why would I let fear stop me from writing a 500 word essay?

It makes no sense. I could write 500 words in my sleep.

When you prepare the right way, fear is irrational. So remember the sweat you gave already, and handle your business like you know you should.

Threat #4: Failure

Failure and disappointment.

When those two show up, they fill you with doubt.

They say all you’ve done up till now is worthless. That you’re right where you started and you shouldn’t have tried.

But you know what? Those are lies.

Our egos make us see failure as disaster because hey, it happened to us.

We feel it’s weight crush our bones and our spirits too. And the personal tragedy is so horrible that we think something strange happened.

But contrary to what most of us think, the road to greatness is littered with loss.

The rare people who do great things aren’t “winners” at all; they’re a bunch of losers who finally broke through.

How to Survive: Let it Burn

So how do you survive failure?

You just…keep…going.

Like I said earlier, people see these threats as bad things, but really, they work in your favor.

Failure is only the end if you accept it as such. But if you survive, you’ll see this threat for what it really is: a fire.

Not just any fire, but a refining fire.

Failure isn’t meant to burn you to death; it’s meant to burn the death off you. Everything that’s impure, weak, and worthless, the fire burns it away.

After you fail, look in the mirror and ask what you could have done differently. Don’t look at your friends, or your love interest, or whoever’s in authority. Look at yourself.

Self-assess and ask, “Where did I go wrong, and how I can fix it?”

That’s what mature people do. That’s what responsible people do. And guess what happens when you do that?

You get better. Oh man, do you get better.

That’s when failure becomes your friend. It starts a cycle of action and feedback, action and feedback, action and feedback…until one day, you actually win.

So don’t fight the fire; learn from it. And then persist until the end.

Threat #5: Stagnation

It’s all fun and games until the needle stops moving.

Stagnation is one of the most frustrating threats to greatness, even more so than failure itself.

Why is that?

Because failure makes mistakes obvious, but you can stagnate without a clue how to move forward.

You get trapped in good but not great, above average but not exceptional, solid but not spectacular, and it’s unclear how to make the leap.

Stagnation lulls you by providing just enough progress to satisfy. But fortunately, there is a simple way to survive.

How to Survive: Pick a Fight

How do you get the ball rolling again?

It’s simple: you pick a fight.

No, not with people mind you, but with ideas, attitudes, and most importantly, yourself.

Stagnation is all about the status quo. You do things one way because it worked before, and you continue to do them because it’s comfortable.

But guess what?

Comfort doesn’t make you grow.

Comfort is for people who want to feel good. It’s for those who don’t want to make a difference.

So instead of making comfort your goal, challenge yourself to go further:

If you’re a role player on the team, why not train like an MVP?
If you’re a writer publishing twice a month, why not push that output to four?
And if you’re an artist who’s mastered a genre, why not try another to test your skill?

Don’t limit yourself to what you’ve always done. Stretch your goals and choose targets that even you don’t think are possible.

Yes, there’s a good chance you’ll come up short, but doing this will push you more than any success done the old way.