Can You Be Your Own Hero?

Last week’s blog asked you about your hero.  Have you given some thought to that question?  Did you come up with anyone?  Or maybe there were several.  Interestingly enough, later in the week, I was reading the August issue of Success magazine.  Darren Hardy’s Publisher’s Letter’s  first paragraph began with, “As a society, we always seem to be searching for a hero.  We need someone to look up to.  We seek others to inspire, guide, and lead us.”  Later, he asks the question, “What if your hero was inside you?  What if the hero you’re looking for is the person you can be if you live up to your heroic potential?”

WOW!  I have to be honest, I never even included myself on my list of people I looked to as my heroes.  Now, I’m having reflections on exactly what that would mean to me – me being my own hero?  My first reaction was that that would be very egotistical of me, right?  Then I heard Mathew McConaughey’s acceptance speech at the Oscars.  He said he had three questions he asked on a daily basis:  (1) Who do I look up to?  (2)  What do I look forward to?  (3)  Who do I chase?  I would ask you the same three questions.  Who do YOU look up to?  What do YOU look forward to on a daily basis?  Who are YOU chasing?  Mathew thanked God, who he looks UP to, as the one who has given him skills and talents in addition to the message that when you’re grateful, gratitude will be reciprocated.  In looking FORWARD, Mathew thanked his mother for teaching him to respect himself which would in turn teach him to respect others.  His wife and children were the other important people in his life that kept him looking forward.  As to the final question, Mathew stated that he sees himself ten years ahead of his current age as his hero.  When he was 15, his hero was himself at age 25.  Upon reaching 25, he realized he wasn’t even close to being a hero.  No, now his hero was himself at 35.  I personally find this concept fascinating.  McConaughey’s further explanation was, “ You see, every day, every week, every month, and every year of my life my hero is always ten years away.”  “So to any of us, whatever those things are, whatever it is we look forward to, and whoever it is we’re CHASING, to that I say, ‘Amen.’ “

 My question for this week is…Do you think YOU can be your own hero?  A personal friend, Chris Misko, when asked his thoughts about being his own hero, he responded with this, “I Believe Reflection is the Better Part of a Champion.  Looking at what we truly want in our lives and what we are willing to do to attain this is in a way, being your own Hero.”  What have I been writing about for many weeks now?  It’s all been about Being the Best YOU that YOU can be. Is that then being your own hero?  Darren Hardy and Mathew McConaughey have at least opened up a discussion of you being your own hero.

Whether you use the word hero or not, doesn't it really come down to what we value, our priorities? If you don’t have priorities, how do you in turn prioritize what’s important to you and how you spend your time?  How do you evaluate the qualities of others which you admire if you don’t have your own values and priorities?  Instead of moving aimlessly from one day to the next, one week, or year to the next without a focus or purpose, how can we move forward “on purpose” to be the best we can be?  How can we become the hero we want to be for ourselves?  John Maxwell, a leadership expert, speaker, trainer, and best-selling author shares his thoughts on knowing your priorities in order to be able to have priorities in your life.  He personally has 12 pledges for his life which are the priorities that guide his day, his week, etc.   I've listed a few for you to think about:

1.    Attitude  - display the right outlook daily

2.    Health – follow healthy guidelines daily

3.    Family – communicate with and care for my loved ones daily

4.    Finances – properly manage dollars daily

5.    Faith – deepen and live my own faith daily

6.    Values – embrace good standards daily

7.    Growth – seek improvements daily

Too often we look at the past and wish we had done things differently.  What have we based our actions, thoughts, focus on all these years?  As Chris Misko said, we need to take time for reflection.  What is it we really want and what are we willing to do to move forward?  If we haven’t established our personal values and priorities what basis do we have for our reflections? John Maxwell says, “Don’t prioritize your whole life.  Just prioritize the day.”  If we have established our personal priorities, we lead each day guided by our priorities.  Aren't we then making a difference in our own lives and now our life takes on a more true meaning with purpose.

Darren Hardy ends his Publisher’s Letter with this, “Every awe-inspiring quality you’ve admired from a distance is within you.  Your admiration was really recognition: Your greater inner self sees itself reflected in the attributes you admire in others.  The greatest leader and hero you could ever come to know is the one you are capable of becoming.  And it’s in you, right now.  What if the hero you’re looking for is the person you can be if you live up to your heroic potential?”  

Are you living up to your heroic potential?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.