16282--Seeking the Heat

Indvidually or collectively, we remain at our best by always striving on a path to better ourselves.  This sounds as though it runs contrary to lessons of contentment and peace, but it really is possible to find a balance and blend these.  As we seek to become better, it behooves us to learn from those who have gone before us, those who have also strived to become all that they could be.  Put simply: learn from the best.

I like to use Genghis Khan as an example of a great source of learning.  Western minds have usually been conditioned to think ill of Genghis, but I've always liked to look at him more objectively.  He terrified Europe and Russia in his day, but he wouldn't have been able to do that if he wasn't the very successful man that he was.  In Mongolia, I dare say he's held in higher esteem than we hold George Washington.  Outside of Mongolia, he's primarily remembered as the deadly warlord who professed that the best things in life were to crush one's enemies, to take their goods and their horses and to hear the lamentations of their women.  Whether one likes his life advice or not, if we're going to learn from the best, then he shouldn't be quickly dismissed.  His dedication to his goals also allowed Genghis to unify the Mongol tribes that had killed his father into a fighting force that not only conquered all of China, but imposed peace and security upon the largest continuous land empire in human history.  That means, he outdid Alexander the Great and the Romans.  He even managed successful invasions of Russia without being brought down by the issues that confounded Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler.  This sounds like a highly effective manager: turning rivals into allies, bringing order and leadership to his warriors, winning new territories, establishing trade routes.  He had more than a few virtues going for him.

Learn from experience, your own and that of others.  There are lessons to be learned from all sorts of sources, even if they seem to be people you don't like.  Set aside your pride, your predjudice and any other emotional stumbling blocks.  Be objective.  Success is success whatever form it wears.  Learn from the best, whoever that may be and find your own way to being the best you can be.

Thanks for your time.

Phoenix