In Pursuit of Excellence

I recently started reading a book by Grant Cardone (GC), called Be Obsessed or Be Average. I’d started reading the book on the advice of one of my mentors in business. Beginning this book I was and I wasn’t surprised how far my entrepreneurial thinking had deteriorated over the past 2 years. Grant is a self made multi millionaire and right from the beginning I began to challenge every single suggestion and even his very way of thinking. This is the first personal development book that I’ve read since 2014. My business thinking had definitely slipped in 2015 and I’d began to settle. 2016 turned out to be a disaster year and I’d felt like I was always playing catch up but never ahead. I knew something had to change.

I had decided that 2017 was going to be different – I’d begun preparing to change me in Advent. (ah new beginnings) I felt like I had an edge on the rest of the world by beginning my resolutions in Advent. It just so happened that after spiritual direction at the very beginning of the year, my director said something that I’d always known about myself – he flat out told me that I had an obsessive and addictive personality. It was… satisfying hearing it from him. He didn’t imply that because of this personality trait, I was doomed to fail but rather challenging me to identify the things in my life that we’re not worthy of my obsessive and addictive personality and to almost redirect that incredible power and energy toward the things that God was calling me to. Creativity and sub creation, to seek out and identify those things that would help me achieve my fullest potential. (At least this is what I heard in my head and so I ran with it)

As per my directors advice, I decided to seek out material to read about personalities like mine – I was surprised by most phycologist’s perspectives (all to negative and debbi downer..ish) so I turned away rather looking for more positive perspectives – I was far more interested in people who took their kryptonite and used it for good. Within a few days Grant’s book was recommended to me and now you have the whole back story.

Firstly, I am in now way an advocate for how Grant lives his life nor am I promoting him or any of his religious beliefs and all that he subscribes to. I will admit though – he is a brilliant business man. Instead taking my cue from St. Thomas Aquinas and how he studied Aristotle and Plato I decided to approach GC carefully, being mindful that aside from his many successes, this a person who is a self made multimillionaire that left the truth of the Catholic Church for the Church of Scientology. As a Catholic it made me sad, and I cant help but wonder what if GC obsessed about all things Catholic… perhaps he did, and I pray in the hope that one day he and his family would return home. His business and life advice however is easily applied to anything we wish. And why not take it and apply it.

After all St. Thomas did not reject Aristotle and Plato (the most brilliant minds in their day and age) nor their ideas simply because they were pagan; he studied them and took the truth that they had and applied it to further clarify and define the teachings of a multitude of things in this world. For example – he applied platonic ideas of Form and Matter, to explain how we come to define what takes place during the consecration at Holy Mass between substance and accidents etc.

Therefore I have not abandoned GC, but instead have decided to immerse my self in his writings and to see if I can achieve my fullest potential in business, family and health, while holding on tightly to the barque of St. Peter. All success in the world if won honestly comes with great suffering, and there is no greater gift than I can give to our lord than to suffer with a smile for His greater Glory! Some would be tempted to think they need to abandon their faith to reach his levels of success… and it would be foolish to draw that conclusion. His book is about reaching your full potential and in no way is he pushing religious beliefs.

Coming back to GC – being obsessive about life to reach your full potential is brilliant – especially since the majority of us have settled for and operate well below what we are truly capable of (both spiritually and materially).  St. Thomas said the same thing; he called it the pursuit of excellence – but to what end? The one thing GC is missing is the purposes end – everything we do we do for God’s sake, to know Him, love Him and serve Him so that one day we can behold Him. Matthew Kelly would call it becoming the best version of yourself… precisely to attain God; to hold him the beatific vision one day.

What if we could take the tenacity and obsessiveness of GC to build our lives to their fullest potential – and that includes massive amounts of success and wealth, not just monetarily, but in our family and in our health. And of course apply that obsession to the spiritual realm – all for the greater glory of God.

I have a burning desire to study the successful leaders of this world to take what they have and use it for God’s kingdom. As a businessman and entrepreneur I MUST pursue becoming my best and I like GC believe that success is my duty; I must take me and my company to its fullest potential to protect my treasure – the body & souls of my family and of course my own – all for the greater glory of God.

There is no reason a Catholic person should not be striving to achieve their fullest potential in all the areas of their life; spiritual life, family life, business life and health. Ultimately we are fighting a spiritual battle but we fight it in the world, in our families, in our business and health. Settling for average and mediocre in any one area is not fighting – its a soldier who’s given up on the battle –  meaning we do nothing for the kingdom of God. There are only 2 eternals – God and our eternal souls; the world is what bridges them. Either we will seek excellence in grace and virtue and greatness in all things, or we won’t. Our very best only comes through suffering in the material world and offering it for the salvation of our souls and others to finally achieve HIM is reaching our fullest potential (a Saint, who we are created to become). To do any less is to settle for average and mediocre.  Make no mistake – A saint, our fullest potential, the best version of our selves, is EXACTLY what Almighty God from all eternity intended for us to become when he conceived of us.

My thanks to Grant Cardone for waking me up and fueling my healthy obsessions.

Do not be afraid to become great in the world – Go become a Saint – the whole world is waiting.

To all of you and GC if you every do read this, know that I’m praying for you!
God Love You!