A Guide to being Great

By Manzi Mugisha Prince.

Albert Einstein once wrote 'Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.' My article of today will be based on these wise man's words.

If you are to sit down and ask yourself what is stopping you from doing the right and productive thing, chances are the first and most obvious answer is the opinion of your friends and colleagues. What would happen if you ignored all this and went on to do what you think is right? The answer is quite simple, you will go on to be a great spirit, just as Albert Einstein put it.

Well, the thing is, the mediocre-minded people will not let you. In our day-to-day life, most of our decisions are influenced by what our friends will think. Let me give you a simple example. You have just joined a new school and the prefectorial elections are held, they need a new prefectorial body. You feel in yourself that you want to go ahead and apply because you know it is the right and productive thing to do, but you don't. Why? Because you're scared of what your classmates will say. He just arrived, why does he feel like he can go ahead and be Mr. Smarty pants? The courageous ones even go-ahead to tell you about the cons of being a prefect in that school. In the end, you give up. You let it go, all because you cared about what they told you. This is not good because if you keep on down this road, you will eventually be part of the crowd and nobody has ever achieved great being part of the majority. What if you ignore the backlash and apply and are even elected. It will build you in many ways, be it public skills, your self-confidence, and who knows, you might even come across an opportunity of a lifetime, all because you decided to follow your heart and do what is right.

A wise man once told me that if you want to prove this right, take a triangle. We all know a triangle has a wide base and as it goes up, the area becomes smaller. This is a representation of today's society. At the bottom are the majority, the mediocre, those whom you pay much attention to and can't be able from achieving your dreams. I say again, these are at the bottom, they are the majority. Do you think they live the good life? Of course not. Now move up, the triangle becomes smaller. It is now at this tip that you find the least group who are the ones that enjoy the good life and happen to also be ruling the majority at the bottom.

This is the sad but true reality of life. Those who stand out and join the great ones at the top, without the right information and guidance are forced down and will never be great. The question I want you to ask yourself today is, are you at the bottom or at the top? If you are at the bottom and want to join the top, take this advice. Do not care about what the majority think because it is the end results that will prove them wrong.