Who are your heroes? Who do you look up to? It’s important for you to have heroes because heroes personify what you could be. They personify your ideals. They embody your highest values.
If you tell me who your heroes are, I’ll know what your values are. People who don’t have heroes have not yet identified their highest ideals. As you grow older and your values change, your heroes will change as well.
Heroes inspire us to greatness. They remind us of the greatness that the human spirit is capable of. They draw us to that greatness.
Many of my heroes are people who overcame great odds to realize their dreams. People like; Wilma Rudolph, who overcame polio to become an Olympic Champion in track at the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics, General Patton, who moved his armies faster than anyone thought possible, Louis Pasteur, who’s belief in bacteria’s role in causing disease led him to invent pasteurization and to discover a cure for rabies.
Some of my other heroes are; Thomas Edison, who personified persistence in his search for the best filament in his light bulb, the Wright Brothers, who worked for years in the face of other people’s ridicule before their airplane finally flew, Henry Ford, who built a single block engine when even his own engineers said it couldn’t be done, Abraham Lincoln, who overcame depression, bankruptcy, and seemingly endless political defeats before he won the Presidency, and finally, Scott Hamilton, who overcame a childhood disease that kept him from growing to go on to become an Olympic figure skating champion. Â
These heroes constantly remind me that greatness is possible if we will only believe and act on our belief. Seeing Scott Hamilton win the Olympic Gold Medal inspired me to pursue my Olympic dream.
Make a list of your heroes. But don’t just admire them. Admire the qualities that made them great, work hard to emulate them, use their greatness to fuel your belief that great things are possible, and use them as a springboard to greatness in your own life.
Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com