The Humble Devildog of Random Firings of Neurons listened to his music collection and contemplated the causes of "greatness".

To me, the most notable aspect of great men is that they possess an insane and fanatical devotion to the pursuit of their goals. The spend what normal people consider "too much" time doing what they love.

In the cases he cites, it's music. They spent too much time reading it, writing it, and playing it. And they created a large body of crappy and forgettable work in the process. Most people wouldn't be able to continue after producing those tons of worthless garbage - they'd think "I can't do any better than this. I might as well give up."

But the greats kept on trying anyway. "Luck", after all, is when hard work meets opportunity.

They probably had a LOT of people tell them "There's more to life than just music. Why don't you get out once in a while? Get a hobby. Learn to play golf or something".

Thankfully, these idiots were ignored.

Of course, producing large quantities of crap does NOT guarantee eventual greatness (see my 6000 or so blog posts for proof), but greatness simply can't be done without it.

Posted by: Harvey at 09:06 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 "possess an insane and fanatical devotion to the pursuit of their goals. The spend what normal people consider "too much" time doing what they love" You know, this is what makes a great career person also. I have an insane, fanatical devotion to all things quality and make it my lifes devotion to install it in everyone.

Posted by: Quality Weenie at June 23, 2006 10:08 AM (XG7jZ)

2 Blogging I would consider an obsession versus a talent, at least in my case! As for the greats, your description is so true. It brought Mozart to mind immediately, the insane and fanatical part especially!

Posted by: Anna at June 23, 2006 12:21 PM (rZYE5)

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