I believe in role models.
The idea that there is someone out there that I can look up to and maybe align my life with, in order to be just a little bit more like them.
The problem though is that people are complex, they are not perfect and often the people we admire besides all their good points have flaws.
So finding a good role model might be difficult. For me, it was in fact I used to pick characteristics from people in order to try and create a role model for who I wanted to be. That was up until I read a two-thousand-year-old description of what I consider to be a self-actualised man.
Who is this man well you may have seen a fictionalised version of him in the film Gladiator. But Maximus was a real historical figure. Marcus Aurelius describes like this…
“Maximus set an example of self-mastery, steadiness of purpose, and good cheer that no circumstance, not even illness, could extinguish. He combined in beautiful measure gravity with charm, and he did whatever needed to be done without making a fuss. Everyone believed what he said was what he thought and that he never acted with an intention to do harm or give offence. Nothing surprised or frightened him, and he never seemed to be in a hurry or slow to accomplish a task.
He was neither intimidated and embarrassed on one hand, nor aggressive and suspicious on the other. So giving, forgiving, and loyal was he by nature that he appeared to be a man whose virtues were inborn rather than acquired. It is unimaginable that anyone ever felt inferior or superior around him, perhaps as a result of his pleasing sense of humour.”
Ever since I read that nearly 20 years ago that description is my North Star, it is the image I am trying to paint my life around. Maybe this description will also work for you.
Remember: Action on insights, is the Answer.
Thank you for reading.
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fnord
