Robin S. Sharma wrote a book entitled The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. In this book is an interesting story about a massive sumo wrestler that represents what we need to do in life to be successful. I have paraphrased the story below:

Imagine sitting in the middle of a massive, amazingly lush, fragrant green garden. It is full of amazing flora and fauna and is stunningly tranquil and silent. In the middle of the garden towers a huge, red lighthouse. As you are observing the lighthouse, the door bursts open and out charges a nine foot tall, nine hundred pound Japanese sumo wrestler wearing nothing but a traditional mawashi (that would be a very scary sight!).

As the sumo wrestler moves around the garden he spots a shiny gold stopwatch and moves towards it. Being a little clumsy, he slips on it and lands on his back with a tremendous thud and knocks himself out. He awakens after a few minutes due to the overpowering fragrance of a field of yellow roses right next to him. As he gets to his feet, he is startled by a path to his left which is covered by millions of sparkling diamonds. He instinctively walks down this path and is lead to a life of fulfillment.

So, how does this weird story relate to our lives?

The massive, amazing garden represents our minds. Each of our minds is an stunning creation that is powerful beyond measure. However, we need to remember to take care of our mind as we would a garden. We need to fertilize, weed and generally take care of a garden. Do the same thing with your mind. What are you feeding your mind each day? Are you learning, reading and growing or are you watching TV, spending too much time at the bar and filling your mind with violent movies, trashy novels and other garbage?

The lighthouse represents our strengths, mission, vision and purpose. This is the guiding light for our lives. Have you taken the time to discover yours? Without understanding your strengths, mission and purpose you will not be able to live a focused or productive life. You will not come close to reaching your full potential.

The sumo wrestler represents continuous improvement. Always work to get better. Live a life focused on kaizen (Japanese word for continuous improvement) in your areas of strength.

The mawashi represents will power and discipline. You must be disciplined and focused on your strengths and purpose to be successful and reach your full potential.

The pocket watch is a reminder that time passes quickly and we must remember that the passing of time cannot be reversed. Manage your life and do not waste your time on trivial things that do not contribute towards your purpose.

The yellow roses represent the need to selflessly serve others. When we die, we will be remembered for what we have contributed, not what we have accumulated.

The diamonds represent the need to embrace the present or live in the "now". Don't get hung up on what has happened in the past and don't worry about what might happen in the future. Learn from your past and plan for the future but live in the present. Worrying and negativity will not help you succeed.

This is an awesome allegory that makes it easy for us remember to live our lives focused on our strengths and purpose, continuously learning and improving, treating our time on earth as a gift while we make time to selflessly serve others!

Human beings each have the ability to turn nothing into something, to turn insignificance into greatness. We each start life as insignificant beings but with unlimited potential. We each have a choice to make in our lives. This choice will set the course for our life and determine whether we will live an insignificant life or whether we will stretch ourselves to achieve unimagined goals, to realize seemingly impossible dreams and to positively impact as many people around us as possible.

All we need to do is make a simple decision.

Should I go for it or not? Should I strike out and take the steps necessary to move from insignificance to greatness? Should I make a move from living an ordinary life to stretching myself and striving to reach my full potential?

Before you make this decision there is something you probably should know. There is a really interesting phenomena surrounding our individual potential.....it is unlimited and unbounded! No matter what level of success you have achieved in life there is always more.....you can always achieve more and realize more of your potential!

The problem with most of us is that we go through life assuming that there is a lid on our potential, a glass ceiling that we cannot break through that was established by others and once we hit it we have to stop. This lid or ceiling could be our nationality, our looks, our gender, political preferences, our IQ, our upbringing, our parents, our social class or a million other excuses. But these ceilings are just an excuse....they are just an illusion. There is no ceiling and there are no limits on your potential.

All you need to do is make that decision to go for it. Don't get sidelined by excuses and glass ceilings. Never get complacent or satisfied and never stop. Always raise the bar. Concentrate on converting as much of your unlimited potential to reality as you can! Start this process by discovering your areas of strength and then leverage these strengths in every role that you have in life.

Live in your Strength Zone and strive to turn insignificance into greatness!