Motivation Today - Tunde Alabi-Hundeyin II blog

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Why giants fall

Do you agree that it is ungratifying; working so hard, earning fame and wealth only to lose everything to a character flaw? In every kid is a king and a kid in every king. News reports are rife with the stories of many great achievers who have lost track with progress and slipped as a result of their Achilles’ heel.

An Achilles’ heel is a vulnerable point, most especially a weak part of someone’s character in spite of overall strength, which may actually or potentially lead to the person’s downfall.

Having its source from Greek mythology, this expression originated from the downfall of Achilles, one of the greatest warriors who ever lived. As a baby, it had been foretold that he would die in war from an arrow in the foot. To avoid this, Achilles’ mother, Thetis, dipped his body in River Styx, which gives the power of invincibility. His heel was not washed over by the magical river as his mum held him by the heel. Achilles was later killed by Paris’ arrow shot into his right heel, the only vulnerable spot on his body. Big men die from little things.

Everybody has at least a character blight that works like a time bomb. If unchecked and allowed to fester like an infested wound, it has the potential to blow up one’s reputation, integrity, self esteem, goodwill, growth, opportunities and valued relationships. Your value system must never be compromised in your quest for significance.

Achilles’ heel can take any form: power, fear, anger, sex, crime, vanity, addictions, money, greed, impatience, indifference, music, speech, food, clothes, strange opinions, pride, manipulation… the list is as diverse as human faces.

From the foregoing, these traits can be summarised as thoughts, attitudes, habits and addictions - what I call the 4 steps of character formation. An ancient proverb says, “Sow a thought, reap an action (attitude). Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit; reap a character (addiction). Sow a character; reap a life (Emphasis and parenthesis mine). This is the simple linear process of character formation. Reverse the process to un-form a bad character trait in your life.

• In the next blog post, we’ll be examining these 4 steps with some case studies.

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6 Comments:

  • Good work from good thinking mind.

    By Anonymous mike oyenuga, At 07 December, 2010 21:37  

  • This is quite rich and deep,cnt wait for the case studies. iyawo nko?

    thanks.

    By Anonymous ibukun iyekolo, At 24 December, 2010 21:49  

  • Great words.
    God bless you sir

    By Anonymous adebola lemoshe, At 24 December, 2010 21:52  

  • Good write up.Keep up the good work

    By Anonymous gladys adebola, At 24 December, 2010 21:55  

  • Hello Tunde, my prayer for u is that God will continually enrich your knowledge and bless u with increasing wisdom. Am indeed grateful to God that there are people like u still around. Thanks again.

    This edition is what I term "truth of the human frailty". God is helping us, thank God for that.

    By Anonymous Nneka Aghadiuno, At 24 December, 2010 21:58  

  • dis is gr8, God will fill you afresh

    By Anonymous steven lanre hundeyin, At 25 December, 2010 20:57  

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