Unless you are truly the first person to do a particular thing, which is extremely rare but possible, then everything you’ve ever dreamed of doing, or being was once somebody else’s dream first. It sounds cynical I know but think about it. Have you ever heard the phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants”? I’m betting you have, but in our case these giants are men and women not too vastly different from you and I.
Take Astronomy for instance. Galileo’s theories, discoveries and observations were the basis upon which so many other peoples careers and theories were built. It was the work done by Galileo, and others, that inspired them to dedicate their lives to watching the skies at night.These other people were, you guessed it, standing on the shoulders of the giants like Galileo that came before them.
It’s the same way with everything from baseball to politics. How many baseball players owe their careers to the trail blazed by Jackie Robinson? And if you think about it, it wasn’t all that long ago when the thought of a black man occupying the oval office wasn’t given any real credence, and look at where we are now. Pick your field of study and unless you’re one of the truly lucky ones that gets to blaze the trail, you’re following in someone else’s footsteps.
The same holds true with social media. Every one of us in social media now owe much of what we know to the Chris Brogan’s (@chrisbrogan), John Jantsch’s (@ducttape) and others that came before us. We’re standing on their shoulders, and their shoulders are huge and the trail they blazed is wide. They stood on the shoulders of giants that came before them. The men and women who ignited their passions and inspired them to dare to dream, and dream big.
We all have to stand on the shoulders of giants sometimes, and sometimes we have to be the giants. We’re each of us the giants when we choose to mentor someone or share what we know with others who want to learn. We’re each of us giants when we give of ourselves and our talents to help those less fortunate than ourselves without expectation of fortune or fame. So, the question before you right now is simply this; how big are your shoulders?