Life beyond infinity

George Chingarande | Monday August 4, 2014 17:57

It represents something without limits and the name itself derives from the Greek word infinitas, which means,  “being without a finish”. Can you imagine something without a finish? Or better still can you imagine infinity?

We are born and socialized into a world system that believes that things have a beginning and an end. For this reason, those of us who aren’t mathematicians find the concept of infinity intriguing. Perhaps even more fascinating than the mathematical concept is the idea of going to infinity. What does it take to go to infinity?

Has anyone ever gone to infinity? Well, no one has ever gone to infinity because infinity is an abstract place, but a few people have come very close to reaching that- not just figuratively but also literally.

In my view, landing and walking on the moon was as close as it gets. If infinity in mathematics is beyond real numbers, then in success terminology infinity is success beyond everyday success, and infinity greatness is greatness beyond common greatness.

This piece is about building a life, regardless of your field of endeavor, beyond common greatness. In this we can derive some very profound lessons from the space programs that took man to the moon. What are these lessons?

In his seminal essay In the shadow of the moon Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”. No one had ever gone to the moon before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set their feet there on 20 July, 1969. Most people and indeed organisations strive to go places where others have already gone before. Places that have already been visited are easy to find because there is a trail to follow.

However, there is no greatness in doing what others have done before. A copycat can never be great. There was only one Michael Jackson. All the people who strive to replicate his famous moonwalk will remain mere copycats.

Many people are going simply where the path may lead; they are just following what others have done before. They live their lives in compliance and in conformity. If all of us just comply and conform, the world will never see any new inventions or any new products. There is a place for the maverick and the iconoclast in this world. I fully believe that each one of us must ask the question, “what does it mean for me to go where there is no path and to leave a trail”? Many solutions can be found by trying what has not been tried before.

Leaving a trail speaks of leadership. This is another very profound concept. A parent must so live that his children may be able to see the trail and follow it. A leader must so lead that his followers may not just follow the trail and reach where he has reached, but actually go beyond what he has achieved.

If a leader seeks to do well, it so that the followers may do better than what he has done. When he does that he propagates his influence beyond what can be measured by real numbers-beyond infinity. In leadership, therefore, beyond infinity is a life led in such a way that it continues to influence people and touch lives that it might never have been physically in contact with. It is a legacy that lives eternally.

Some of the most profound words about going to infinity were uttered by U.S president JF Kennedy when he said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Going to infinity requires a dream and commitment.

By setting themselves a goal and fully committing to that goal in the view of the whole world, the Americans set themselves on the path to success. Many things have been written and said about goals, but there is one simple thing that I will repeat here: Setting a huge goal always enhances your stature when you achieve it. Greatness comes from great goals. No one ever achieved greatness by dabbling in small actions.

Going to the moon was a huge risk to the self. There was the real possibility of losing both life and limb for the benefit of others. Their small step was indeed a giant step for mankind. Most people are hyper-focused on the self and what benefits them directly, but the people who make a mark beyond infinity see and seek the bigger picture.

Albert Einstein famously opined, “a person starts to live when he can live beyond himself.” To paraphrase, Martin Luther King Jr life’s most urgent and most persistent question is- what are we doing for others?

A business that focuses on itself will short change its customers and will be short lived, but a business that focuses on solving the problems of its customers will be long lived. People, including your employers and customers, are looking for solutions and you will gain traction beyond infinity if you can learn to do for them what they are failing to do for themselves. When it comes to providing solutions always remember that

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing will suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” To go beyond infinity you must seek to narrow the gulf between your potential and your current performance by consistently stretching yourself.

The kudos and the accolades went to Neil Armstrong, but he would never have done it without the contribution of the countless faceless and nameless people who worked on that project. To go beyond infinity you must surround yourself with the right people. Life is not a solo flight.