Unlocking Your Greatness: Your Journey to Your Magnum Opus (Your Great Work)

Patterns of Greatness do have reason and rhyme. Follow them and you rise to your Great Magnum Opus.

Author

Kevin Ham
January 09, 2025

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Your Magnum Opus

Do great things, for you are destined for greatness.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Welcome to the first edition of 2025 in our 12-week series on “The Journey to Your Greatness: Achieving Your Magnum Opus.”

Each week, we will delve into the lives of extraordinary individuals who achieved their magnum opus — and their contemporaries who fell short — to uncover the patterns of greatness we can apply to our own lives.

Achieving your Magnum Opus revolves around seven patterns of greatness — universal traits that drive success. Many fail to realize their Magnum Opus, their life's great work, because of seven common obstacles that derail their journey.

Let's first uncover the seven patterns of greatness.

Seven Patterns of Greatness

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

Pablo Picasso

(Sharing your magnum opus with the world is one of your life’s great purpose.)

Achieving your Magnum Opus requires mastering these seven patterns:

  1. Vision Beyond the Immediate: Visualize a bigger picture and work toward a purpose greater than themselves. 

  • Steve Jobs envisioned computers as tools for creative empowerment, not just machines.

  1. Relentless Iteration To Mastery: Greatness is a process of constant refinement from failure to discovery. 

  • Marie Curie spent years isolating radium; even when progress was slow, setbacks pushed her back, and obstacles seemed insurmountable.

  1. Resilience in Adversity: Every journey to greatness involves brutal setbacks and adversity. 

  • Walt Disney faced bankruptcy and repeated failures but persevered to create an empire of happiness, imagination and magic.

  1. Courage to Act: Bold decisions define legacies. 

  • Steve Jobs risked everything to return to Apple in 1997, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, and radically transformed it when others thought it fruitless.

  1. Synthesis of Diverse Disciplines: Innovators integrate knowledge and wisdom from many fields. 

  • Da Vinci combined science, engineering and art to revolutionize art and human thinking.

  1. Mastery of Timing: Understanding when to act, balancing patience with seizing opportunities at the right moment. 

  • Walt Disney delayed the opening of Disneyland until his vision aligned with the necessary resources and technology, ensuring its monumental success.

  1. Timeless Relevance: A Magnum Opus endures across generations.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Ode to Joy remains a masterpiece.

Read on for my big life question (only one-minute more). It helped me in my life and I hope it helps you in yours.