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How
To Assess Super
Attainers
Main Ingredients for Making SuperAttainers
1. Early Starters
Super Attainers often start doing amazing things early in their life. This gives them a head-start in learning all of the difficult lessons required to achieve greatness. Wolfgang Mozart, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are a few of many examples. Sometimes they are pushed at a young age into a leadership position with fathers (examples are Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan and Julius Caesar).
2. Nonconformists
It is safe to say that Super Attainers are not crowd followers. The making of momentous discoveries or promoting new ideas requires a personality that shows disdain for established authority and traditional opinions. Many great leaders led people who are culturally different from them in some important way. A few examples include: Adolf Hitler (Austrian Leading Germans), Joseph Stalin (Georgian leading Russians), Napoleon (Corsican Leading French).
3. Praise Be To Me
It is uncommon for Super Attainers to be humble about their abilities. They are supremely confident in themselves. They are often described as arrogant by others and are prone to disparage competitors. In advanced societies, many Super Attainers have come to recognize that being known as arrogant does not help their purpose and they do a good job of appearing modest. However, a bit of digging into their personality should uncover a deep feeling of self-significance.
4. Mentored & Motivated
Parents and other committed mentors often play a strong role in convincing Super Attainers in their childhood that they are extraordinary and developing their abilities. Some work with other great
Attainers and later carry on their work. They are often sent to the best schools and get the best tutors for extra training. Mothers can play a strong role if they are supremely confident in their son's natural abilities and pass on this belief in a manner that it is internalized. Mussolini`s mother is quoted as saying, `If he becomes a soldier, he will be a general. If he becomes a monk, he will be a pope`. Pope John Paul II`s mother told everyone who would listen that her new baby would `be a great man one day.` Extreme examples are 2 of history's greatest leaders, Alexander the Great and Jesus of Nazareth. In both instances, highly religious mothers were convinced their children were sons of supernatural beings.
5. Alone to the Top
Super Attainers are often described by others as dreamers, outsiders, cold-hearted and similar labels often given to loners. They are comfortable spending time in the company of themselves to ponder, study and develop. Many develop a love of solitary activities such as book-reading early in their life. They are not usually enthusiastic participants in team activities except when they are leader of the group, otherwise preferring individual activities. Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Joseph Stalin and Erwin Rommel are a few examples of these people
6. Hard-Knocks Schooled
Super Attainers have often experienced traumatic times when their career or even their lives were in great peril. Childhood illnesses are one way that Super Attainers gain this feeling of vulnerability and resolve to overcome it. It is during these times that they gain an anxious feeling about their time in the world and comes to desperate realization that they must accomplish all they can when they have the chance because it can all come crashing down in the future.
7. Discontentment
Superior Attainers have an abnormally strong need for continuous accomplishment. Success does not bring them a sense of peace. They always see some other person who has more than then they do and scheme to overtake them. Super Attainers are impatient, dissatisfied and edgy when not engaged in activities that lead to the fulfillment of their goals. They seem psychologically unstable in this regard compared with others.
Two Types of SuperAttainers
I. Aristocratic SuperAttainers
Pampered and pompous, these people excelled despite having been given it all. They attended the best schools and hobnobbed with the best minds. Because they are so deeply bonded to a successful elite, they are able to keep grounded when great success disrupts people sense of normality. They are less likely to lead themselves and their followers down the paths of mutual destruction. On the down-side, they are conservative and elitist. Real change seldom happens with these people in charge.
Examples include: Winston Churchill, Peter the Great, Frederick the Great and Louis XIV.
II. Come-From-
Nothing
SuperAttainers
Rags to riches, these people pull themselves up through tremendous obstacles. Luck plays a role but most of their success is due to relentless force of character. Since they come from outside the establishment, they can be great agents of change. Unfortunately, they are prone to crash and burning when they inevitably overstretch themselves and their supporters. These people need to develop devoted relationships among powerful people who can keep them grounded.
Examples include: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Ferdinand Marcos.
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SuperAttainer:
Cyrus the Great
Founder
of the Persian Empire:
Cyrus
the Great
Main
Life Accomplishments:
Also
known as Cyrus II of Persia and Cyrus the Elder, was a Persian Shāhanshāh
(Emperor). He was the founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid
dynasty. The empire expanded under his rule, eventually conquering most of
Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia, from Egypt and the Hellespont in
the west to the Indus River in the east, to create the largest state the
world had yet seen.
During his twenty-nine to thirty year reign, Cyrus fought against some of
the greatest states of his time, including the Median Empire, the Lydian
Empire, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Cyrus did not venture into Egypt,
as he himself died in battle, fighting the Scythians along the Syr Darya
in August 529 BC or 530BC. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who
managed to conquer Egypt during his short rule.
Beyond his nation, Cyrus left a lasting legacy on Jewish religion (through
his Edict of Restoration), human rights, politics, and military strategy,
as well as on both Eastern and Western civilizations.
Basics:
Born: 600
BC or 576 BC, Anshan, Persis
Died: August?, 530 BC or 529 BC Along the Syr Darya
Nationality: Persian
Religion: Zoroastrianism
Fields: Politics, Military
Main Accomplishments: He was the first Achaemenid Emperor. He
founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes- the Medes and
the Persians. Although he was known to be a great conqueror, who at one
point controlled one of the greatest Empires ever seen, he is best
remembered for his unprecedented tolerance and magnanimous attitude
towards those he defeated.
Chronology
of Life Events:
559-330
(BCE)
Achaemenid
Dynasty established by Cyrus the Great
559 (BCE)
Cyrus
the Great built world's first large, powerful Empire
547 (BCE)
Cyrus
the Great defeated Croesus of Lydia
547 (BCE)
First
contact between Iranians and Ionian Greeks
539 (BCE)
Cyrus
the Great captured Babylon and freed the Jews
Early
Life:
Cyrus
was born anywhere between 600 BC to 576 BC. Little is known of his early
years, as the sources detailing that part of his life are few, and have
been damaged or lost.
Herodotus's story of Cyrus' early life belongs to a genre of legends in
which abandoned children of noble birth, such as Oedipus and Romulus and
Remus, return to claim their royal positions. His overlord was his own
grandfather, Astyages, ruler of the powerful Median kingdom.
After the birth of Cyrus, Astyages had a dream that his Magi interpreted
as a sign that his grandson would eventually overthrow him. He then
ordered his steward Harpagus to kill the infant. Harpagus, morally unable
to kill a newborn, summoned a herdsman of the king named Mithridates and
ordered him to dispose of the child. Luckily for the young boy, the
herdsman took him in and raised him as his own.
When Cyrus was ten years old, Herodotus claims that it was obvious that
Cyrus was not a herdsman's son, stating that his behavior was too noble.
Astyages interviewed the boy and noticed that they resembled each other.
Astyages ordered Harpagus to explain what he had done with the baby, and
after confessing that he had not killed the boy, the king tricked him into
eating his own broiled and chopped son. Astyages was more lenient with
Cyrus, and allowed him to return to his biological parents, Cambyses and
Mandane. While Herodotus' description may be a legend, it does give
insight into the figures surrounding Cyrus the Great's early life.
Wife
Background:
According
to Ctesias, Cyrus the Great married a daughter of Astyages named Amytis,
which seems unlikely, as his wife would also be his aunt. A possible
explanation is that Astyages married again, and his second wife bore him
this daughter. Cyrus' first wife, Cassandane, is equally obscure.
According to Herodotus and the Behistun Inscription, she bore Cyrus at
least two sons, Cambyses II and Smerdis. Both sons later separately ruled
Persia for a short period of time. Cyrus also had several daughters, of
which two, Artystone and Atossa, would marry Darius the Great. The latter
is significant, as she gave birth to Xerxes I, Darius' successor.
Father
Background:
Cambyses
I, Old Persian: Kambūjiya, 'the Elder' (c. 600 BC–559 BC) was King
of Anshan from c. 580 to 559 BC and was the father of Cyrus II (Cyrus the
Great). His name in Greek was
Καμβύσης, whence the Latin
Cambyses.
Cambyses was an early member of the Achaemenid dynasty. He was apparently
a great-grandson of its founder Achaemenes, grandson of Teispes of Anshan
and son of Cyrus I of Anshan. His paternal uncle reigned as Ariaramnes of
Persia and his first cousin as Arsames of Persia.
According to Herodotus, Cambyses was "a man of good family and quiet
habits". He reigned under the overlordship of Astyages, King of
Media. He was reportedly married to Princess Mandane of Media, a daughter
to Astyages and Princess Aryenis of Lydia. His wife was reportedly a
granddaughter to both Cyaxares of Media and Alyattes II of Lydia. The
result of their marriage was the birth of his successor Cyrus the Great.
According to Nicolas of Damascus his nickname was Atradates, and he was
wounded in the Battle of the Persian Border which he, with his son, fought
against Astyages, in which he received an honorable burial.
According to Herodotus, Astyages chose Cambyses as a son-in-law because he
considered him to pose no threat to the Median throne. This was not the
case with Cyrus II who would go on to depose his grandfather.
Mother
Background:
Mandana
of Media (b. ca. 584 BCE) was a Princess of Media and, later, the Queen
consort of Cambyses I of Anshan and mother of Cyrus the Great, ruler of
the Persia's Achaemenid Dynasty.
According to Herodotus, Mandana was born to Astyages, King of Media and
son of Cyaxares the Great, and Princess Aryenis of Lydia, daughter of
Alyattes II, the father of Croesus of Lydia. Christian Settipani, however,
says she was his daughter by another mother.
Shortly after her birth, Herodotus reports that Astyages had a strange
dream where his daughter urinated so much that Asia would flood. He
consulted the magi who interpreted the dream as a warning that Mandana's
son would overthrow his rule.
To forestall that outcome, Astyages betrothed Mandana to the vassal
Achaemenid prince, Cambyses I of Anshan, "a man of good family and
quiet habits", whom Astyages considered no threat to the Median
throne.
Astyages had a second dream when Mandana became pregnant where a vine grew
from her womb and overtook the world. Terrified, he sent his most loyal
court retainer, Harpagus, to kill the child. However, Harpagus was loathed
to spill royal blood and hid the child, Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great) with a
shepherd named Mitradates.
Years later, Cyrus would defy his grandfather, Astyages, leading to war
between them; a war that Cyrus would have lost, but for Harpagus'
defection on the battlefield of Pasargadae, leading to the overthrow of
Astyages, as the dream had forecast.
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