5 Traits of Greatness: Unlock the Secrets of Tony Stark’s Mind

And use them to fulfil your potential.

We all have different people in mind when we think of greatness.

One of the people in my mind is Tony Stark.

Aside from the fact he’s not a real person, RDJ’s larger than life character inspired millions to push the boundaries of what they think is possible and to become better versions of themselves.

People are even trying to build an real life iron man suit

On my hunt to be more like Tony, I found some traits that other inspiring people also have. In this article, I share some of those traits as using examples of Tony as well as some other inspiring people throughout history.

Tony is incredibly curious..

What would happen if?

Someone’s likely last words, but are also the driving force behind many innovations. Tony’s curiosity to understand science, technology and how they interact together drive his learning and development. From that, Iron man was born.

An great example of curiosity is Elon Musk.

Hailed as the “real life Tony Stark”, Musk’s curiosity has driven him to take on some of the most challenging and complex problems in recent human history. Some include aiming to reduce the cost of space transportation and enabling the colonization of Mars, he poured all his resources into SpaceX.

Don’t know what you’re curious about? Ask yourself “What are you naturally interested in? What do you talk about the most?” Then explore that.

The more you use your “Hmm, this sounds interesting” instinct, it becomes stronger. But like a muscle, use it or lose it.

“If you’re good at doing what you don’t enjoy, imagine how great you’d be at doing something you love”

Tony Stark is creative…

Creativity is largely a myth.

Well… the idea that being creative is a case of you either have it or you don’t is a myth. Instead, anyone at any age can become creative.

Creativity, is remixing pieces of information together. The more pieces or the more disconnected the pieces, the more original the idea seems.

There’s an awesome story about Tinker Hatfield, where the inspiration behind the airmax bubble was a building in Paris. Billy Oppenheimer did an awesome thread on this here.

The major takeaway is that, ideas seem unique to us when we don’t see the inspirations behind them. Tinker asked “Why not do that with a shoe” and the rest is history.

Another great resource on understanding creativity is the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. In it he talks about taking inspiration from multiple sources and combining it all together in a way that only you could do it.

One insight from the book is that we find ourselves and our voice by trying to copy someone else and failing. The Beatles started out as a cover band. So did Nirvana and Van Halen.

And we know how those bands turned out in the end…

Tony Stark is persistent…

Persist and Resist

Epictetus says, “Persist in your efforts. Resist giving into distraction, discouragement and disorder.” This is true for all of us trying to achieve great things, including Stark.

In Avengers Endgame, Tony manages to persist despite numerous setbacks and the overwhelming odds. He finds a way to beat Thanos even if that means he has to sacrifice himself to do.

However, In Iron Man 2, Tony is shown to drink heavily, become more reckless and self destructive as he uses alcohol to cope with the news that the thing keeping him alive, is also poisoning him.

Since then, he’s never shown to drink or be under the influence of alcohol.

Many great people have been undone by their impulses or their vices. For one man, that was his excessive urge.

Napoleon Bonaparte. His ambitiousness and vision can be attributed to his success. But his downfall came from his own inability to resist these urges for more power and expansion despite how successful he had already been.

Had he been able to resist and be more patient, could he have had greater success? We’ll never know. But what about you?

What virtues or projects should you persist in and what vices should you be trying to resist?

Tony Stark is focused…

Keep the main thing the main thing.

Ryan Holiday talks about how all great and successful people do a good job of keeping their main thing as the main thing they spend their time on.

It allows them to avoid distractions and make real progress in their fields.

Although it looks like Tony had multiple side missions and all sorts going on, when we zoom out, we see that they are all relating to his main mission of protecting the world.

He resigned as CEO of Stark Industries to focus on this mission. He constantly improved the Iron man suits to help him with this mission. He even makes the ultimate sacrifice to put a stop to Thanos to protect the world.

He could have spent time trying to learn about human psychology or developing his social skills to become a more emphatic teammate, but it would have taken him, his efforts and his attention away from the main thing.

Every new trick, idea, or opportunity should be ran through a filter of “will this aid me in my mission or take me away from it?” If it helps you, entertain it. If it hinders you, don’t.

Tony Stark is resilient…

From multiple near death experiences, his best friend becoming paralysed, finding out his parents were murdered by his teammate’s friend, Tony continues to put on the suit.

After going through all that and more, it’d be easy to give up. No one would judge him or say he could have done more.

Regardless of this, he kept going and did what he needed to do. Of course we don’t see his day to day since he’s not real. But a good example of resilience in history is Nelson Mandela.

He spent 27 years imprisoned. But despite the rough conditions of the prison or the length of time he spent these, he spent his time learning and studying. He helped change laws, worked to improve the lives of others around the world through education and healthcare and inspired millions of people around the world.

Because of his resilience, his ability to adapt and grow in the face of adversity, he had a significant impact on the world.

Did I miss anything? Let me know!

New here? I’m Aaron. I’m just learning out loud about psychology and self improvement. I share what I learn here on Medium and on Twitter.

I’d love to have you on this journey with me.

Feel free to reach out to me here: Aaron Kendal or on Twitter here