This is a three part series I'm writing on small steps you can use to get you onto the path of excellence and off of the path of mediocrity. These are the things I have found people who are living their dreams do. The people who are changing the world started here and kept moving along the path. It doesn't have to be a complete upheaval of you life, just some easy perspective shifts to start you rolling.
Broken down life has two path options you can take; the first is mediocrity and the second is excellence. (Now don't confuse excellence with perfection as they are not the same thing.) Choosing to be mediocre is the easy path and it has become the societal norm, the status quo. Everyone gets a participation ribbon or a trophy, don't want to make anyone feel alienated. Its not politically correct to actually tell the truth about someone's performance or lack of it. Being mediocre doesn't take a lot of energy or sacrifice, just enough to get by is alright, and accepted. Excellence takes courage, character, a different ethos than culturally accepted and a whole lot of work.
Back to that path. What's the key to this path anyway? Is it planning? Is it time management? How about focus and the dirtiest word in the English language, discipline? I would say yes to all of them even that dirty word discipline. However, the key ingredient and the most important step to choosing the path of excellence is to start. You start by making a choice to be excellent. Ask yourself the question, am I happy with myself just doing enough? Just enough to get by or to keep my job! Am I happy doing just enough to get through life? Mediocre is doing just enough to get through life, not really living. If you're happy with that, stop reading right now.
Wait! Please read this one thought and then you can stop reading alright. You're not designed to just get through life and be mediocre, your designed to achieve excellence and change the world. You're the missing piece of the puzzle, a key part I might add. Alright, now you can quit reading if you just want to be mediocre.
Starting can be scary and intimidating. Society and people may not like you if you start, it can be off putting to some of them. Don't worry about them, that's their energy to deal with not yours. The simple act of starting is an act of excellence in your life. You can plan the greatest plan ever conceived. You can end up waiting forever for the perfect timing or circumstances to appear. Logic and reason will tell you, they will show you and warn you about the consequences. (That's fear speaking out.) Deciding to start is a choice to use your God given gifts and talents, its letting them shine in the world. That path is there ahead of you and it is highly unlikely you can see where it ends let alone plan every step you will need to get there, All of that thinking can keep you stuck right there in mediocrity. When I started to write the book "Nobody Can Take It Away From You" I had no clue what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to write the book so I started. Ten years later it was finally published.
Start to move in the direction of your dreams and goals, feel the excitement and that mixture of fear in the pit of your stomach. That is the paradox of starting, feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Be wise not foolish. Don't risk everything at the expense of your family and well being. Make good decisions based on intuition and sprinkled with reasonable logic. You can start with a small step that will grow in time. The key is to start. Not starting because you think that your decisions will go against the societal view of the path is exactly what keeps people in mediocrity.
In Part 2 I will discuss your Stand, or you Back Against the Wall strategy.
"Live remarkable and follow the Spirit in your heart."
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