The Time for AVERAGE is Over!

This is your time. This is your moment. Put your shoulders back. Hold your head up high. Walk with confidence. Winning is in your DNA, and it’s about to come out in a greater way. You may have had some victories in the past, but you haven’t seen anything yet.

Do you believe that winning is in your DNA?

I got that quote from Joel Osteen’s book – You Can You Will – 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner.

It always amazes me, the power that words have in our lives. When I read that quote, I got physically into it. I put my shoulders back and held my head up high. Words are clothed in energy and we must always be mindful of what we’re saying to ourselves. Maya Angelou says “…Someday we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.”

I think that far too many people use words in a kind of loose way, not giving care or concern that these very words could either cut them down or raise them up. I am always listening out for oft repeated “put down” phrases that people use: “It’s not easy…” “I’m stressed…” “I’m not lucky…” “Nobody will listen to me…” “I can’t do that…” “I don’t have what it takes…” “You don’t understand…the odds are stacked against me…”

Re-read Joel’s quote and check in with how it makes you feel. Even if you don’t believe it fully it’s a huge uplift isn’t it?

And this is where you need to start if you want to transcend mediocre and quit living an average life. Why are you so afraid of asking for what you want? Is it that you think you’re not going to get it? Here’s the thing – what you THINK and what you KEEP IN FRONT OF YOU is what you’re moving toward.

In case you haven’t noticed – average doesn’t cut it. You can use every excuse and blame every one for why you are not where you need to be, but until you take full responsibility and take possession of the reins of your own life… begin directing and creating, all you will end up with are some pretty good excuses.

That dissatisfaction that you feel with your life right now needs attention. It’s your soul’s inner urging to get you up and out of the doldrums that you are in right now. The greater your dissatisfaction the greater the motivation. The blog – SelfHelp Sanctum – shares “Dissatisfaction is one of life’s greatest motivators, whether you’re unhappy with your job, relationship, apartment… and the greater the dissatisfaction, the greater the motivation. Sadly, for many people, when life is tolerable the desire to improve things is weak to non-existent. They reach a plateau from which they are never motivated to discover the potentials heights beyond. This comfort-zone inertia is most likely fueled largely by the fear that seeking progress risks the security of the moment, i.e.: “Where I am now isn’t so bad. I can stand this. There are so many people worse off than me. If I try to improve things I might end up making them worse, so I’ll stick with what I have.”

So here is my 4 ingredient recipe for moving beyond average to learning how to tap into your true potential:

Ingredient #1 – Clarity of vision: Do you know what you want? Do you know where you are now and what it will take to get you to your growth place? Do you have wise counsel in your corner to guide and direct, should you not have all the information you need? What is distinctive about you and makes you “YOU”? Where can you make the most impact?

Entrepreneur Chris Brogan reminds us “If you’re not finding ways to nurture a community, if you’re not thinking of ways to build a relationship beyond the buy button, that’s why your business and career opportunities are drying up. The phone isn’t ringing because people don’t know enough about you to know that they should love you. Your skills aren’t good enough. People buy stories not skills. The skills are a given. We buy the relationship, not the checkbox.”

Here’s ingredient #2 – Firmness of Intention: When you decide what you want, you can’t keep changing your mind. Imagine you’re at your favorite restaurant and you order your meal. Five minutes later you call the waiter and you change your order. Eight minutes later you decide on another entrée. And so it goes on all night until you’ve worked your way past your appetite and no longer feel hungry. You are never going to get what you want if your intentions are not firm. If you keep changing your mind every Monday morning you are going to remain stuck on Average Isle.

Ingredient #3 – Steadiness of faith: The Bible tells us that “Faith without works is dead”…so to is work without faith. We like to think that we’ll believe it when we see it but the paradox of life is that you have to believe it first BEFORE you see it. This is the real work on your journey out of average and playing a small game. You must stoke the fires of faith and act as if what you are after IS going to come to pass regardless of how your life is looking right now. You have to be able to say…”I don’t see a way, but I know there is one so I’m going to believe in that alternative way and trust that it will show up in my life just when I need it!”

And finally…Ingredient #4 – Depth of gratitude: You cannot exercise much power in your life without gratitude. It keeps us connected to our Higher Power. While dissatisfaction motivates, if you focus on that dissatisfaction you will continue to see what is not okay, what is broken, what needs fixing, what’s not happening, what you don’t have, what’s not right in your world. If this is what you’re keeping in front of you – what do you think you’re going to get?

In the Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles says “To focus attention on the inferior or undesirable is to become inferior and to find yourself surrounded by undesirable things. On the other hand to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best and to become the best.”

I couldn’t think of a better way to end this column. The time for average is over. Pursue your greatness. A seed has been planted in you. Don’t die with it. Start nurturing it today…watch it grow…and witness your own life begin to bloom! You can…and YOU WILL!