Push Mediocrity Aside in 4 Ways
It’s not lonely at the top. According to the 2023 USA Wealth Report there are 5.3 million millionaires in America.
9,630 centi-millionaires with a net worth of at least $100 million
770 billionaires with a net worth of at least $1 billion
Indeed, It’s not lonely at the top. Based on the fact that there are 5.3 million millionaires, we know that millionaires make up about 2% of the adult population.
Many people will not reach that high-net-worth. The pull to mediocrity is too strong. Mediocrity is like a shackle that is not easily taken off for most of us. The Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 12: 1 “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The weight that Paul talks about could be anything that stops us or slow us down from running effectively the race of life. Mediocrity is a weight that needs to be laid aside or pushed aside. So that we can run the race of life to our fullest capabilities.
Now, how can we escape the downward pull of mediocrity? By developing these Four skill sets.
1) Define your vision
2) Set Meaningful Goals
3) Take Action
4) Develop Self-Awareness
Now, we are not saying Rome was built in a day. Learning to develop these skillsets will take time! Allow time for growth. Personal Growth and self-improvement are not a get rich quick scheme. We guarantee that if that is your mindset, next year will come around and you will still be shackled with mediocrity. But allow time for growth, you will see progress soon enough.
Define your vision
The first thing we want to do is define our vision. What is our main objective? Take time to reflect on what you truly want out of life. Take time to day dream as if what you want has already occurred. It is called having Clarity, if you can see it, then you can do it.
This needs to be said. People tend to beat themselves over past failures. Do not fret over past situations that did not go your way. The past should serve either to instruct you or to build you up, but never to tear you down. The majority of millionaires are positive thinkers. So, the encouragement here is to become a positive thinker.
“It is in the present moment, not in the past or future, that you are able to have the most clarity and purpose.”
Now, back to having clarity of vision. Let’s try to apply this. Say you see for yourself financial independence. You want to be part of the 5.3 million millionaires in America. Now, you will want to have a pen and paper handy. Write on the top of the page, “How I became a Millionaire”.
Write a specific amount of money, and write a specific due date. This is Clarity. You have a specific goal and due date. Let’s dream big and say the amount is $1,500,000 dollars. Let’s be aggressive too and make the due date 2 years from now, or 24 months.
Next, brainstorm what path you think will get you to your goal.
Let’s say you decided to open a dry-cleaning business. This is one vehicle you decided that will get you to your stated goal. Did you know that the dry-cleaning business has helped many people to become millionaires? It is good business to get into, if you have a good location and business strategy.
Set Meaningful Goals
Now, for us to push aside Mediocrity we need to have SMART goals. Not just goals, but SMART goals.
SMART is an acronym that stands for:
Specific: The goal you set should be specific, and you shouldn’t be able to misinterpret or confuse it
Measurable: The goal should allow you to track your progress
Attainable: The goal has to be reachable
Relevant: A relevant goal relates to your values, dreams, and ambitions
Time-bound: There needs to be a target date for completion, such as four months or one year
So, is our goal of making 1.5 million dollars in 2 years realistic? No, because on average the first couple years of a dry-cleaning business is usually not profitable. So, it would make more sense to have a 5-year goal of making 1.5 million dollars.
So, now, we have our smart goal. First, we open a dry-cleaner. We want to have a wealth of 1.5 million dollars in 5 years. That’s a goal that is smart. It is specific, Measurable, attainable, relevant and timebound.
By using Smart goals, we can push aside mediocrity. So, let’s get smart.
Take Action
Some people are scared to push themselves to greatness. Why? because of the fear of failure. Don’t let that be you. Strive to challenge yourself outside of your comfort zone. The fear of failure is reduced every time we accomplish something challenging.
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself” – Winston S. Churchill
It is a bad idea to attach your self-esteem to either failing or succeeding in a goal. Some people think failing a task or even being bad at a task means that they are no good or worthless. Your self-worth should not be tied directly to your performance. Good or bad. Any failure will just be used as a means to produce negative self-thoughts. This will just continue the cycle of mediocrity. We need to learn from our mistakes, so be willing to fail. Of course, we give our 100% in everything we do, we don’t try to fail. On the occasions where we do fail , we accept it and learn from it. Failure is a part of the ingredients to success.
“Failure builds character”
We want to fail enough that failure becomes an ingredient we use less and less in our recipe for success. For example, a well-seasoned business person will make less business mistakes than a first timer. Why? Well, because of experience, the seasoned business person has been through the whole process many times. And now knows what needs to be done. While the first timer will face growing pains. He is going to make mistakes along the way. We build character when we learn from our failures. Nothing is gain when we fail to learn from our failures.
“The key point here is to learn from your mistakes. Remember it is always a time well spent figuring out why you failed at something and how to become better at it”
One of my favorite quotes that I came up with and like to remind myself of is, “The path in life is covered with darkness but whoever picks up the lantern of knowledge will see his way through.”
Can you imagine a kid being asked what he wants to do when he grows up? He replies that he wants to live a mediocre life. We wouldn’t expect a kid to respond like that! That’s because kids dream Big! No, as the baggage starts to pile on as we become adults, we tend to think small. Thus, a life of mediocrity at times doesn’t seem that bad. a sense of urgency to change the status quote can be lacking. But that is not you, that someone else. You are going to build up the urgency to make rapid growth in just this month alone. As long as we can say it is “today” we should start making the changes in our mentality, today.
Self-Awareness
“UPDATE YOUR PHILOSOPHY”
Living a life of mediocrity boils down to our core philosophy. In high school I knew a kid whose philosophy was that he did not need to learn anything while in high school, because he will learn everything he needed to learn later in life.
Isn’t that the dumbest thing you ever heard? He was lacking self-awareness big time. Hey, that was his core philosophy. What do you think the results were? He went to summer school every year. He had to take extra courses to have the necessary credits to graduate on time. his core philosophy needed updating. We must be self-aware of the impact our core philosophy is having in our life. Continuous Self-examinations will help us test out our philosophy. we can thus see check whether our philosophy is benefiting for us.
Some people’s core philosophy accepts mediocrity. This is why year after year they make little progress in their goals. It is as if they had shackles on. They are the dreamers. Don’t be a dreamer, be a doer. Life is much more fulfilling as a doer. Do your best in everything, even when others are watching or not watching you.
“Do better, do best” That could be your new core philosophy. I can’t stress that enough, a life of mediocrity is a mental thing, change your mindset. Update your core philosophy. Become more than you are now.
Now, Rich people choose learning and growing over entertainment. So, make acquiring new skills a habit. Make it your mission in life to grow your skill set. This mindset will speed up your progress to becoming a high achiever.
Recap
The time is now for you to push aside a life of mediocrity and become a high-level achiever. You are capable of greatness. So, how can we escape the downward pull of mediocrity? By developing these Four skill sets.
1)Define your vision
2) Set Meaningful Goals
3) Take Action
4) Develop Self-Awareness
Having small goals or dreams is not satisfying. No, instead dream big and have Smart goals. We want to set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound, smart goals. take immediate action. Know that action precedes motivation. Most people think first there is motivation then comes action. No, first we take action then we get motivated to take the next action. That’s the secret sauce.
make taking action a part of your core philosophy as so many millionaires have. If you do so, you too will soon find yourself in the millionaire’s club.
