I hate This!

A couple of month ago, I got a mail from Chad House. And that mail actually change my life.
I really want to share those words with all my friends.

I hate this!

Mediocrity.

I genuinely do hate it. Yet every day I find myself making a mediocre decision or taking a mediocre action when something far more daring is also an option.

The tough thing about mediocrity is that it’s everywhere, all around us at every moment of the day.

We’re surrounded by people who want to buy things to impress people they really shouldn’t be trying to impress. This desire to appear a certain way overrides their desire to be great.

We come in contact with people all the time who have a limited view of the world.

They make excuse after excuse about why they can’t do this or can’t do that, or why a grand life simply isn’t an option for them because of excuse x, y, or z

Mediocrity is everywhere, and understanding what choice is average and what is ambitious, isn’t always easy or clear.

Since we popped out of the womb we’ve been coached in mediocrity. For the most part we’re completely unaware of a completely different alternative, a different path that can be taken because we have the potential to live at a higher standard.

I love history.

Right now I’m reading a book about Alexander the Great. I’ve tried a few books about him but too often they focus on things I just don’t care about. This book covers his ambition, his thought process and daring.

Alexander’s success was set up by his old man. Without his dad paving the way, there would be no Alexander. His dad gave him a benchmark, someone that even Alexander thought there would be no way he could live up to.

Mediocrity wasn’t even a thought, an option, because of how daring his dad was. He had to be just as daring, just as ambitious, just as great, and then some.

History also provides us with endless examples of men who weren’t born into royalty.

My 3 favorite examples are:

James Cook - born into a farming family, nowhere near the sea, he left home became a merchant marine, rose to take command of his own ship, quit when work was about to become lucrative to chase adventure in the Royal Navy, where he once again started at the bottom, rose to the top, and took command of his own ship.

Napoleon - born to a country that was being conquered by the country that he would one day rise up to rule. He studied while others drank and partied. He saw books as his women and women as a distraction until he gained enough power that a distraction could be afforded. He was seen as second class, had no title in a time when title determined your place in society, yet he rose to literally rule the entire society and almost the world.

Stephen Smith - born into indebted servitude, he was given command of his ‘master’s’ mill, saved his money, bought his freedom, started his own company, and became by today’s standards, a millionaire.

We have a tendency to selectively look at ‘easy success’ stories and think that it’s not possible for us to achieve the same things because we weren’t given the same luxuries or the same head start in life. But it’s b.s. We’re not doing enough with what we have been given.

These 3 examples, and many others like them, give us the proof we need to see that even the most great accomplishments can start from humble beginnings and in times that were far more difficult than the one we’re in today.

We CHOOSE to be great, or we choose to be mediocre. There’s nothing else to it.

As you think about this past year, as you think about what you want to accomplish this year, try these 2 things:

1. Don’t set a single reward goal, only set process goals.

What do you want to accomplish/create? So, for myself, I have two books I’m publishing within the first 3 months of the year. I’m not focused on how many copies I want to sell or how much I want to earn from each book, I’m only focusing on the quality of the content and getting the damn things published.

1. Determine who you have to become, forget about the end reward all-together, and become the man your goals will need you to become if you’re to achieve them.

Focus on being the man, not merely on acquiring the things.