In our society, we claim to strive for excellence, and claim to honor outstanding achievement. Too often, the reality is that we reward the average. From the time we are small children, we are taught to “fit in” and “don’t rock the boat.” All of the peer pressure we feel to wear the right clothes, have the right haircut, etc. all teach us to be normal or average instead of outstanding.
If you study excellence historically, you will find that individuals such as Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were all eccentric. In no way could they be deemed normal.
We live with the incongruity of the fact that we want extraordinary results but require normal behavior on a day-to-day basis. Sigmund Freud told us that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing while expecting a different result. Many of us would say that we strive for the best and have lofty goals far above the norm. Much more significant to the end result are our daily patterns of performance.
We can look back on an outstanding life of achievement when we can pack every minute of every hour of every day with excellence. An outstanding life is the result of stringing together a long, consistent series of extraordinary days. We spend far too much of our time worrying about what others think of us. In reality, the only opinion that matters is the one that you hold of yourself.
I am quite sure that Edison, Franklin, and Jefferson were regularly ridiculed and derided by people around them. I am equally as sure that it mattered little to them if, indeed, they even realized that they were not “normal.”
Never seek an opinion or accept criticism from someone who does not have what you want. Seek out the counsel of mentors and peers who are achievers. Seek their counsel, accept their criticism, and utilize their performance as a measuring stick for your own. Become accountable to someone whose past performance earns your respect. Strive to have extraordinary days while living in a normal world. It doesn’t take much to elevate yourself above the crowd.
Today’s the day!
Source: Wisdom for Winners, Vol 1 by Jim Stovall