How do we step out of average?

HOW DO WE STEP OUT OF AVERAGE 

During “fear” surveys about life, people often express having a “the fear of being average”, or having a “Mediocre Life.” 

We don’t want to be average. 

We want to be unique and special, and average just doesn’t cut it. 

Average feels boring.

Average doesn’t feel exciting. 

I think a lot of us can relate to that. 

Surveys have been conducted where:

Almost all participants said they were BETTER THAN AVERAGE drivers.

94% of college professors believed their teaching skills were ABOVE AVERAGE.

70% of high school students surveyed believed they were ABOVE AVERAGE leaders.

Psychologist have labeled this phenomenon the “illusory superiority.” Just believe it doesn’t necessarily make It true...after all, how can we ALL be above average? Haha

We understand we might not be Number 1, but we all want to believe that we are on the positive end of the spectrum. We want to feel comfort in not being at the bottom half. 

Now while I am all for positive thinking and not being too hard on yourself, I also feel it is necessary to practice honest, truthful, and fearless self-awareness.

This isn’t about comparing yourself to others. 

This is about comparing yourself to the best version of you. It is about evaluating where you stand in connection with becoming the person that you want to be. 

Here is one way to take your “temperature.” Ask yourself: 

Who am I when I am at my very best? 

What characteristics do I display when I’m on the top of my game? Then we ask, how often do I represent the opposite of those characteristics? 

For example, if you said you are HONEST when you are at your best, how often are you dishonest? If you said you are SUPPORTIVE OF OTHERS, how often are you not supportive of others?

In order for us to push ourselves past average, we have to be willing to look at the complete picture. 

It isn’t about being “half full” vs. “half empty”, because the fact is that both are true. The glass is simultaneously half full and half empty, we don’t want that glass. 

We want the FULL GLASS. 

We want the life that is FULL OF THE BEST OF US. 

So we begin to STEP OUT OF AVERAGE not solely by the actions we take, but how we decide to “show up” or behave in this world. 

Have the courage to identify HOW the best version of you shows up in the world, take an honest evaluation of how often you behave that way, and then make the choice to BE that best version more times than you aren’t. Start to fill your glass.

If you want more discipline, then be more disciplined than you aren’t. If you want to be more caring, then be more caring more times than you aren’t. If you want to be more passionate for life, then showcase being passionate more than you settle for ordinary.

We don’t want to be average, we don’t want to be somewhere in the middle not living a full life.  So let’s not fall into a mindset that provides us a little bit of comfort, the psychology of “illusory superiority”...truly STEP OUT OF ORDINARY.

With your behaviors today, the way you treat others, the way you treat yourself, the way you show up in the world... each day become more and more like the BEST VERSION of yourself and STEP OUT OF AVERAGE.

Have a great day everyone. 

(11.6.17)

www.phillipandrew.co/blog