Society spins around you a cocoon of average. It tells you your big plans are unlikely or too audacious. It conditions you to stay inside a box instead of breaking out of one. Society teaches your obsession is unhealthy, strange, and even freakish. It tells you to buy a cute house, have a 401 (k), drive an hour commute, and spend evenings watching TV.[gap height=”15″]
Stop toning it down and trading in your big dreams for average. Society has taught you your goals are unattainable and you’ve bought it. Do you just want out of life a steady job, the respect of your peers and a little retirement nest egg – or, do you secretly want to become massively successful? Personally, I want to have my cake and eat it, too. Why would I want cake if I can’t eat it?[gap height=”15″]
For me, success has never been about just one thing or one achievement. I’ve always wanted a LOT of things. Success, in my view, is about being great at many things – and I suspect the same is true for you. I’m not satisfied with just having a lot of money, I want it all: health, wealth, family, love, recreation, community, and time to enjoy everything.[gap height=”15″]
Society teaches you that you can’t have it all and must have balance. It labels people who are obsessed as outliers and freaks. What’s strange to me is that it’s considered normal to settle for mediocrity. Studies by Bankrate.com suggest that somewhere between 62-76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Average is a failing formula. People fail because of how they think.[gap height=”15″]
You must rid yourself of average thinking and get obsessed. If you want a fire, you’ll need some wood. That car of yours in the garage needs gas. Your computer needs electricity. The same is true with your dreams: they need fuel. The best fuel for obsession is your purposes throughout your life.[gap height=”15″]
Maybe today, you’re just about money. Well, good. Go and get that right! Or maybe you don’t care about money right now and just want to help people. Then go and get THAT right.[gap height=”15″] [gap height=”15″]
When clarifying what you should be obsessed with, the following should be true:[gap height=”15″]
- It improves the outcome of your life and others’ lives.[gap height=”10″]
- It moves you to reveal more of your potential.[gap height=”15″][gap height=”15″]
So, what is your potential? Continuing to reach your full potential is the fuel that will allow you to avoid getting lost, complacent, and satisfied. Your purposes in life will continue to grow, mature and evolve as you do. Regardless of how big your dreams are today, other possibilities within your potential will be revealed to you that will make previously out-of-reach targets look small. When you stop looking forward to accomplishing the next level, you are at risk. Don’t be average.[gap height=”15″]
People accept the idea of average and being happy to spend their lives trying to buy happiness with borrowed money from credit cards they must pay off with money they earn from a job they hate. People are sold on the idea that if they reach the middle class, they’ll be better off than over 80% of the world – only to find themselves confused as to why they have no time for their families and no money left for pleasure.[gap height=”15″]
If you can’t take care of your own dreams, how can you ever take care of your neighbor? If you can’t pay your own bills, how can you help the person who needs help? If you can’t make your dreams reality, how can you to encourage others to do it? You can’t! Unhappy people can’t teach you how to be happy and the poor can’t teach you how to get rich. Nor can an average person teach you how to be exceptional.[gap height=”15″][gap height=”15″]
Steve Jobs said: “I want to put a dent in the universe.”[gap height=”15″]
Martin Luther King Jr. said: “I have a dream …”[gap height=”15″]
Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”[gap height=”15″]
You know these people because they were obsessed. They weren’t superheroes; they didn’t possess special powers. You need to be obsessed with something; but understand that there’s no such thing as “obsession lite.” There is no need to be balanced. Regardless of your industry, where you live and what your dream is, obsession is mandatory for huge success. Is there a single person you and I both know the name of who wasn’t obsessed? I doubt it. Victory comes at a price, but so does settling.[gap height=”15″]
You need to be obsessed with something; but understand that there’s no such thing as “obsession lite.”[gap height=”15″]
