I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about mediocrity. This is mostly due to an excellent course I am currently doing, which in part is about standing out in a crowded marketplace.
Mediocrity is beige, and should be unacceptable to anyone looking to better themselves and their life. But how often do we either deliver it ourselves, or accept it? Way too often.
How many times have you either thought or said ‘Ah sure, that’ll do.’ Well no more. Ban ‘that’ll do’ from your vocabulary and from your thoughts.
In order to create a compelling vision for your future, you need to be creative. In order to be creative we need to step out of ‘beige thinking.’ Daydream about the kind of person you would really like to be. Do you want to fit in or stand out? Do you want to be a Sandra Dee or a Rizzo? Even after Sandra Dee tranformed herself, I still always preferred Rizzo. Apologies if you have no idea what I am on about — go and Google ‘Grease.’ It doesn’t mean you have to be loud and brash, but let’s at least try and be creative and interesting.
Write down in longhand — (using an old fashioned pen and paper) a 5 page version of your future life. Don’t type it. Your brain is more fully engaged and more likely to tune in and remember when you write things down using pen and paper.
Put a time stamp on it. It could be your life in a year, in six months or in 5 years. It doesn’t matter. I have a system I invented called DIME. This helps me remember what I need to do with my vision. 1. Design it. 2. Implement and Imagine it. 3. Measure it. 4. Enjoy it.
When we can see our future selves as an improved version of our current selves, and we see our life changing as we implement that vision, our motivation increases. Once you have designed a creative, blow your mind exciting, kick your ass motivational vision, the next step is to Implement It.
To do this pick one important goal. The one thing that is going to have the most profound effect on your future life. Then break the goal down into steps. Once you have implemented your vision, you need to Imagine It. Do you like daydreaming? Well see yourself looking fabulous at that party in your sexy new purple dress, or that cool leather jacket and jeans. See yourself being completely fabulous, cool, calm and collected. See yourself totally killing that presentation. Hear somoeone you really respect say ‘Jeepers, (insert your name) where did that come from? You were amazing.’
This is the fun part. What’s the movie of your future life? Give it a title. Play. Make it bold, fabulous and bright. Then visualize, visualize and visualize some more.
The next step is to Measure It. I schedule a review every 90 days in my calendar. I set aside a hour or so, and I review all the steps I set for my one big goal. Then I adjust, rewrite and celebrate what I have achieved so far and re-set for the next 90 days. Those 90-day creative dates with myself have become sacred in my schedule. I also have an accountability partner who helps me stay on track, and I do the same for them. This is also a good idea but ensure it is someone who supports your vision and ‘gets it.’
The final step is ‘Enjoy It.’ There is absolutely zero point at all in doing this if it is going to be one more chore to you . If you don’t get that this is a mind blowing creative exercise, to help you work towards a future life of which you can be proud, then forget it.
Let’s step out of beige thinking here and raise our standards. Who the hell cares what you have to offer? You better damn well care and make it the absolute best it can be, or no-one else will give a flying hoot. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a hell of a lot of ‘noise’ out there on the www, but sadly most of it is just that. What’s unique about you? What part of that uniqueness can you bring to the future vision of your life to make it shine? I look forward to seeing you in the zone of creative maveriks doing their thing and doing it bloody brilliantly. I would like to end by thanking Peter Turley for his wonderful course ‘Rip it Up’ which has inspired me to think differently.
