Six ways to help you Escape from Mediocrity And Live The Above Average Life.
1. Earn a living doing something you love to do.
If your not working everyday doing something that intrigues you, and motivates you; something you’ve thought about a lot and always wanted to do; then quit and go do what does! In order to be happy with your life, (and be in that exclusive group that live in an above average way) then you must feel that you are doing something worthwhile, that you’re making a difference. Do what you love and the money will come. I’ve never met someone that was doing what they loved to do that was very concerned about the money. This doesn’t mean doing something easy. Being a Cowboy, Astronaut, Olympic athlete, a Marine, a Navy Seal, the top salesperson with a company, a Mountain Climber or being the Owner of a small business with 25 employees, are all very difficult occupations.
Learn to be happy where you are while you’re working on getting to where you really want to be.
My advice is from Jim Rohn: “Work harder on yourself than you do on you’re job.”
Personal development. Self-improvement. Go for it!
Check out theses resources: Dan Millers’ book for starting your own business 48 Days to Creative Income
And also
Dan Miller- 48 Days to the Work You Love
2. Learn about money.
The mediocre learn about this the hard way. But not you! You should strive to be above average! Study how money works. Study compound interest; how it works for you or against you.
Have an emergency fund!
Pay off credit cards. Start with the smallest.
Buy a used car and pay cash for it. People that have no net worth; (no cash in the bank) buy brand new vehicles and have monthly payments. The new car loses 60% of its value in the first two years.
Check out The Amazing Free Car Story.
The average millionaire in America buys a one or two year old vehicle and pays cash.
Own your own home.
The difference between the wealthy and the poor in handling their money is this: The poor people get their money and then spend it. If there’s any left they save some. The wealthy get their money, save some first, and then spend what’s left over. Big difference. It’s a different philosophy. A radical way of thinking some would say. But hey, if you want to stay broke, just follow the thinking of the poor, and if you want to be wealthy follow the thinking of the wealthy about the way they handle their money. I’m just talking money here. The “rich and famous” in our country have lots of money but sometimes little else. Many times the rest of their lives are in a quandary and despair. They try to live without a spiritual life, their family is dysfunctional, many times their health is destroyed by drugs and alcohol, and one would wonder if their money was gone; would they have any true friends? However I’ve known plenty of poor people that would fit that same description.
Resources:
Dave Ramsey - Get Serious Debt Help. Eliminate Debt and Credit Cards with a proven plan that works. Learn to Budget, Avoid Bankruptcy, Build Wealth and live in Financial Peace.
3. Cultivate a happy home life.
Ain’t no such thing as a person that’s happy, productive, & meeting their goals at work while being unhappy, depressed, and miserable at home.
If you’re married go on a date once a week.
Go on a weekend two or three day trip 3-4 times a year.
Go to a marriage enrichment weekend seminar.
Read the Five languages of Love by Gary Chapman also How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Take a Dale Carnegie course; they are put on all across the USA.
Be as nice at home as you are to your friends and clients at work. (Ouch)
Resolve to each other to take some words out of your vocabulary: divorce, idiot, jerk, lazy, I hate you, You never want to have sex anymore, and my mother told me not to marry you in the first place. (These are not good) Replace those words with these:
“Honey I was wrong, I’m sorry, will you forgive me?”
“Is there anything I can do to help you with that?”
“You know sweetheart, I’m really proud of you.” The best decision I ever made was to marry you.
A woman wants romance, security, affection, attention, and conversation. (Not necessarily in that order)
All things considered; a man wants food, recognition of achievement and sex. The woman will gladly give the man what he wants if the man FIRST gives the woman what she wants.
Resources:
Dr. Laura Schlessinger \
Ten Stupid Things Couples do to Mess up Their Relationships
The Five Languages of Love by Dr. Gary Chapman
4. Live a healthy lifestyle.
Over 50 million men in America tell their doctors that their “love life just ain’t what it used to be”. That’s a quote from a popular TV commercial. The reason the urge to procreate is diminishing in men today is perhaps because 59 million men in America take high blood pressure or high cholesterol medications. Maybe that’s why 50 million prescriptions of Cialis, Viagra and Lavitra are sold each year.
This is not a laughing matter because the side effects of all those medications are: Flushing, headache, nasal congestion, and stomach discomfort following meals.
Also very common are: Abnormal vision including blurred vision, seeing shades of colors differently than before, or sensitivity to light.
Bladder pain, Dizziness, Increased frequency of urination, Pain on urination, Diarrhea, Bleeding of the eye, Convulsions (seizures) This laundry list of misery does not take into account the horrendous side effects of the cholesterol and high blood pressure medications.
According to recent articles in the AMA Journal, the book The South Beach Diet
and the book by the editor of Men's Health Magazine called The Ab's Diet these medications would NOT be needed in a majority of the cases were it not for the eating of the wrong foods and lack of exercise for the past 20 –30 years.
One in ten women in America have heart disease. Over 100,000 die each year of heart attack or stroke according to The American Heart Association.
Dr. Agatston a cardiologist says that approximately 50 million Americas are in a “pre-diabetes state” could develop into full-blown diabetes. This could be avoided in a high percentage of cases by changing your diet to eating healthy foods and exercising on a regular basis.
Living a healthy lifestyle is making wise choices for the long term, not short term. Whatever makes you feel good in the short term is almost never good for you long term.
For example: cocaine, adultery, pornography, charging up a bunch of “Stuff” on credit cards, or stuffing yourself at an “all you can eat buffet”.
The opposite is true too. Whatever is best for you long term is usually not gratifying nor does it produce good results in the short term. The right now. For example: taking vitamins, exercising, saving money, reading a good self help book, and eating a healthy nutritious well balanced diet.
An apple a day for 20 years is a LOT different than a snickers candy bar a day for 20 years. It’s an easy thing to do: eat an apple every day… but what’s easy to do is also easy NOT to do.
It’s an easy thing to walk around the park for 30 minutes but it’s also easy not to do.
It’s an easy to eat a salad with grilled chicken, eggs, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce and spinach. But also it’s easy not to do. I eat a delicious salad of some kind 5-6 days a week.
I say, “drink half your weight in water each day, exercise doing SOMETHING every day, eat a healthy well balanced diet every day for the rest of your life”. If you really want to improve your health the single most important thing I can tell you is get a complete physical every year and avoid fried food, fast food, and junk food.
I haven’t eaten fried food, fast food, or junk food in years. I have been exercising and taking vitamins daily since I was 19 years old in 1969. 37 years. I take no prescriptions.
I’m extremely thankful to God for my good health and I also take very good care of it. In using agriculture terms, to make a plant grow you must nurture it, cultivate it, water it, and give it vitamins. Same with your body.
Decide today to set up your own regime of a healthy lifestyle.
5. Feed your brain.
Our thoughts control our thinking. The only talking recording in history to sell a million copies was by Earl Nightingale. It was a speech he gave about our thoughts controlling our minds titled The Strangest Secret. He said, “Our lives are what our thoughts make of it.”
Honest Abe said, “ A man (or woman) is about as happy as they make up their mind to be.”
Solomon said, “As man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
What goes into your mind? What do you read, watch on TV, and listen to?
What was the last non-fiction book you read?
Here is an excerpt from my book Escape From Mediocrity chapter 7 that I challenge you to think about. It begins with a quote from a famous motivator Zig Ziglar:
“You are what you are and where you are today because of what has gone into your mind; you can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.” That famous line from Zig Ziglar is repeated throughout his audio series, How to Stay Motivated. His books have been a big influence on my life. Zig says, “The single most important thing that determines your IQ is your vocabulary, and your vocabulary increases with every book you read.”
The average millionaire reads a book a month. Doesn’t that intrigue you? Aren’t you curious what they’re reading? Couldn’t you find 30 minutes a day to make a better future for you and your family? Is there a book you could read that would help you improve your present circumstances?
I believe if you want to join the ranks of those who make an above average income in America, you must become an avid reader. Are you willing to invest thirty minutes a day to change your life? Ten pages a day will get you through one book a month, that’s twelve books a year: sixty good books over five years. Do you think studying subjects that are extremely important to you would help you reach your goals and help you live an above-average life? I do! I’m convinced of it!
Your own Strategy for personal growth is the key that unlocks the door to a better future for you. You can’t “escape from mediocrity” if you don’t do the things above average people do.
My favorite speaker and author is Jim Rohn. We were talking after a conference in Louisville and he said to me, “Clay, a person who won’t read is not any better off than a person who can’t read.”
Listening is almost as good as reading. Many of today’s Americans will say they are too busy to read but will pop in a CD and give it a listen. That’s why my newest book is an audio book. There is a written copy as well for those who prefer to read.
People would tell everyone they know, and complain, if they miss a meal or forget to eat. They will make sure they feed their body, but not think anything about feeding their minds. You be different. Strive to be above average when it comes to feeding your brain.
Resources: Clay's recommended reading List
6. Get to know your Maker I first want to say if you’re a Believer, you should be an above average one. Now I’m not saying you should be if you’re not. I’m saying it’s available if you ask. And I’m saying life has been much better for me with it than without it. It says in The Holy Bible that “whosoever will” can become a Believer in God if they want to. Jesus told a Jewish leader, to have eternal life, “You must be born again.” Not physically but “Spiritually.”
I don’t believe you can live an above average life without attending to the spiritual part of you. Inside us somewhere is a need to have a spiritual relationship with our Maker.
Even the most primitive of cultures believed that there were some unknown, powerful and unexplainable things about our existence. There is inside every one of us the desire to be connected spiritually to something. It’s the way we were created; in God’s own image I believe. I believe personally that for me and my house it is the great I Am. Jehovah. Yahweh. El Shaddai. If you want a balanced happy life it has to have at its core a relationship with a power higher than yourself. Then everything else in your life revolves around that core. Without a relationship with your Maker everything revolves around you and whatever you desire. That’s not good.
My first book, Guitars Bars & a Prodigal Son, tells how my rebellious life started in full swing when I hitchhiked to Nashville TN. at age 14 to see if I could sing and play on the Grand Ole Opry. For the next 13 years I lived a life playing music in Bars and nightclubs all across this great USA. After two marriages and a lot of booze and Valium I hit the bottom. I finally realized I’d be dead if that continued. Thanks to a loving mother who prayed for me “without ceasing” and several people God “put onto the pathway I was going down” my life made a 180 degree turnaround. I’ve never looked back. I have tried, though not always successful, to follow Philippians 3-14
“Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
Resources:
Mere Christianity by C S Lewis
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
By Clay Campbell 2-14-06
claycampbell@www.wizarofads.com my email
Above Average Advertising A free resource to help you advertise and market your own small business.
Living the Above Average Life A resource guide packed with wisdom and advice to help you “rise out of mediocrity” and become an above average person you really want to be.
Welcome to the Kentucky Opry Country Music Show What I do on weekends.
Clay Campbell author of Escape From Mediocrity, Wizard Press
