Being Average and What it Really Means

We've all been bitten by the "average bug" before. We've all had someone tell us that we were average in some way or the other. Being average at sports, at sales, at business, at cooking or anything else that comes to mind. However there is an even more dangerous "average bug" you have to look out for - YOURSELF.

In this day and age, it saddens me to see that people are quite honestly "okay" being average. They are okay having an average house, an average career, an average income and an average life. What the hell are you people thinking?! Here's the definition of average from Merriam Webster:

Definition of AVERAGE
intransitive verb
a : to be or come to an average (the gain averaged out to 20 percent)
b : to have a medial value of (a color averaging a pale purple)

With that said, let me tell you what being average REALLY means to me:

Being average is being the BEST of the WORST and the WORST of the BEST.

How does that make you feel? Do you really want to be average? I can tell you right now that when I think of being average in regards to that meaning above...I NEVER want to settle for average. Being average is settling...being average means you are giving up on the potential that God gave you. You were BORN for greatness. Why the hell would you settle for average?

My guess? People get comfortable. We've all fallen victim to "comfortitis". Yeah, it's so dangerous I had to make up a medical term for it. When we get comfortable, we stop growing. We stop learning. We stay stagnant...THESE are the reasons why we never achieve greatness.

Do you have a friend who is incredibly talented? Someone who may be an amazing athelete, artist, singer, musician or writer who does absolutely nothing with their talent? I have plenty. In fact, I WAS one of those people for years. It wasn't a lack of motivation or passion on my part...I just started to become comfortable with where I was. Prior to my comfortitis kicking in...I was motivated, I was starting up a computer business to sell gaming machines on eBay. I was starting another side business for some passive income. As far as I was concerned, I was heading in the right direction.

Then something happened... I got a job offer where I was literally going to make 15 grand more a year than I was already bringing in. So I took it. Over the next few months, I slowly but surely put all of my projects on the back burner and figured, "I'll get to those later. Need to focus on this new job!"
I'll let you guess what happened... Ok no I won't. I'll just say it.

I got comfortable. I started settling with the job I had, I was making good money. I was living in an average place. I had an average life. It was comfortable to me. I was OK with this... So what happened to cause me to leave my comfort zone?

I GOT UNCOMFORTABLE! As simple as this sounds, it's the truth. I started getting uncomfortable with my life. I started getting uncomfortable with my living conditions. I started surrounding myself with successful people and in doing so...I started getting uncomfortable with MY life because I knew I didn't want to settle for average.

So you may be wondering, how did you get uncomfortable? Well, getting uncomfortable is the easy part. The hard part was making sure I STAYED uncomfortable. You see, it's so easy to find your comfort zone. It's much harder to leave your comfort zone and stay there long enough to make changes. So how do you do it? Well, the answer is easy - You get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Think about it, let's say you want to start getting in shape. So you get all gung-ho and sign up for a gym membership. Being new to fitness, you don't know the first thing about what exercises to do, what to eat or how to set any goals. So you get to the gym, you see all of these fit and muscular people there working out...looking how you wished you could look...so what do you do? Well, for a majority of people...they fall off. They stop going to the gym because being there makes them uncomfortable.

For those select few...they get uncomfortable but continue to press on. They realize they should probably get a partner to go with or to find a trainer to help achieve their goals. Granted, the first few times they go, they are uncomfortable...but eventually they become comfortable with being uncomfortable because they are with someone to guide them. Someone that ISN'T average.

I heard a quote once. It's something that I will always live by.

"You are who you hang out with."

I cannot stress how true that really is. If you stay hanging out with broke, emotionally negative people. You will always be broke and negative. If you hang out with people who are not living a healthy lifestyle, eating bad foods and never watching their figure. You will be unhealthy and overweight. If you always hang out with people who are average...you will ALWAYS BE AVERAGE.
So my challenge to you is this: Evaluate your life.

Who are you hanging out with. Who are you associating yourself with. What do you do when you get home from work? What do you do on the weekends when you "go out"? If you're reading this and you realize you're not where you want to be and have been in the same place for years...chances are you are associating yourself with average and are never leaving your comfort zone.
You may justify your position by saying, "But I don't want to turn my back on my friends!" And let me say that you don't have to turn your back on anyone! You just need to step out of your comfort zone. I still see my friends who are suffering from comfortitis. I still have a great time with them. But I just made a conscious decision to take the steps I needed to take to leave a life of mediocrity.

One last thing... I can almost guarantee you that if you start succeeding in whatever endeavor you take on. If you start living and utilizing the potential you were born to use...people will follow you and people will WANT to know how you're doing it.

An INCREDIBLE marketer by the name of Joe Markiewicz said it best, it was originally from a song...but it applies here.

Set yourself on fire and people will come out of the woodwork to watch you burn.

This is just food for thought. This article isn't mean to offend you or hurt anyone's feelings. This is meant to give you some insight. This is a thought process and mindset not many people follow.

Remember, being average is being the BEST of the worst and the WORST of the best. Do you really want that title?