Mediocrity Is Your Enemy - It Damages!
There is one mind set I dislike because of the damage it does to people who allow it to "possess" them. It’s called mediocrity. Many people in life are so prone to it - and it ends up depriving them of the opportunity to BE and ACHIEVE so much more than they settle for in life.
It is important for every adult who aspires to have a worthwhile existence to realise that every time s/he voluntarily settles for less than the acceptable standard in any area of life, s/he is invariably being mediocre and that will only lead him/her to failure eventually! Note that failure here means "accomplishment of LESS than you have potential for".
To be successful, a person must choose to rise and stay above mediocrity in every area of endeavour. Keep this in mind when next you have to take a decision about whether you should strive to meet set standards to gain entrance to a degree program, or to decide which of the candidates interviewed for a job should move to the next stage etc.
Don't Be A One-Eyed Champion Amongst The Blind
Then on a more personal note, NEVER allow people to praise you so much for one achievement that you lose sight of the fact that a lot still remains that you do not know and have not done! Some people think that "the world" ends in their workplace or neighbourhood where everyone says they are the "best".
What they frequently forget is that outside their workplaces(and in other people’s workplaces) exists a "bigger world", where someone else could have already recorded even greater achievements! A local saying in my language (Yoruba) aptly illustrates the foregoing point thus: "It is the person who has not travelled away from home that always thinks his father's farm is the biggest there is". The point being made is clear enough.
If you allow people to praise you so much that you begin to "think" you are the best, instead of striving perpetually to "be the best", you will be like the proverbial one-eyed person in the country of the blind. Keep being that way, and one day, a "total idiot" - with two eyes - from the country where everyone can see, will voyage to your "country", and suddenly assume a superstar status that you never enjoyed. This would happen ONLY because she would know, and be able to do, many things you never did - and probably cannot!
Summary
In effect, I am saying that no matter your achievements in any area of endeavour, ALWAYS continue to strive to do something new and better. Don't be contented to sit back and relax for too long. Yes, it's okay to celebrate your successes, but don't overdo it. Quickly review and re-focus on bigger goals to aim for. Remind yourself that out there, in the bigger world, someone will have already done something you have not, in that same area. Even though you would have no desire to compete with him/her, that knowledge should challenge you that you can go even further to achieve new, higher levels of performance in your personal or work life.
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“Even if you’re on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there” – Anon
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Let me end by imploring you to be unafraid of the unfamiliar. Even if you are the "undisputed champion", you can still actively seek opportunities to learn something new and different TODAY! Go out of your way to participate in activities that will expose you to things you do not know or have not done before, but which you need to learn. It is difficult only in the initial stages. Once you start, you'll find it’s much easier than you thought. When you do it well and for long enough, you will find that people around you - in and out of work - will openly accord you even greater recognition and respect, PLUS express interest in learning from you and getting to know you better.
Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist – Tayo Solagbade - devotes his time to exploring new frontiers of Self-Development Education, especially as it relates to showing people what they can do by themselves, for themselves to achieve their set goals - DESPITE the limitations of their circumstances or environment.
To get more useful Tips, Information And News that can help you do what you do more successfully, visit http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/news/sdacn_current.htm to subscribe - within seconds - to Tayo's "Performance Enhancement Newsletter".
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