How To Evolve From Ordinary To Extraordinary
The reason you’re getting subpar results out of life
Last week, I was woken up out of my slept and felt the need to write. I fought the urge for about 30 minutes and even tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. Finally, I sat up and started writing any and everything that came to mind. I’m a firm believer on doing the things that God has put on your heart. It was 3am, do you think I wanted to be up in the wee hours of the morning writing? NO! However, I’m so locked into my spiritual journey, that I’m trying to be obedient in every aspect of my life. Aside from that, I believe in writing things down. Mattie James, a lifestyle expert, who I’ve been following for years, said, “You’re stressing yourself out and causing anxiety, because you’re refusing to write things down. When you write something down, you start to close the tabs in your head, because you no longer have to keep it stored there because you wrote it down and can reference it later.” She calls it brain dumping. I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told myself to remember something and later in the day can’t remember that thing to save my life. It’s so much going on and being thrown at your brain throughout the day, writing it down in my notes section on my phone, or even a sticky note has been a lifesaver. Whether it’s a task I need to complete, a person I need to call, or an idea I want to implement, writing things down as soon as I get the thought has saved me tremendously.
Let’s not get off track too much, that is not the point of this post. As I was writing at 3am, I had a revaluation, pop into my mind. Stop putting in minimal effort and expecting miraculous results! I hope this hits you like it hit me. We live in a popcorn world. Everybody wants to be successful, but nobody wants to put in the work necessary to get there. I’m not sure if it’s entitlement or laziness, but newsflash, just because you want something, doesn’t mean you will get it. I’ll even take it a step further, you can be great at something, but talent alone will only get you so far. Victoria Forester, an author, once said, “Raw talent only gets you so far in this old world and the rest is a whole lot of practice, persistence, and perspiration.” You can be the best (insert thing here,) if you don’t have grit and hustle, you won’t go very far. I’m not sure if it’s the “post-covid” effect, or entitlement, but something has plagued us with, dear I say, laziness, when it comes to the things we say we want. Stop thinking that just because you do 20% of work, that your RIO (return on investment) will be 100%. This is for every aspect of your life.
For example: for years I’ve been consistent-ish, with working out. I would go three/four months where I was working out four times a week. However, I would ignore the meal plan my trainer would give me and eat whatever I wanted. On top of that, I was showing up to the gym for my workouts, but doing the bare minimum, not challenging myself with the weights, and not doing cardio. I would step on the scale and saw that I only lost 5-10 pounds, if that. I would be pissed and stop going to the gym. I had to step back and say, is the gym really not working, or am I giving minimal effort and expecting maximum results. Just because I did the bare minimum, which was working out, didn’t mean I was entitled to losing the weight and being healthier.
I can pin point so many other areas of my life where I wasn’t reaching a goal or expectation, but thru it all, I was the culprit as to why. After taking a step back, I saw that this was an issue with so many areas including, business, work, fitness, relationships and more. I was paralyzed with the “idea,” that as long as I give a little and try, it’ll work out how I want. God quickly bursted my bubble and brought me to the reality that my hopes, dreams, and positive thinking are NOT powerful enough to make things happen in the real world, without doing the hard work necessary to get it. You’ve heard the saying, “If you run from the hard work, you might as well hide from the money.” That saying is true literally and even figuratively! You are special and God has a plan for your life, you’re worthy just because you’re alive! However, you’re not entitled to the fruits of this world just because you show up. You have to give maximum effort. Show up with a sense of excellence. Give your best to everything you do, that’s how you get miraculous results. I don’t know about you, but I’m in a season where I want act with a spirit of excellence with everything I do, even if it’s just washing dishes. That takes intentionality. If I’m not going to give maximum effort, why do it at all? If you’ve been getting the same average or subpar results, maybe it’s time to check your effort. There are many things that will be out of your control, but you have to at least do your part by giving it everything you’ve got! Remember, how you do one thing, is how you do everything. If you’ve been giving bare minimum in one area of life, do some soul searching to see what other areas you’ve been just coasting too! Why be average and get the bear minimum, when God has called us to be so much more.
Let’s put our foot on the gas and leave nothing left in the tank!
