Curious about Average: What Does It Mean to You and Your Life? Is It Good Enough?

I am reading a little book by Seth Godin called The Dip. Even though the book is small, it packs a huge wallop. Godin has some harsh, but more than useful words about “Average is for Losers.”

“The next time you catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realize that you have only two good choices: Quit or be exceptional… Isn’t your time and your effort and your career and your reputation too valuable to squander on just being average? Average feels safe, but it’s not. It’s invisible.”

Heavy thoughts. And a great deal to consider. Being exceptional can easily fall outside our comfort zone. And, there are also many who suggest that being “good enough” is fine. Yes, I do agree that concentrating at all times on perfection can keep us from ever completing a project. It can also cut down our chances of making it through the dips.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be an invisible average – I want to be exceptional and reap those benefits. How about you? Read the book. It is an eye and mind opener.

I found a huge number of quotations – many as unsettling as Godin’s book:

• “When you're average, you're just as close to the bottom as you are the top.” - Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician
• “Don't let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you're crazy. Succeed, and he thinks you're lucky. Acquire wealth, and he thinks you're greedy. Pay no attention. He simply doesn't understand.” - Robert G. Allen, American financial writer
• “Do a little bit more than average and from that point on our progress multiplies itself out of all proportion to the effort put in.” - Paul J. Meyer, American businessman
• “The average man does not know what to do with this life, yet wants another one which will last forever.” - Anatole France, French novelist
• “If you are only doing what you are getting paid for, and doing it no better than the average employee, then your pay is most likely right where it should be.” - Bo Bennett, American businessman

But, there are also many quotations that take another turn about average:

• “The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.” - Robert H. Schuller, American clergyman
• “Look at the average American diet: ice cream, butter, cheese, whole milk, all this fat. People don't realize how much of this stuff you get by the end of the day. High blood pressure is from all this high-fat eating.” - Jack LaLanne, American athlete
• “The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.” - W. Edwards Deming, American scientist
• “In today's knowledge-based economy, what you earn depends on what you learn. Jobs in the information technology sector, for example, pay 85 percent more than the private sector average.” - William J. Clinton, American President
• “No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.” - Peter Drucker, American businessman

Personally, I feel that we aren’t born “average.” We can all work to be known as “exceptional.”

“Whatever the difference between brilliant and average brains, we are all creative. And through practice and study we can enhance our skills and talents.” - Jeff Hawkins, American inventor

I agree. How about you?

Curious about Being a Catalyst: Who or What Have Been Catalysts for You? And How Important Have They Been?

Definitions: (1) Something that causes activity between two or more persons or forces without itself being affected. (2) A person or thing that precipitates an event or change: His imprisonment by the government served as the catalyst that helped transform social unrest into revolution. (3) A person whose talk, enthusiasm, or energy causes others to be more friendly, enthusiastic, or energetic.

“A catalyst, of course, is a force that creates change. To live one’s life to full potential means being a catalyst for one’s own creativity, projects, life’s purpose, etc. The secret to being a catalyst is to be someone whose energy, thoughts, and intention accelerate those processes – rather than one whose energy, thoughts, and intentions cause plateaus or backward movements.” – Dr. Ellie Drake, savvy business woman

I chose this week’s blog theme because of what I have already learned from Dr. Ellie Drake’s transformational program, It’s Easier Done than Said.

Let me back up a bit. I found about Ellie and NetWEB marketing in December 2007. She partnered with Mike Filsaime and her husband, Charlie, to create a marketing plan for those who have been involved with Network Marketing but disappointed and concerned that we weren’t making use of Web Marketing.

Being impressed with the plan, I joined as a charter NetWEB marketer and signed up for the February Bootcamp to be held by the Drakes and their team in Atlanta. I became even more impressed with Ellie and Charlie so purchased her program and have also posted a WebNet website sponsored by them. Yes, they have served as catalysts for me and my life and intentions.

Who or what have served or are serving as catalysts in your life and/or businesses? I am curious to hear.

I know you will find the following quotations fascinating:

• “Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us-and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning.” - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist
• “I'm a catalyst for change. You can't be an outsider and be successful over 30 years without leaving a certain amount of scar tissue around the place.” - Rupert Murdoch, American publisher
• “A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.” - Wade Boggs, American athlete
• “The civil rights movement would experience many important victories, but Rosa Parks will always be remembered as its catalyst.” - Jim Costa, American politician
• “There is a growing acceptance and interest in publicly funded school choice as a catalyst for education reform in general and a way to empower parents to be education reformers.” - John T. Walton, American businessman

And a few more:

• “And I wound up in New Orleans for all those years and it was a great place, really a catalyst creatively.” - Jimmy Buffett, American musician
• “I've just taught thousands of people over the radio in the USA how to mend broken watches and broken house appliances. I am a catalyst or trigger to access these powers.” - Uri Geller, Israeli entertainer
• “Technology is similarly just a catalyst at times for fundamental forces already present.” - Scott Cook, American businessman
• “To them though, not to us, we were just a catalyst for their imagination.” - Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
• “The LSD situation is only a catalyst to the brain, as the brain has all that stuff anyway, because it's the subconscious that comes out.” - Noel Redding, English musician

And, my all time favorite:

“Yes, exercise is the catalyst. That's what makes everything happen: your digestion, your elimination, your sex life, your skin, hair, everything about you depends on circulation. And how do you increase circulation?” - Jack LaLanne, American athlete

Let me hear what you think and have also experienced.

Curious about Craft: What Is Yours? How Did You Choose It and Develop the Necessary Skills?

Definitions of Craft : (1) Art or skill; dexterity in particular manual employment; hence, the occupation or employment itself; manual art; a trade. (2) Those engaged in any trade, taken collectively; a guild; as, the craft of ironmongers. (3) Cunning, art, or skill, in a bad sense, or applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; skill or dexterity employed to effect purposes by deceit or shrewd devices.

“If it's flipping hamburgers at McDonald's, be the best hamburger flipper in the world. Whatever it is you do you have to master your craft.” - Snoop Dogg, American musician

I chose craft as this week’s theme, because I feel it has a much broader meaning that most people attribute to it. Yes, it is an art and/or skill – in my estimation, anyway. I like the similarity between the hours spent learning a manual craft – as a possible apprentice – or learning a skill that relates to leadership, relationships, communication and even selling.

Years ago, when I was pursuing the fine art of fiber and clay, there were other artists who felt that if you didn’t paint, you were only a craftsman. You will also notice from some of the quotations that there is the same broad definition of craft in the areas of writing, acting, science and more.

In any case, I propose that we develop the craft and/or crafts we wish to pursue until we become true masters. I appreciate American novelist, Amy Tan’s thoughts, “I wanted to write stories for myself. At first it was purely an aesthetic thing about craft. I just wanted to become good at the art of something. And writing was very private.”

Here are some more of the many thoughts about craft I found:

• “Most people won't realize that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.” - Katherine Anne Porter, American journalist
• “Soon I knew the craft of experimental physics was beyond me - it was the sublime quality of patience - patience in accumulating data, patience with recalcitrant equipment - which I sadly lacked.” - Abdus Salam, Pakistani scientist
• “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” - Ernest Hemingway, American novelist
• “If one takes pride in one's craft, you won't let a good thing die. Risking it through not pushing hard enough is not a humility.” - Paul Keating, Australian politician
• “The life so short, the craft so long to learn.” – Hippocrates, Greek scientist
• “You cannot limit yourself to one area of specialized craft. Instead, regardless of craft, you have to charge all forms of expression that lead to the community, to other people, with meaning.” - Alexander Kluge, German director
• “Well you can't teach the poetry, but you can teach the craft.” - David Hockney, English artist
• “The dirty little secret of journalism is that it really isn't a profession, it's a craft. All you need is a telephone and a conscience and you're all set.” - Andrew Sullivan, American journalist

And a few more for you to ponder:

• “You should put time into learning your craft. It seems like people want success so quickly, way before they're ready.” - Lucinda Williams, American musician
• “It would be curious to know what leads a man to become a stationer rather than a baker, when he is no longer compelled, as among the Egyptians, to succeed to his father's craft.” - Honore de Balzac, French novelist
• “Craft is part of the creative process.” - Gavin Bryars, English composer

So, do you have a special craft? How do you feel about the approach?

Curious about Coping and How You Cope with Challenges

“Coping rests on your shoulders. Forget ‘they.’ This is your life. Period.” Tom Peters, American businessman

“People ask, how do you cope, and all I can say is that you do.” - Alan Bates, British actor

Do you ever feel that you are being tested? Suddenly, you have several more challenges than usual to cope with. It doesn’t happen to me often, but this was the week.

It started on Tuesday when I slipped and fell full force onto my foot just before teaching my three group fitness classes. Recovering, I did teach. But, as the day continued my foot took on excruciating pain. I worried that I had broken a bone or bones. However, after spending more than four hours in the Emergency Room on Wednesday, I received the great news that it wasn’t broken.

There is more! Remember that misfortune often comes in threes.

Number two is that even though “I am never sick” my body has succumbed to the bronchitis that is prevalent this winter, so I am hacking and hacking – very unpleasant. And number three is that we have just experienced a huge snow storm – 18 inches total – and my car, which is parked outside, is buried.

I am not complaining. I decided to write this blog to not only help you with your “coping” but to also help me.

What do the experts have to say:

• “Humor can help you cope with the unbearable so that you can stay on the bright side of things until the bright side actually comes along.” - Allen Klein, American businessman
• “Problems are not the problem; coping is the problem.” - Virginia Satir, American psychologist
• “Culture is a way of coping with the world by defining it in detail.” - Malcolm Bradbury, English novelist
• “One of the things Mr. Kennedy taught me was that in laying out a new project, you shouldn't try to cope with every little problem.” - Sargent Shriver, American politician
• “I choose not to think of my life as surviving, but coping.” - Lorna Luft, American actress
• “One of the effects of living with electric information is that we live habitually in a state of information overload. There's always more than you can cope with.” - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian sociologist
• “Coping with the demands of everyday life would be exceedingly trying if one could arrive at solutions to problems only by actually performing possible options and suffering the consequences.” - Albert Bandura, Canadian psychologist

A couple more quotations that I found to be interesting:

“I was asked to act when I couldn't act. I was asked to sing 'Funny Face' when I couldn't sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn't dance - and do all kinds of things I wasn't prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.” - Audrey Hepburn, American actress

“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.” - Stephen King, American author

So what are the challenges you have been coping with? I hope this blog has helped a bit. I know that it has helped me. Thank you!

Curious about Flow: Different Ways to Experience It

Definition of Flow: To proceed; to issue forth; as, wealth flows from industry and economy; To have or be in abundance; to abound; to full, so as to run or flow over; to be copious. A continuous movement of something abundant; as, a flow of words. Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought, diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady movement of a river; a stream.

“Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” – Zhuangzi, Chinese philosopher

“Surrender to the flow.” - Mike Gordon, American musician

I chose the word “Flow” for this week’s blog, because it is a principle that Ellie Drake presents in her It’s Easier Done than Said program. Who is Ellie Drake? She is a bright and beautiful young woman who is involved with a new NetWeb marketing project. I attended her NetWeb marketing Bootcamp a couple of weeks ago and was so impressed I purchased her 90 day transformation program.

The idea of Flow was originally introduced to me through Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his books. The one I recommend is Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He describes the experience of flow as: “In the course of my studies I tried to understand as exactly as possible how people felt when they most enjoyed themselves, and why. . . . I developed a theory of optimal experience based on the concept of flow – the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost for the sheer sake of doing it.”

Over the years, I have found that for myself when I am in a state of flow I am not only enjoying myself, I also lose complete track of time. When you are in flow, what are you engaged in and by? If you tell me that you are never in flow, I suggest that you re-examine what you are spending you time upon. And, then purchase the book and get into the flow.

I found some interesting quotations – some that relate and some that don’t. But they all revolve around flow:

• “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” - Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher
• “I just go with the flow, so any style can be in my music - that makes it exciting.” - Yoko Ono, American artist
• “Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.” - Tobias Wolff, American writer
• “The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.” - Jim Hightower, American activist
• “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and... when they fail to do this purpose they become dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., American leader
• “Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.” - Bruce Barton, American author
• “Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually it passes and the flow returns. It's part of racing.” - Frank Shorter, American athlete

In addition, I will leave you with the following quotations to consider and think about:

“I live my life on self-belief and I live it partly on going with the flow.” - Melanie Brown, English musician

“Life has a balance and natural order. I'm not fighting the flow anymore. My career right now is very up. It's happening naturally and it's happening well.” - Irene Cara, American actress

How and when have you experienced flow? I would love to read your story.