(ThyBlackMan.com) I do not set your pace or status in life and you do not set mine. However, we both can do even better than we are doing. If you are surrounded by people who half-step and who only do the minimum in all they do, the chances are that you will fall into mediocrity as they rub off on you. If it is the norm in your circle, you will seem comfortable with it and fight to stay in that half-stepping group.
Life does not allow you to work at whatever leisurely pace you would like to. Life is like a test where you have only one hour. Maybe you think you should have two hours. Maybe you think you need three hours. Maybe you want to take your time. But if you go at a mediocre pace, you will not do well. If you do not elevate your thinking and your performance, others will leave you in the dust, you will short change yourself and life will pass you by. The good news is that you can rise up and change that!
Excuses are not your friend. Saying you are not perfect is often just an excuse to keep underperforming. Saying you cannot go any faster or do any better is another excuse. You would be surprised how much more efficiently you could perform, work or produce if the motivation changed. If someone put a gun to your head, you would work faster, produce more or perform better. If someone agreed to give you 10 million dollars, you would likely do the same. So you see, it’s about motivation. People keep praising Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama, but what about you and your potential? What about finding your motivation to excellence within or letting others squeeze it out of you? Do you allow this to happen as these men did? Or do you simply crawl back into a dark and pitiful cave of mediocrity?
Mediocrity is the enemy of excellence. People do not like being pushed and if you don’t, you need to learn to push yourself. Expect more, do more, be more, have more, achieve more. Men and women are always saying how we won’t settle when it comes to relationships. Yet you go right back and settle for mediocrity from yourself. That has to stop. No more excuses. You were born for excellence and its time that you stop living beneath your potential.
YOU MUST LEARN TO EXPECT MORE FROM YOURSELF!
The Bible tells us to do whatever we do with all of our might. It further tells us to press towards the mark of the high calling in Christ. It tells us we are the head and not the tail (so act like you know). The Bible even tells us to seek perfection. The Bible teaches that a man (or woman) is exactly what he or she thinks in their heart. The Bible says iron sharpens iron so I suggest that you plan to be accountable and expect to be corrected. When iron strikes iron, sparks fly – but the end result is two sharper swords or pieces of iron forged in the fire of greatness and ready for battle.
Success is not measured by everybody in dollars and cents. Neither is it measured by keeping up with what others have nor what they think you should have. However success is not just the ability to live life the way you choose – success is living life the way you were meant to live.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made. But what do many of us do? Get fat, get lazy, make excuses and do as little as we can to get by. Aren’t you tired of just getting by and living in the Mediocre subdivision on Barely Get Along Street? Don’t complain – make that change. And just as Michael Jackson said, start with the man or woman in the mirror. Let others help you. When people want the best for you and they know you can do better, it is not impatience. It is them expecting excellence from you that you are not expecting of yourself. It is very likely that all of us can rise higher with help than we can alone.
The lady who gets to the bank at 4:02 and gets upset because they will not let her in has herself to blame for mediocrity. The man who only does the bare minimum on his job is standing in mediocrity. The student who is given instructions to write a 3 to 5 page essay but only writes 3 pages is operating in mediocrity. The employee who wants the minimum wage raised lives in a mindset of mediocrity because minimum wage should be an incentive to do better, not a long-term method of living comfortably.
So I am making a wake- up call to each and every one of you to do better than you did last year, to set higher standards for yourself, to avoid making excuses, to hold yourself accountable, to be the best you can be in every area, to measure yourself by your potential instead of measuring yourself against those people you have surpassed and to shine your light on others.
While it is true that none of us are perfect, we cannot, should not and must not use that as a continual excuse to avoid giving our best, doing our best and being at our best. I am far, far, far, far from perfect – but my thinking is right and my goal is always excellence. For all of us, excellence must become a personal standard, a constant reachable goal. We must pursue excellence in all that we do, whether we are getting paid or not, whether we would get in trouble or not. I say this because people will step up if they have to go to court, if they are about to fail a class, if their lights are about to be turned off or if something will affect their paycheck. Sadly, mostly everything else is approached with mediocrity by too many of our people. But excellence means to do your best even if none of these issues exist.
We are a great people, full of potential and promise, both as a group and individually. But it does not matter how great we are if we do not know it. And it matters even less if we will not act like the great people we were meant to be. You (and I), need to raise up new standards of excellence and great expectations for ourselves, our children and our community. Remember, excuses only hurt you and make you comfortable with the fact that you are not doing your best. We need every advantage, angle and edge possible to succeed in this world. Now that you have been told, act like you know.
Staff Writer; Marque-Anthony
