First, be average…

…because average is the base of great.

Right now you’re not even average…

because all you talk about is how you once looked and lived.

I don’t care about what you once were…I care about once more. Today is your chance to make things better, first by being average.

But you’ve got to stop talking about past successes and present failures. You’re comparing today to your yesterday’s and each subsequent failure, you’re affirming the regretful narrative of how far you’ve fallen.

Stop looking at great. Looking at how well other people are doing and trying to match their results will only make you quit. Because where you are today-as bad as it is, is hard enough so getting “there,” seems damn near impossible.

The first thing you have to do is stop the bleeding. If you’re rushed into the emergency room, the doctor is not going to talk about how many calories you consume in a day-the only thing he’s going to focus on is stopping the bleeding so that you don’t die.

Your success is dying because you’re focused on a great plan instead of averaged effort. I didn’t say average effort, I said averaged effort meaning you show up, put in the work, consistently.

Average is the base camp of great and you have to get from a negative 1 to a zero, meaning you don’t do anything to make your situation worse.

This is your line in the sand. For me, as bad as I wanted the 34″ waist, I had to first draw the line in the sand and say no cheat days because I had to lose the taste and urge for fried foods. When I started, when food came into the office, I would leave so that I wouldn’t start rabidly shoveling food into my mouth saying “I’ll work it off tonight!” (not).

As the emotions died down, then I could sit in the smells and say no & as I learned to sit in the smells, I could then work without being distracted. Now that I’d proven to myself that I could sit and not smash the plate lunch, I developed confidence to build from there.

In other words, I wasn’t adding to the negatives. I didn’t have to worry about eating something and then beating myself up for hours afterwords and doing extra workouts just to negate the already negatives!

Saying no to the fried foods and busting a sweat every day (even if it was for 15 minutes), added wins instead of worrying about covering the losses. Each win got me closer to zero-where I was neutral to the distractions allowing me to place my focus on looking for the next win. In other words, I was building the averages.

If you don’t stop the bleeding, then you have no reason to be consistent, but once you’re not doing anything to make things worse, then you can focus on doing things to make things better…on the way to being great.

And just think. I started with the goal of average.

Average is awesome because great is at the summit.

Change Your DNA

It is impossible to change your physical DNA, known as Deoxyribonucleic acid (say that as fast as you can 3 times). It is possible to change your mental DNA, known as Do Nothing Average. We live in the “good enough” age, where it is acceptable to be typical. Why is that? Is it because we have it too easy? There doesn’t seem to be enough “pulled myself up by the bootstraps” stories or “walked 3 miles to school one way” memories being told anymore. What will our children tell our future grandkids, “When I was your age I got picked up from school,” or “When I was your age I used to play outside for 10 minutes,” or “When I was your age I used to have to come home when my mom called me on my cell phone.” Is it possible to embrace the changes, yet keep a razor’s edge pushing yourself beyond being average? I say yes. Enjoy the ride, but don’t get off at the next stop. Somehow the more thankful we should be, the more thankless we have become. Is it ever good enough for our children? Do they ever say enough? Things have changed to the dollar- for- a- million mindset; spend $1 on a lottery ticket and win a million; then “you are done.” Many rise everyday, pluck out the eyes of defeat and continue to push forward. There are many out there who look the right way instead of the other way. Others say, “My best wasn’t good enough, how can I get better.” Many who refuse to accept the status quo, who push aside the mindset of “don’t rock the boat, that’s just the way things are done ‘round here.” Are you a We  or Me?  Will you push all of your chips in for one last hand even though the deck seems to be stacked against you?  Will you be known as the one who Did Nothing Average or the one known as Did Not Attempt. Put some more gas in your tank, it’s going to be a long ride.