Tag: better

If you accept average

Posted on by philipdodson

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People moan. They moan a great deal.

Often that is all that they do, online, indoors, at lunch with colleagues.

Yet that moaning rarely turns into action and often in spite of moaning, people go back or repeat.

Average is what many things are, poor value for money, badly made, badly designed, ineffective, poor service, inedible beige food, unsatisfactory, just OK, unfulfilling.

Yet the moaners go back to that job, that life, that product, that service, that restaurant.

If you accept average in what you choose to do, or in what you choose to buy or use, then average is all you can expect from your life and more ineffective moaning won’t alter anything.

We have to choose to improve, lead, feedback and take action. Vote with your feet on poor service, poor products, average anything.

Also, vote with your feet on yourself and average ideas, average performance, on your average life.

Better comes from taking action, belief, commitment and a desire to not accept average or simply good enough in anything.

Those that have chosen to do better haven’t chosen the easy option, but the hard work and challenge that action involves reaps huge rewards.

After all, there is only upside on pushing yourself to achieve better.

Settling for easy

Posted on by philipdodson

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When we are faced with the hard work that our day-to-day routine can throw at us, when things are getting a little challenging and the reserves are a used up, we can often look at an ‘easier’ existence, job, work whatever and think ‘yes, I could do that and life would be easier’.

However, before you are too hasty in settling for what seems ‘easier’ take a rain check.

Is any life, job, activity, existence easy?

It might seem attractive to step into someone else’s shoes and take an ‘easier’ option. The fact is, if it’s easy, then there is probably no value to it, no fulfilment, no meaning and after an initial period, it is likely to lead to boredom. If it doesn’t have those things, then, in reality, it is not ‘easier’ it is in fact much harder.

A good exercise for all of us to do now and again is to go a do another person’s job or try their life for a day. I think we would conclude that the grass isn’t always greener and perhaps we would appreciate what we already have much more.

That doesn’t mean always being satisfied, it means to focus on what you have and commit to making it better, adapting it, and evolving it. However, do not wish for an escape to an easy life, as easy is not what fulfils us, it is just an escape route to avoid commitment to making what we have better.

There are no shortcuts to something better.