“To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful.”
~ Carl Jung
Motivation Monday - Richard's Insight
Normal => average => everyday => mediocre => nothing special => settling => unsuccessful....discuss!
OK, so it does sound like the basis of a social sciences essay title doesn't it, but there is some truth in this.
What is average in the UK?
- Annual salary c£27,600 [source]
- Average household expenditure £27,612 [source]
- Average private pension & savings pot c£54,000 generating an income of c£3,600 [source]
- Average household debt excluding mortgages £10,000 [source] & including mortgages £55,442 [source]
- Average retirement age by 2028 68 [source]
- Average life expectancy 81 [source]
- Average holiday spend £1,300 [source]
By definition, averages must have people achieving below the average as well as above it. So, I don't make this link lightly, as I sure many would see attaining these averages, or normal, as a great & challenging goal. I guess the implication by Jung is that the very fact of being below average implies that we are already unsuccessful, which can be a difficult thing to accept.
So, set a goal to be successful then, start with at attaining at least average, if that's a target ahead of you. Then, you can lift your sights and aim higher still. If you are already average or better, then set a target that stretches you further, it does not have to be financial but it should be quantifiable.
By setting a goal a change starts to take place inside us. We start to focus on achieving the goal and our minds start to get creative, better new habits are formed and we seek out the knowledge that will help to drive us forward. In other words, we start to grow. Then, we often find that we reach our goals sooner than we expected, as the compound effect kicks in, which means we can reset higher goals to aim at next.
HERE'S MY REAL POINT...the result of setting a goal is a personal growth and development journey that takes us above normal and toward successful in a different way. Because normal people don't set and stick to goals and targets, they don't invest in their own lifelong personal development and growth and they don't seek to continually strive to improve themselves by investing in and applying what they learn. There is an element of sacrifice and delayed gratification involved...and normal people don't tend to do these things very well.
This journey of personal growth and development is actually what success looks like in reality and it manifests itself on the inside first, with no obvious material value. However, the outside tends to reflect what is on the inside and so quite often material success follows our personal mastery success, therefore resulting in way more than normal...and so successful in both respects.
If you want to be successful, you actually have to be abnormal...but abnormal is, in fact, a really good thing...so be abnormal...be successful!
Richard W J Brown
The Property Voice
#MotivationMonday