One sure way to be rare is to be excellent.

You don’t have to be famous, you don’t have to be the best, you just have to strive for excellence. Strangely, it’s an unusual approach to life.

Excellence is out there but it’s not always valued, or even noticed (like this world famous violinist playing in the Washington DC subway at rush hour). Ironically you can’t always make as much money out of something excellent as you can from something mediocre (or even crap).

Andy McKee is an excellent guitar player:

He’s rare because he’s put a lot of effort into learning how to play the guitar in a unique way. Most people who learn the guitar just learn a few chords and then their guitar becomes an ornament gathering dust in their bedroom.

Don’t be just another safe, average, middle-of-the-road version of you. Be the excellent one that you are more than capable of being. It’s really the only way to go.

When the proverbial hits the fan or when everything seems to happen at once, it’s easy to move into firefighting mode. We concentrate on the immediate problem. We drop the things that keep us sane. We don’t go to the gym because there isn’t time. We eat fast food because we’re too tired to cook. We neglect ourselves and our lives.

This is an understandable reaction. We’re putting all our energies into dealing with the big problems, we’ve prioritised them and put other things to the side. But it’s not the best way.

What we should be doing in difficult times is really adhering to the things that keep us sane. This is the time we should be going to the gym so that we can burn off some stress, and keep a state of balance in our lives. We should take the time to eat properly and get enough rest so that we can face the challenges with a healthy mind and body.

Easier said than done of course, but in the long run it makes life a lot more manageable.

Image: walknboston

1. What have you done for someone else recently?
2. What have you done for the world as a whole recently?
3. What would you like people to say about you at your funeral?
4. What do you think they’ll actually say?
5. What could you do to change this?
6. If your life was going to end at the end of this year what would you do before then?
7. Why don’t you just do that anyway?

It would be worth more than gold.

Wars would be fought over it.

Lives would be dedicated in it’s pursuit.

Those willing to expend it would find it easier to get more of it.

But it’s not a commodity.

It is something you already have within yourself.

You can tap into it at any time.

For free.

About the only thing that comes to us without effort is old age.

- Gloria Pitzer

P.S: I realise this isn’t actually logical, but you get the idea yeah?!

Image: nattu

Nuff said.

In a similar way, reading blogs about personal development doesn’t mean you know anything about it, or that you are really doing anything.

You aren’t developing yourself – until you start to act.

How many of these blogs/books/DVDs/courses do you need to consume before you start to implement what you are learning? Success won’t magically come and offer itself to you simply because you’ve read enough blog posts.

Personal development doesn’t mean reading blogs…or talking about it…or telling other people how to do it. Personal development is not a passive thing. It is a very active thing.

To find out what “Personal Development” really means you’ll have to take action.

Then you’ll know.

Self-proclaimed skeptics generally aren’t skeptics, they’re just people who enjoying disagreeing with things.

But healthy skepticism is a different thing. It’s good to have a look at things before trusting them. It’s good to consider what people are saying before agreeing or disagreeing with them. It’s good to keep an open mind.

Blind acceptance or blind rejection are both unhelpful. But there is a healthy balance somewhere in the middle where you can consider all things in the light of your own knowledge and experience. You can take into account the all the facts along with the wisdom of others who have proven themselves to you, weigh up the options and make your decision.

There’s still no guarantee that you’re right or wrong, but it’s a healthy way to go about it.

Generally people follow these norms, and generally they do so on automatic pilot.

So over time these norms become rules. If you break them then people want to know why.

But if you look at the really successful people in this world you will find that generally they haven’t played within the rules. They’ve broken out and taken risks. They’ve dared to risk embarrassment, humiliation, failure, ridicule…

And it’s been worth it!

If you want to be successful the trick is to keep your dreams in mind…

• Post them on the fridge,
• Write them on the bathroom mirror,
• Carry them on a piece of paper in your wallet,
• Set reminders on your mobile and email,
• Talk to friends, family, colleagues about them…

Do whatever it takes to keep them in mind so that the itch is there.

Then just keep scratching.

Notice how kids are interested in everything?

I was on a bus a while back and a little girl’s conversation to her dad was something like this, “Look Daddy there’s a car. Hey, there’s a dog. That car’s blue…there’s some people walking…look there’s another car…” And it went on like that for ages. She was interested in everything.

Somewhere along the line our interest wanes. But when you meet people who are still curious – they are always interesting. They can always tell you something you didn’t know. They have stories to tell and experiences to share; they are fascinating people to meet.

Curiosity is something to be cultivated.

Image: Tom@HK

Humility is a virtue but there’s nothing wrong with realising your potential. You are far more capable than you realise. You can do far more than you think you can.

You are capable of things you couldn’t even imagine.

You are capable of things that would blow the minds of all those around you.

So rather than doubting yourself, back yourself. Make a conscious decision to give yourself your full support, your full encouragement.

Bet on yourself – the odds are better than you think.

Confucius summed it up beautifully.

Those who achieve greatly do so by throwing themselves completely into whatever they are doing.

They have a singlemindedness of focus.

They have an intensity of purpose.

They are prepared to make sacrifices.

They are prepared to shed blood, sweat and tears.

The only way to be really successful, regardless of what you do, is to throw yourself into it and do it completely.

People are defeated in life, not because of lack of ability, but for lack of whole-heartedness.

- Norman Vincent Peale

So go for it!

Image: mikebaird

It doesn’t have to involve wild adventures in far flung lands (although that would be cool). But it should involve some challenges that you overcome, some risks, some things that don’t work out, and some things that do.

In every good story: things happen.

People get hurt, humiliated, challenged, bruised, upset, defeated. But they also experience happiness, bravery, victory, peace, love.

If your life was a story, would it be worth hearing?

p.s. It’s not to late to start making the current chapter more interesting.

You are changing as you read this. The atomic structure of your body is quite different today to what it was yesterday. You are, in some small way, older and perhaps even wiser than you were yesterday. The world today is different to what it was yesterday. The whole Universe is.

Change is unavoidable so rather than fight it, embrace it. Work with it.

Rather than holding on to tired old ways of doing things, look to the future and find better ways of doing things.

Rather than believing that your best days are behind you, see a bright future ahead of yourself.

Rather than accepting that some things are out of your league, have a shot at them.

Change – it’s good for you.

They were just in the right place at the right time.

But it wasn’t luck.

It was because they were in lots of different places at lots of different times. So sooner or later they were bound to be in THE right place at THE right time.