From Ordinary to Extraordinary

What do you think of yourself – ordinary or extra-ordinary? Do you think that extra-ordinary is some special status which few privileged enjoys or are entitled to? However, it is not true, we all are cut from the same cloth. The distance between ordinary and extraordinary is much smaller than we think, and they are separated by the smallest of margins. Crossing over is as simple as shifting your mindset and making a series of incremental changes. Small daily improvement leaded to giant results. Here are few points which would help change your mindset and work to deliver at extraordinary levels:

Focus, focus, focus: At times during our day to day hustle and bustle, we unintentionally neglect things, such neglect can impact us in subtle ways and we do not even realize until we face the fact. A parallel can be drawn from the fact that we probably do not go out of your way to make your wardrobe messy, but it happens anyway. Messiness and clutter occur in larger parts of people’s lives in the same way. And mind you, this is the truth. How much of our life is bogged down with routine tasks, misplaced priorities and unimportant details? To move forward, it is essential that we start prioritizing things and it is ok to say “no” to keep focus and do not get off-track. An intentional effort is required to put certain essential activities ahead of others of little importance. Personally for me I start by controlling my calendar and following it. I plan what goes on it and do not generally allow others to hijack my agenda. I have discovered that by focusing a little bit more and wiping out some nonessentials, my results increased significantly. I am that much more productive in all I do. 

Start your day early: You need to fights a dragon named lethargy every morning. If you start your day with lethargy, it will usually get the best of you. When the day’s activities are pouring in, your chances of winning a battle drops dramatically. So wake up early—while lethargy is still dreaming and use those early hours to gain the upper hand through time well spent on gratitude, prayer, exercise and reading. If you have a hard time controlling lethargy, plan your battle the previous night. Do this every day for a 66 days, and you will be amazed at the positive results.

Family time:  Family relationship is pivotal for extraordinary life. Measure your success by the strength of your family relationships. To keep firm family bonds make sure to prioritize your time with them above all else. Balance is never easy. We all carry a notion that the list of things one want to do is longer than the time one expect to have on this earth. Even if you work 24/7, you will not do all that you want. Does that mean you work 24/7? Not necessarily. You need to create a balance between work and family where family should always be made top priority. Give due important in planning vacations, holidays and birthdays and so on. These would be the moments to cherish. Too often successful people give their families the leftovers. It is a fact that it is difficult to live an extraordinary life if things are not good at home. Family relationships take untiring effort and work. But that one effort will yield a huge return.

Look to have extraordinary team member: Every leader knows that the better the players, the better the team. Good teams create momentum, and momentum makes leadership easier. Given a choice, one would always like to have one extraordinary player than three ordinary ones. Extraordinary people make things happen. They are game changers. They are initiators and they take responsibility. They carry more than their weight, and their influence is felt in everything they touch. If you find one star player, he will change the entire dynamic and performance of your team. And that change can take the entire group to another level.

Dive in and start swimming: Extraordinary people take risks and never believes in playing it safe. When a good idea or opportunity comes along, they just dive into it. It is unnerving when you do not know how cold that water is. But failure is not the end of the world, and extraordinary lives do not exist in lazy streams.

Own an extraordinary attitude: While this step might seem the simplest, it could be the most important. As the saying does “A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst, and it sparks extraordinary results.” Your attitude may be the greatest determining factor in how you live your life—positively or negatively. And it is entirely within your control. Choose to be extraordinarily positive.

Review and reflect on your day:  We are always on the go at all times every day and we rarely take out   time to reflect. Extraordinary leaders, however pause for a few minutes every evening to consider how they spent their time, what they accomplished during their day and what they can do better tomorrow. That is how you learn from your mistakes and improve. That is how you become exceptional. I have been personally following this for last one year and it has benefitted me immensely.

One last thought on how to change mindset from ordinary to extraordinary, as aptly written by author Mark Sanborn in his blog, “Every morning when we wake up, we are confronted with a choice: another day just like the last or a clean slate to start all over.” Make today the day you choose to pursue an extraordinary life and start a new journey. As we all know small daily improvements over time will result in extraordinary results and we all are pieces of the same cloth.

Source: Learnings from reading of articles by Robin Sharma, John C Maxwell and learnings from self experience.