Live Like No One Else

The phrase “You have to live like no one else, so that in the future you can live and give like no one else” is recited by Dave Ramsey on an almost daily basis. His overwhelming purpose is to help the average American get out of debt and build wealth for the long haul. However, the main focus of this article won’t be the power of his Baby-Steps, but rather the almost overlooked wisdom contained in this simple phrase.

*If you want to learn about Dave Ramsey’s Financial Baby Steps to building wealth, take a look at our exposé on him. *

Normal is Just Average

When we were kids, most of us had an all-encompassing dream such as becoming an astronaut, police officer, or even an NBA athlete. Whatever the dream, we were all in to achieve it. For long periods of time, what could feel like weeks or months to a kid, we were all consumed with doing everything we could to attain that dream. In my case, I went days trying to learn how to dribble a basketball without looking at it.

However, for some reason, as we grew up, we started to put our dreams and goals on the back-burner.

Instead of working daily on getting us closer to realizing our dream (whatever it may be), we instead fell into the trap of following the example of “everyone” else. We began to focus more on our personal relaxation and comfort, such as voluntarily spending many hours a day binge watching the newest Netflix series or going out with friends every Friday and Saturday night.

We inadvertently pushed off our exceptional drive to fulfill our dreams and, instead, subconsciously focused on becoming as “Normal” as possible. In essence, we devoted most of our time to remaining average.

You may be saying, “Well, what is wrong with being average?” and, you’d have a point. Frankly, there isn’t anything wrong with being normal. Working a 9–5 job, hanging out with friends on a weekly basis, or staying in the know with the newest tech, fashion, and TV series are all fine IF that is what you truly want.

However, the problem with being “Normal” arises when you realize that what you want is to do more and be more than you are today.

This is where Dave Ramsey’s phrase comes in — Live like no one else.

For those of us who believe we have a higher calling or want to be more than we are today, we have to take the time to step back and plan out how we are going to make our goals a reality. Instead of looking at where we are, we must focus on where we want to go.

We have to understand that to make our dreams come to fruition, we must refuse the average and consciously choose to live our lives like no one else.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

Lewis Carroll

Escaping the Average

Living like no one else is a hard challenge, but it is the only way that you will end up where you want to be. All too often, we fall into the same traps that everyone else does under some idea that it is the “right” way. To avoid this, we have to put on the brakes and turn our lives around. We have to travel in the opposite direction of the crowd.

The best place to start is by taking control of our daily behavior.

For most of us — and without even knowing it, our lives have been placed on autopilot. To illustrate this, think about your typical behavior when you get home from work. If you’re like most, when you get home from work, you’ll put your work bag away, change your clothes, make dinner or go out to eat, then watch TV before bed. And, instead of just one day, this cycle is repeated all week long.

In order to get where we want to go, we have to break this cycle; we have to come home, change, eat, and then get to work furthering our dreams…whatever that might mean to us.

We must put aside things that don’t get us ahead, so that we can find time to work on making our dreams a reality. We have to focus on pushing the limits of ourselves, rather than maximizing our relaxation time.

This is how we succeed, by making small changes that eventually have a profound impact on our lives. Working to achieve our dreams is what will make us happy and feel fulfilled with our lives. Becoming who we are meant to be is how we maximize our true potential.

And, living like no one else is how we escape the average and stop being “Normal.”

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Originally published at freedomsreach.com on March 4, 2019.