Going from Great to Extraordinary
What it Means to be Extraordinary
To be great means you are considerably above the normal or average. To be extraordinary is to be exceptional, remarkable, phenomenal. Oftentimes, we stop at being great and are content that we reached a goal or milestone, or that we received an award, or that someone has acknowledged our contribution.
What if…
… Michael Jordan retired after winning one championship?
…Serena Williams stopped after winning one grand slam?
…Beyoncé was content with just one Grammy award?
…Bill Gates was content with just being a computer programmer?
I can go on and on with examples of people who didn’t settle for great but pushed themselves to be extraordinary in their field.
I want to challenge you to raise your expectations of yourself and your contribution to the world by giving you three strategies to help you move from great to extraordinary.
#1 Put in the Work
Being gifted doesn’t mean that you don’t have to put in work to develop your talent and continuously improve and hone your special gifts.
Athletes and musicians put in the work through practice! Some athletes practice 6–8 hours a day. They don’t rely solely on their current level of skill, and they push themselves to the limit. Even with their natural gifts and talents, they still put in work every single day.
For just a quick minute, compare yourself to Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, or Beyoncé. What do you currently do every day to improve your skills, expand your knowledge and increase your talent like they do?
Now ask yourself, what else can you do to worker harder?
#2 Practice Self-Analysis
When you practice self-analysis, you are open to finding new ways to improve. This is not the same as self-criticism. When you practice self-criticism, you are putting yourself down. Don’t get self-analysis confused with self-criticism.
Let’s be real, it’s easy to become addicted to people telling you that you did a good job, or your presentation was amazing; but do you seek out ways to take your skill and accomplishments to the next level?
Think about Bill Gates and how he continuously improves Microsoft. Every week there seems to be a new update, and every year, or so, a new version is released.
It’s ok to pat yourself on the back and celebrate your accomplishments and wins in life, but after the victory dance you should say to yourself, “Yes, this is great, now how can I make it even better and make an even greater impact?”
#3 Invest in Personal Development
Personal development is how you develop yourself and your skill set and enhance your life.
It’s a life-long process that can happen in many forms, like daily self-reflection and meditation, going back to school to gain new knowledge, working with a coach or mentor to improve your skills, joining a supportive community, or attending a conference, workshop or seminar.
It is whatever you need to move to your next level of success and accomplishment. Invest in yourself! Invest in personal development.
Stop Holding Back!
It’s easy to become complacent with your current level of success and accomplishments, but you still have so much more to offer. You have an obligation to yourself and the world to give it all you got — to be creative and come up new ideas and ways to improve current ideas and products.
The world needs you to push past being great to being extraordinary in your field or industry. If you’ve been holding back, it’s time to make a shift today.
And remember, you should never stop growing, learning, evolving, and honing and improving your skills. Natural gifts and talent alone do not make you successful. While they may help you get to a level of success, they will not keep you there very long. You have to keep putting in the necessary work and development to continue to see results.
I hope that you got something from this that you can use to make some positive changes in your life. Make the decision today to implement what you’ve learned and be extraordinary!
If you enjoyed reading this and learned something that could be beneficial, share it with others who have become complacent with their current level of success but know that they have so much more to offer!
Also, leave your likes and comments below. Let me know how you put these strategies to use in your life.
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Originally published at www.tamarahartley.com on May 10, 2018.
