Excelling at Underachieving

"We're Michigan. We don't play to everyone else's level and for the last two weeks we have. But we're going to step it up," defensive end Frank Clark said. One of the most storied programs in college football, the University of Michigan struggled for a second straight week in a row and barely defeated a far inferior team, the University of Connecticut (the week before they barely edged out Akron).

When I read this quote on Sunday it got me thinking about how most people actually live their lives this way - playing down to their competition or environment. The truth is, most people play down to their environment. We tend to achieve just enough to get by, so if the bar is really low, then we typically do just enough to get over that low bar.

The problem is that most people spend their lives completely underachieving because they are surrounded by mediocrity, on a good day. Most people complain about their jobs, can't wait until Friday rolls around to start the weekend, aren't living out their passions, and somehow they feel just good enough about themselves and their situation that they never make a change. Barely surviving another week existing in a sub-par environment somehow makes us feel just good enough to prevent us from pursuing something greater, something impactful, something risky, something excellent.

Even though Akron and UConn lost their games against Michigan (and I'm sure they were massively disappointed), the confidence that they can compete with the a top team will carry forward with them for the rest of the season. Competing against one of the top teams in the country and losing a close game was way more valuable to them than scheduling and beating some lower tier mediocre team just to get a win.

So sometimes it isn't just about winning. In fact, most of the time it isn't about winning. It's about putting ourselves out there to try something bigger, something riskier, something we feel called to....something that requires that we move out of our comfortable mediocre environment and stretch ourselves. If we are going to attempt to reach the full potential that God has called each of us to, then we will need to move towards environments and people that raise the bar for us and challenge us to new heights!

Drip Coffee

OK, so this post has nothing to do with coffee, but rather all about drip. I heard Seth Godin on an EntreLeadership podcast recently talking about the concept of drip. Seth has written over 5,000 blog posts; one post every day for the last 10 years or so. This is a monumental feat that has given him an amazing voice into the world of marketing. Most of his posts are just a few paragraphs, most of which probably took him only a few minutes to write and publish. I big part of his success has to do with his consistency over a long stretch of time, which he even admits. He has dripped his knowledge out to the world for the last 10 years, one blog post at a time.

The drip concept - doing small, even micro, activities on a very consistent basis for a long period of time to see huge shifts and outcomes. This idea has struck a chord with me. In a world where everything has to be done instantly, fast and in a huge way, the idea of drip goes against our cultural norms. 

Drip requires discipline. 
Drip requires long-term vision.
Drip requires deferred gratification.

I've been mulling over what it would look like if this drip philosophy infiltrated my world: my relationships, my work, my friends, my connection to God, etc. 

What would it look like to take 10 minutes every day and find a place of stillness for my soul? 
What would it look like if I wrote one thank you note to someone every day? 
What would it look like to call one customer every day to see how they are doing and how I can serve them better?
What would it look like to intentionally speak 3 words of affirmation to each person in my family every day?

I think that over a longer period of time I would see significant change in my own life and those around me, changes for the better. I think most change in anyone's life happens over years of time, not over days or weeks. For some reason I don't live with that in mind. I tend to think so short sightedly, only looking a few hours into the future. I think it might be time to start experimenting with different daily drips that will bring significant change to my life. 

Sorry Keurig, time to slow down a bit and embrace the process of brewing the coffee….

one

drip 

at

a 

time.

#dailydrip