Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Why Average Choices Lead to Mediocre Results w/ John R. Miles EP 166

Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up next on the Passion Struck Podcast, finding success in your life isn't a secret that only a few can attain. It's simply building consistent habits that support choices that expand your life. If you want breakout success, you must establish practices and routines that lead you closer to that goal. Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host, John Armiles, and on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people, and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're

Starting point is 00:00:43 new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews, the rest of the week with guest ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become passion struck. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Momentum Friday, an episode 166 of Passion Struck.

Starting point is 00:01:10 And thank you for all of you who have come back this week to listen and learn how to live better, be better and impact the world. And if you're new to the show, thank you for coming, or you would just like to introduce it to friends or family members and we so appreciate it when you do. We now have episode starter packs both on Spotify and on the PassionStruck website which are collections of our fans favorite episodes that we organize by topic to make it so easy for any new listener to understand everything that we do here on the show. Just go to passionstruck.com slash starter packs to get started. In case you missed my episodes from earlier this week, they featured Jean O'Wang, who is the founding CEO and president of Virgin Unite, the co-founder of Plus Wonder

Starting point is 00:01:53 and a B-team leader, and we discuss her new book, Partnering, How to Forge, Lasting, Partnerships that can change the world. I also had on Kara Chamberlain and we discussed her heroing story of surviving a kidnap in by what turned out to be a serial killer. You don't want to miss either one of those episodes. And my solo episode from last week was on how do you overcome this culture of exceptionalism that we all find ourselves in? Please check all those episodes out if you haven't. I also wanted to acknowledge our fan of the week Gary Kilburn, who comes to us from the United States, and Gary writes, Life Changing. The PassionStruck podcast has honestly changed my whole perspective on life.

Starting point is 00:02:35 I've been going through a huge growth period in the past year, and I found this podcast recently. It's helped me learn to control my anxiety, focus on living in the present and just finding a way to ground myself. I love the way John Miles interviews his guests and also the wisdom that he inserts as well. Thank you so much Gary for that review and thank you all of you who write in and give us these reviews and ratings. They go such a long way and helping promote the popularity of this show. Now, let's talk about today's episode. Famous, ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle said, we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

Starting point is 00:03:15 His quote emphasizes the power and the importance of our daily microchoises and the habits that you form and determining who you are and ultimately the kind of life that you will live. In like manner, if the pursuit of excellence is a habit, so too is its opposite pursuing mediocrity. And last week's episode, I argued that mediocrity is okay if it's an end state of all our best efforts, but it's bad if we intentionally choose to be mediocre. Mediocrity is a state of being in which people settle for average ability or performance.

Starting point is 00:03:49 It infers comfortability with doing just the bare minimum and then not doing anything to improve, whether in your workplace, your life, or in your contributions to society. It results in a lifestyle that fails to maximize your potential. When this happens, you're likely to feel unhappy and stuck. You are settling for a life where you're in a job that you don't like. Have friends that don't

Starting point is 00:04:11 inspire you. Day people who don't bring out your best. And I'm guessing you likely struggle just to get through each day. In the end, you fail to do anything consciously to improve your health, relationships, finances, or responsibilities to benefit others. The unfortunate truth is that most people live their lives like this. The reason that people stay stuck in the state of mediocrity is ultimately the result of their choices. In a nutshell, average choices lead to mediocre results. It all comes down to this premise.

Starting point is 00:04:42 If you aspire to achieve success, you need to make daily choices that align to your goals. The truth is though that most people don't make great daily choices. Most of the time, they fail to make even good ones, and this is where mediocrity creeps in. Most of us fail to pursue becoming intentional with our decisions. Instead, we follow the herd when we make our daily choices, and it ends up resulting over time in living an unfaithelying life, which is one of the reasons I thank so many people today are suffering from chronic helplessness, hopelessness, and loneliness. In today's episode, I will highlight the habits that are most commonly found and those who are

Starting point is 00:05:21 pursuing mediocrity. I will then provide you with eight things that you can do to start making choices that lead to living an intentional life so that you can achieve your best in all areas of life. I will do this by sharing the famous story of American neurosurgeon Ben Carson, whose achievements prove that anyone can become excellent in what they do if they choose to.

Starting point is 00:05:43 Thank you for choosing PassionStruck and choosing me to be your hosting guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now, let that journey begin. Then Solomon Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan on September 18, 1951. His mother married very young and only possessed a third grade education. Carson's parents divorced when he was eight years old and he and his older brother lived with their mother

Starting point is 00:06:13 who worked multiple jobs just to make ends meet. From the start of Ben Carson's education, he was an average student. Then as things progressed and he reached fifth grade, he became a very poor student. In his speech at the Perspectives Unleadership Forum, Dr. Carson admitted that he was the worst student you have ever seen in your life. Because their mother spent most of her time away from home and at work, Ben Carson and

Starting point is 00:06:37 his brother would spend all day long playing or watching TV. He became content just undoing the minimum. And as a result, Ben's grades worsened, and his mother determined that she had to do something drastic to keep him and his brother from going down this death spiral. She observed successful people and encouraged her sons to start emulating their behaviors. So instead of watching TV, she made the boys read books. And even though they couldn't afford many books, Ben's mom realized that they could get them for free at the local library,

Starting point is 00:07:08 and she made each of them read two books for a week, as well as requiring weekly book reports to monitor their progress. As Ben started reading about people and their accomplishments, it became crystal clear to him that the person who had the most to do with what happens in your life is you.

Starting point is 00:07:24 Carson, at that point, understood that he could change his circumstances and shift things in a different way. In class, he began to do better in his test across all the different subjects. And soon he was topping his class in the 7th and 8th grades. He became a laboratory assistant in his high school's biology, chemistry, and physics laboratory in grades 10, 11, and 12 in succession. After this phase, he began to actively pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. Through hard work, he got a scholarship to Yale University, earning a BA in psychology in 1973.

Starting point is 00:07:57 Afterwards, Carson then enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School to study neurology. When he entered the University of Michigan Medical School, he struggled mightily at first because of the extreme workload. He did so poorly in his first set of exams that his faculty advisor even suggested that he drop out of medical school or take a reduced academic load, allowing himself longer to finish.

Starting point is 00:08:19 However, Carson chose not to settle and was intentional about improving his grades. By the second year of medical school, he started to excel academically. He had found that instead of attending lectures, he would study textbooks and lecture notes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. Carson ended up graduating from medical school in 1977 as an Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society member. In 1975, he married Candy Rustin, with whom he has three children. as an Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society member.

Starting point is 00:08:45 In 1975, he married Candy Rustin, with whom he has three children. The two of them moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he became a resident at Johns Hopkins University, which was a dream job for Carson because of its prestigious neurosurgery department. Then in 1983, Dr. Carson took a position as a neurosurgeon at Sur Charles Gardner Hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia

Starting point is 00:09:08 and then returned to Johns Hopkins the following year. At 33, he became the director of pediatric neurology, making him the youngest major division director in the hospital's history. He also became co-director of the Johns Hopkins Cardio Facility Center. As a surgeon, he specialized in traumatic brain injuries, brain and spinal cord tumors, neuro, and congenital disorders,

Starting point is 00:09:31 and epilepsy, as well as triminal neurologia. On September 4, 1987, using newly developed techniques, Carson supervised a team of 70 doctors, nurses, and support crew in a 22-hour surgery to separate two seven-month-old Symees twins, Patrick and Benjamin Binder, who were joined at the back of the head. In 1997, Carson also performed the first entirely successful separation, type 2, vertical, cranial pagus twins in South Africa. Throughout his career, Dr. Carson became a neurosurgery oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatrics professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He directed pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children Center for 29 years. In 2001, CNN and Time magazine named Dr. Ben Carson as one of the top 20 most prominent physicians and scientists, and he was selected by the Library of Congress as one of its top 20 most prominent physicians and scientists. And he was selected by the Library of Congress

Starting point is 00:10:26 as one of its 89 living legends. Carson published best-seller books, including Think Big, Take the Risk, and Think Big Picture. He created the Carson Scholars Fund and has awarded thousands and thousands of dollars to students for excellence in academic performance and demonstration of humanitarian qualities. In 2010, Dr. Carson was elected

Starting point is 00:10:47 to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, considered as one of the highest honors in health and medicine. He has been granted more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees and numerous other awards, including the United States's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he received in 2008. In 2013, he retired from his career as a surgeon

Starting point is 00:11:10 and turned his attention to politics, launching his bid to be the Republican nomination for president on May 4, 2015. Although he stepped down in the primaries, he was selected as a 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 2021, Dr. Carson joined the Lactin Therapeutics to assist with development of drugs and procedures that could help in the treatment of different cancers. Dr. Ben Carson

Starting point is 00:11:36 strives for his best in each phase of his life and his amazing story inspires us to do just the same. Let us now dive more deeply into mediocrity and how it can be effectively tackled. We'll be right back to Passion Struck. We live in a very unpredictable economy and life insurance can offer peace of mind that anyone who relies on you financially, a child, a parent, or even a business partner

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Starting point is 00:14:18 Finding success in your life isn't a secret that only a few can attain. It's simply building consistent habits that support choices that expand your life. If you want breakout success, you must establish practices and routines that lead you closer to that goal. The reality is that nobody desires the label of being mediocre. You want to feel like you're unique, exceptional, and talented. However, until you create an environment that sets you up for excellence, you won't continue to make daily decisions that take you further away from achieving your goals. The following is a list of attributes that are common with people who exhibit mediocrity. These include first being lazy.

Starting point is 00:15:02 Laisiness is the foremost attribute of people who live mediocre lives. It is the constant unwillingness to do the necessary work to be one's best and instead choosing pleasure and easier things like entertainment over hard choices like lifelong learning and being a creator. The second attribute is being complacent. This refers to being wrongly comfortable with yourself and not making any effort to improve. It is resisting one's laurels and living off past achievements rather than aiming for new ones. The third attribute is lacking accountability. Often people who find themselves practicing mediocrity fail to take accountability for their actions. Instead, they find someone to blame and are good at making

Starting point is 00:15:45 excuses. The fourth attribute is resisting feedback. When you constantly crave social acceptance, you will begin to lower your standards and end up settling for less than your best. This will inevitably lead you to living a mediocre life. Feedback helps us to understand our failures as well as our shortcomings. When you disregard and reject input, you simply will be unable to learn from your mistakes and make adjustments for improvement. The fifth attribute is losing self-confidence. When you don't believe in yourself and your ability, you will be naturally conditioned to believe that you can't do outstanding work.

Starting point is 00:16:19 This will cause you to aim low and withdraw from giving your best efforts. The sixth attribute is choosing a poor environment. One of the most common choices that people who are stuck in mediocrity make is surrounding themselves in an environment that breeds mediocre mentality. There is no doubt that your environment influences how you think, what you believe, and how you end up living. When you place yourself in a non-optimal environment, it influences your mood, your ability to take action, facilitates discouraging interactions,

Starting point is 00:16:50 and ultimately creates tremendous stress. The seventh attribute is lacking perspective. If you want to escape mediocrity, you must revise your perspective to one of maintaining a high standard of intentionality and adherence to your core values. When you alter your mindset to one of growth, you build a sense of achievement based on the understanding of the importance that you were true to yourself.

Starting point is 00:17:11 So now that I've gone over attributes of those who are pursuing mediocrity, let's now give you eight vital ways that you can deal with this mediocrity and make a change to pursue a life of excellence. We'll be right back to Passion Struck. There comes a time when you need to consolidate, whether you have 50 pairs of shoes where you are using multiple phones. I happened to stumble upon AppSumo as I was looking for an application

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Starting point is 00:19:55 Just go to passionstruck.com slash deals. Now back to passion struck. The first is living on purpose. Unlocking your purpose is one of the most important things that you can do in your life. When you are living on purpose, you are doing what truly matters to you in alignment with your core values and beliefs. By leaning in and being intentional about your purpose, you will make daily choices that take you closer to your dreams and aspirations. Second, being proactive. When you are proactive rather than waiting

Starting point is 00:20:25 to respond to a situation, you control that situation by making something happen. Being proactive will enable you to tackle things that potentially could cause serious issues. More so, it will give you the advantage of insight into distant, possible challenges and help you plan ahead to manage them accordingly. This way, you can consistently get ahead of impending issues. Third, opening yourself up to feedback and criticism. During August 2013, Google for entrepreneurs hang out. Business tycoon Elon Musk urged the audience to take as much feedback from as many people as you, about whatever idea you have. Feedback or criticism helps you see your faults and shortcomings, which may not have been evident to you and opens your mind to improve

Starting point is 00:21:11 and those things with better insight. It will help you move to becoming the best version of what it is you are undertaken or trying to change. Fourth, investing in yourself. Life continues to evolve over time. Our world today is so much different than it was a century ago and even a decade ago. The need for constant learning is more essential today than in any time in history. So invest in yourself and intentionally

Starting point is 00:21:37 grow by reading books, listening to helpful podcasts, hopefully like this one, and cultivating good habits that will ultimately facilitate your success. A natural effect of this is that you will become capable and well-equipped to handle significant responsibilities in your personal life and work. Five, tackling procrastination. It is often said that the thief of time is procrastination. Try to figure out why you're procrastinating. Maybe the idea is not ready to be implemented. It could be you don't enjoy what you're doing. Maybe you need to delegate or perhaps you just need to take a break.

Starting point is 00:22:10 Whatever it is, ensure you tackle the issue of procrastination. Manage your time well. You only have so much of it. Six, leaning in to hard work. The importance of hard work in achieving anything worthwhile cannot be over emphasized. Staying above average will require much effort as well as time and you must be prepared to give them both. The story of every successful person in history is never complete without attributing a good

Starting point is 00:22:36 portion of it to hard work. So ensure you embrace it and you will be amazed at how far it can take you. Seven, building resilience through commitment. There is no success without commitment. Living above mediocrity will demand that you consistently make conscious decisions to break free from your limiting habits. There are days when it won't be easy

Starting point is 00:22:58 and times when it won't be convenient, but you must keep at it. By doing so, you will be able to build up the resilient spirit that will eventually make you so strong that you are able to overcome any barriers that get in your way. You're in it for the long haul, so give it your all. Eight, surrounding yourself with the right people. The people in your circle who you surround yourself with

Starting point is 00:23:18 have a significant influence on the things you do as well as how you do them. If your environment is focused on mediocrity, you will likely also be mediocre. But if they are ones who constantly strive for excellence, and pursue being their best selves, then you have a much greater chance of achieving becoming your best self as well. Also, find mentors, people who believe in you, encourage you and consistently cheer you on as you make the daily choice to live above mediocrity. Their help and support will be vital in pushing you towards your goal

Starting point is 00:23:51 of living to be your best self. So I've covered a lot today, and I want to wrap this up for you by discussing why excellent choices deliver excellent results. Successful entrepreneur, author, and speaker Jim Rohn said, we must all suffer from one of two pains, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons. In like manner, Ben Carson went through the pain of discipline to rise above mediocrity and he achieved his life goals because of his choices. Examine your life right now. Have you been making exceptional choices recently? Or have your choices been mediocre at best? You were born unique and possess a gift that only you can pursue. If you

Starting point is 00:24:37 desire to become your best self, you must give up pursuing mediocrity. So put all the lessons from today's episode to practical use. Modify and tweak your behaviors and habits repeatedly until they align with your core values and who you desire to become. Be intentional about the little things because they ultimately grow into much more significant things that ultimately determine your legacy.

Starting point is 00:25:02 Finally, I'll leave you with these words from award-winning author Jim Collins, who said, greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice. The reality is that most people make average choices so they end up experiencing mediocre results. Do you want a no regrets life or one that was average at best?

Starting point is 00:25:26 If you want an exceptional life, you must choose to make it happen by being intentional about your choices. I hope you all enjoyed the show. I want to thank everyone who wrote in this week or gave us a review or rating. And of course, everybody who listened, thank you so much. A link to the transcript will be in the show notes. Videos are on YouTube at JohnRMiles, where we have over 340 videos now posted. Avertizer, deals and discount codes are in one convenient location at passionstruck.com slash deals. Please consider supporting those who support the show and make it free for our listeners. I'm at JohnRMiles, both at Instagram and Twitter, and I'm also on LinkedIn.

Starting point is 00:26:07 And if you wanna know how I book all the amazing guests that I get on the show, it's because of my network. Build your network before you need it. You're about to hear a preview of my PassionStark podcast interview with Kurt Wilken, who is an experienced entrepreneur and co-founder of Higher Better. On August 1st, he's releasing his debut book, Who's Your Mike?

Starting point is 00:26:27 A no bullshit guide to the people that you'll meet on your entrepreneurial journey. I kept telling you, here's your Mike's story, it was resonating with people, and I realized there's a lot of characters like these that resonate with folks. And so that's why we came up with the archetype version of each character. And Resume Ralph was another real example, and in all these are based on real characters, either that I've experienced directly or that I've worked with. Remember, we rise by lifting others. Share the show with those you love. And if you found this episode useful, please share it with someone who could use this advice that we gave here today. In the meantime,

Starting point is 00:26:59 do your best to apply what you hear on the show so you can live what you listen. And we'll see you next time. Live life, passion struck. you

Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Why Average Choices Lead to Mediocre Results w/ John R. Miles EP 166

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