The law of average

My mother used to tell us we were special. That we were "so talented". That by the age of 20 we will be world famous and super stars. None of my siblings are world famous.

I think mother wanted to encourage us and give us positive re-enforcement as kids. But in hindsight it did us more damage than good. All of us kids believed so strongly that we were special and talented that we thought we didn't need to work hard on improving our skills.

The funny thing is my parents worked their asses off to put food on our table. So why did we ever think we didn't need to work hard? I'll never know.

Over the past few years, I've come to realize that I'm not special at all. That I'm not talented, that I won't be world famous by the age of 20. I carried this mindset with me for many years. And it hampered me in many ways because I thought I was the shit already; because I thought I could do it without much hard work.

Big mistake.

What I've come to see is that I'm average. There is nothing special about me, rather everything about is totally 100% average. But the key thing is that I have the ability to learn and grow in my knowledge, my skills, my network, and everything else. There is no limit to how much I can grow. And because I'm average, I haven't even hit my peak yet.

Most of us are all average. There is nothing special about you. You aren't any more intelligent that your friend. You aren’t more talented than your friend. You are more average than special. And that is the law of average.

The sooner you have this epiphany, the better it is. Because then you can read books, listen to lectures, do the work, to become great. Greatness becomes something achievable not bestowed.