3 Steps to Defeating Average & Building Mental Resilience
Quieting the inner voice, settling the mind, and defeating average in 3 steps.
There’s No Way You’ll Ever Finish This
The expedition at Patagonia takes participants 160 miles through rivers and across rough and changing terrain. The entire time, runners are undoubtedly battling that inner voice, repeatedly reminding themselves, “There’s no way you’ll ever finish this.”
If you’ve ever taken on a task that felt larger than life, whether it be covering 160 miles or changing a daily habit to improve your life – you can relate to what I’m about to share with you.
You Are Not Average
Life has a way of making us think we are subpar – not as good as the other guy, not where we should be, or just plain not good enough. We’ve all felt that way at one point or another. In this Universal way, we all experience these emotions – yet individually, we must determine whether we will accept this to be true. This means making a choice. Because the actual truth, for every single one of us is this: we are not average. You are not average.
The most successful people I know and love (and by success I’m not just talking about wealth or money), the people who are happy, whose presence make everyone
around them smile, they have something in common. They do not accept the “average truth”. In fact, the fear of being average drives them.
A good friend of mine, Colin Nanka is one of those people and he completed the expedition at Patagonia I mentioned above. He pushed through 160 miles (watch a cool mini video about it here!) because he chose to Defeat Average instead of accept it. In reflecting on this conversation, I wanted to explore something Colin said – that quieting his inner voice was one of the toughest challenges he faced. Why is this?
What Is With That Voice?
The inner critic that always doubts you and encourages fear and self-loathing is some sort of a defense mechanism that led itself astray. It’s defending your worst fears instead of defending YOU. If you’re afraid of failure, that voice will make sure you never take on anything you don’t want to fail at. It will convince you NOT to do it, no matter how big or how small.
Defeating, if you will, this inner voice is an important skill for developing your mental resilience. So, let’s take it on!
Quieting the inner voice, settling the mind, and defeating average in 3 steps.
Step One: Interrupt – Interrupt the thought process. Instead of going with the flow of this voice, stop it in its tracks. Anytime you start spiraling or are participating in a cycle of negative self-talk, simply say, “STOP!”
Step Two: Redirect – That pesky voice is busy and persistent, so stopping it isn’t enough. Following that interruption with a redirect is where it’s at. So if your negative inner voice is telling you, “You’re not good enough”, you can try something like this: “STOP! I am good enough.” This simple process only takes a few times to start changing the way you think about yourself.
Step Three: Pause & Reflect – Pause and reflect. Life is hard. The human experience is trying, and will push us into the most uncomfortable territory. These experiences grow us but in order for that to happen – in order for us to develop resilience – it’s important to leave time to pause, reflect and find the wisdom – the learning – the creative opportunity.
In his new mini-documentary, Defeating Average, Colin shows us his own process of quieting the mind to accomplish the unimaginable. And if you have time to watch it (you definitely should) I want you to think about your own life, and your own inner voice, and how much you might benefit from using the three simple steps above. I’ve personally never covered 160-miles, but I have defeated average in my own life (in fact, I like to say I “pivoted” out of a life of mediocrity) and will continue to as I grow my own resilience and take on new challenges in life.
What does average mean to you? And what would it mean to you if you defeated average circumstances? What would it mean for your success or your happiness?
I’ll leave you with this: I want MORE for you. More love, more purpose, more happiness, more success. Is today the day you choose more for yourself? Or if you already are, is today the day you share this with someone you love and want more for?
