Dawn Damon 0:07

Hey beautiful women. This is Dawn Damon, the Brave Heart mentor and you're listening to the brave hearted woman. This is a podcast designed to help you find your brave so you can live out your beautiful vision. I have been working with women for years. And now I want to help you too. I'm here to awaken the brave heart inside of you. So you can ignite the flame of your vision, you can reach your goals and achieve your dreams. Come on, let's get brave.

Someone once said that beige should be your least favorite color. Because beige is blah. Hi, this is done. And I'm ready to talk to you today about refusing to be average. Yeah, I know that average is acceptable, but it's not exceptional. And as brave hearted women we are called to live exceptional lives on encourage you today, I want to tell you a little bit about average people, and then you can choose for yourself who you want to be. But average people are those who tend to go for the easy button in life. They just like to do things the easy way. I'm not saying they're lazy, I'm just saying that they want something that's less stressful. They don't always choose what is beneficial. They choose what's fast, and what's easy. They're people kind of who follow the crowd. And they live by someone else's dream for their life or someone else's standard. They kind of just draft the wind of someone else's life. And often average people are those who decide not to do the hard work of improving themselves. They don't want on any level really to push themselves. They don't like being pushed, nor do they have the ability to push themselves. Ooh, average people, they defeat their own self. So sometimes average people will have mindsets that actually paralyze and pigeonhole them. For example, they'll say, oh, I don't know, I can't choose a project to work on. They're not good decision makers, or they're afraid to, to really hone in on one thing and make a decision. Sometimes they jump from one activity to the next. And just really don't focus their whole attention and invest some free time in one endeavor. So it leads to failure. So average people often frame failure, as, don't try that again. Instead of, hey, I learned one way something doesn't work and failure, there is no failure, there's only results. And so now I don't like those results. Let me try it a different way. But average people, they remind themselves of past defeats, and they don't want to go through that again. And so they're not really brave enough to give something a go, you know, they're not going to make a risk or take a leap of faith. Average people listen to those around them, who also give them permission. Oh, don't worry about it, you're fine. No, you don't have to do that and go ahead and eat that extra cookie or no, you don't have to. You don't have to take that class. What do you need that? What do you need education for? And so average people, sometimes they listen to negative advice from other people, because they're not confident in their own abilities. So the result of that is there are some habits that average people don't have? Or have that aren't helpful for them. So when researching this, what average people do, I discovered this, so average people, on an average, they wake up late every day. So they don't set an alarm clock. They don't teach themselves to wake up in the morning. They just wake up late every day, which you know what that's like, then you're scrambling throughout the rest of your day. Average people don't read or they won't read. They read less than one book a year. On average people they watch too much TV. They spend too much time binging on Netflix. I'm not saying there's a place for not a place for that from time to time. But average people are not wise with their discretionary time. They're not sagacious and take opportunity to say I could read right now. I could plan my day for tomorrow. And that's another thing. Average people waste time and won't chart their time. They asked the question Where did my time go? I don't know. I'm just is so busy. And you know that if you don't write something down within 37 seconds, it's gone. Now, I don't even know how it is for you. But I don't even have 37 seconds. If I get a note paper and a pen and begin to write something down, if I have to look for it, I forget what it was I was going to write down before I even can get the pen. So I always keep my notebook handy. But average people refuse to write things down. They don't find it necessary. They won't commit to goals, either. Average people say, I just you know, I know in my head, I know where I'm going. But if you really press them, they cannot tell you with any specificity what they want out of life. They really cannot articulate their goals. Average people wait for motivation. They think that they're going to just somehow feel like doing something, and they wait for that feeling to come upon them, not realizing that motivation follows activity, you do the thing. And the most motivation comes the Mojo follows. So many mornings, I do not feel like working out I'll be honest, probably more more mornings than not. But I if I overthink it, I won't do it. So I have to go 54321 Go. Just get up and go. Don't think about it. Just make it automatic. Because if I wait for motivation, it won't happen. But do you know when I get done exercising I am so well course the bliss hormone is you know, flooding my body. But I feel so happy and so proud and so thankful that I made myself get up and do it. It's such a great feeling. But average people allow themselves to become sedentary, they sit, they don't move. Now, this isn't true of every average person, they may have some they may have all. But these are what psychologists tell us are things that average people do. Average people actually the more money they make, they give less. And they become in debt, because they spend more money than they earn. And most average people are a few pounds overweight, but not you, you are not average. If you're listening to this, you're not average. In fact, I want you to say that out loud right now. I am not average, I refuse to be average, there's greatness inside of me, I will live my great life, my best life right now. I will not succumb to average, I will not succumb to average behaviors or average mindsets, I'll be anything but average. And you will be if you practice these things. So the opposite must be true of above average people they read, do you read commit to reading, start small, you can read a paragraph a day you can read two paragraphs in a month, you can read a book in five months, you can do it. And then next time you can read a book in one month. But start reading. You don't know everything. And the knowledge that we have without putting anything new inside of us is not sufficient. We need to read. We need to learn we need to grow. People who read are successful. I also would really encourage you have a morning routine. In fact, to have a powerful morning routine. I'm going to do a podcast just on morning routines alone. Because successful people wake up early. There is proof that waking up early, getting yourself up and going changes the trajectory of your life. The secret of your success is found in your morning routine. John Maxwell told us that and many other people who practice these things. The next thing you do need to do is get focused, you know discover your purpose. What are you trying to accomplish? Why did God put you on this earth? What is it if it's if it's parenting, be the best parent you can possibly be? If it's a business inside of you and start planning your business, if it's a song that you need to write, or a film you need to make or a craft you need to build whatever it is but get focused. Too many things. Too many goals can actually be distracting, too many trying to accomplish too many things. I am guilty of this and I am narrowing down and I'm getting focused. So then you need to find yourself discipline. If you don't want to be average, you're gonna have to get disciplined. Find ways to hold yourself accountable or get an accountability partner, someone who will call you and help you. Someone who will be like a little rocket booster. as you launch, and pretty soon they can let go of you and you'll fly and soar are by your bad self. But right before

that, you need to find some accountability and be a lifelong learner don't stagnant. We've already talked about that find ways to grow. And if you don't want to be average, you need to discover and use your gifts. Find out what it is that you're gifted to do, what your natural talent and abilities are, and then use that talent to bring joy to someone else. Be an encouragement to others. I like what Eleanor Roosevelt said. When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die. Ooh, ouch. So making a contribution is really important for us in our lives. So what about it? What do you think about this whole Don't be average thing. I'm not going to be long winded here. Today, the message is clear. That you have been designed and destined you are destined for success and greatness and abundant living. But we often will sabotage our abundance, we will also short circuit or do things because we're not willing to do the other thing. Habits that control us addictions that weigh us down. All of those things need not be active in your life. If you make a quality decision to say, I don't want to be the average person, I want to have integrity and character that's above average, I don't want to be beige. I want to live in living color full out. I want to be everything that God designed and wired and constructed and coded me to be. And I don't want that to get thwarted or diminished in any way. So make that your commitment today. Get yourself a journal start writing things down. What will you do? How will you break the habit of average? How will you push yourself just a little bit more each day? What if you just improved 1% Every day, if you just pushed yourself for a minimal small baby step of improvement every day, and you didn't lose that. But then the next day created one more. By the end of the week, you'd be 7% better. But guess what? Doing nothing doesn't keep you level. Doing nothing makes you 1% worse. What if the end of the week, you were 7%? Worse? What if at the end of two weeks you were 14% worse or 21%? Or 28%? Worse at the end of the month? I don't want that to be you. So make your commitment. Today. I am going to refuse average. And I'm going to live large. Alright. I believe in you. You got this. You can do it Start today. Not tomorrow. That's called procrastination. Start today. In fact, start right now since this podcast is finished. Write down my commitment to not be average. Alright everybody, that's what I have for you today. This is Don Damian, your Braveheart mentor telling you find your brain and live your vision

thanks for hanging out with me today and becoming brave. If this has helped you, be sure to share it with someone and subscribe so you never have to miss another episode. For more about me my books, my coaching or online courses, visit Dawn damon.com. And as always be brave and live your vision