I am thrilled to host my dear friend and mentor Simon T. Bailey as my guest today. Simon is a Brilliant businessman, mentor, father, friend and human being. He’s a visionary into the power within each person he meets. He helps each and every one of us to find the best within ourselves, the unfinished or slightly-faded aspects that set us apart and make each of us uniquely Brilliant. I am blessed to call him friend. I know you’ll enjoy his thoughts as much as I do!
As I look around the world, there is a gravitational pull to be average, common, just plain ole regular. The reality is that anyone and anything that has made an impact or left an undeniable imprint refused to be ordinary. The longer I live and the more I travel, I see men and women playing it safe and living beneath their potential. I observe people with unbelievable gifts, raw ability, and uncommon talents who settle for what life has given to them instead of striving for who they were meant to be.
Oftentimes people show up to a place of work to collect a check. However, people who show up to be brilliant are the ones who are promoted and have a seat at the table. If you are not operating in your brilliance, then you are a friend of the status quo. How do I know? It happened to me. Now is the moment and now is the time to stand up and say status quo be gone! There is no room for average thinking, average living and average results. Kick butt or be kicked in the butt as the door hits you on your way out.
Shift happens when the shifted decide to become the shifter! A person is operating in their brilliance or what I like the call your “it” factor is “IN IT TO WIN IT.” Anything less is common, unfulfilling and unrewarding. If you don’t love your job or business, then fire yourself. Get out of the way, there are a ton of people in the current job market waiting to take your place. They are hungry, desperate to add value, and make a significant contribution. Here are three recommendations to make status quo thinking go away…
Beware of distractions. Turn the negative news off. It’s a distraction. Turn off the flow of gloom and doom; it’s a distraction that is keeping you off-center and off-kilter because negative input + good person = negative results. Focus on what you can control and what you can change. Resist the ADD (attention deficit disorder) tendencies and finish what is in front of you. You can finish strong.
Be Bold. If someone is saying something that you do not agree with, then raise your hand and say “Excuse me, I don’t agree. I see it differently.” Do not allow people to dump their stuff on you. If it’s not uplifting and can’t help me be a better person then I don’t want to hear it. If you don’t know how to talk without using expletives then I am going to shut you down because I don’t have to take it. That’s right, within the last twenty years of my working career I had a boss that would fly off the handle using language that was very unbecoming of a leader, so I went into his office one day and closed the door and said “YOU WILL NEVER EVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN.” I opened the door and walked out. That day I stopped being a punk, a wuss, and a jelly back man because I stood up for myself. Did I lose my job? No. Did he ever use foul language again? Not around me.
Earn Street Cred – You do it by the solving problems that no one wants to solve and finding solutions that no one can find. Right now you are the solution that someone needs. Right now you have the answer to solve a problem. When you tee up how you see things working and execute it, your credibility is established and others become your brand evangelists and will promote your brand to people who need it the most. (Yes, cred is slang for credit, in case you thought I didn’t know how to spell.)
As you implement these steps, you will discover that getting rid of status quo living is a process not just a one-time event. It’s a marathon not just a sprint. Make a commitment to be brilliant in all you do and watch the universe give you two thumbs up.
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Simon T. Bailey is a Motivational Thought Leader and author of the bestselling book Release Your Brilliance which is #17 of the Top 100 books being read by Corporate America. You can find out more by visiting www.SimonTBailey.com
