Hey 👋
Welcome 🙏 to the 5th edition of this newsletter!
I did not send out the newsletter last week. I had a lot going on, and I convinced myself it was okay to miss once - it is the holidays after all. I was accepting mediocrity (keep reading to understand why I say so).
That was a mistake, and I apologize for that. Rain or snow; I will send this out every Friday - that is the promise I made, and I will keep it in 2023.
Here is the last edition of 2022 - Lets go!!
Reflections
This week, I casually flipped through my pictures from the last 5 years. What I discovered blew me away in more ways than I could imagine.
This was me in 2016 and 2021:
I have undergone a tremendous personal transformation in these 5 years, so much so that I can no longer relate to the person in the first pic.
I was fat and unhealthy - that much is clear. But what is not so clear is that I was also unmotivated and had accepted mediocrity as the way of life.
I would push myself to achieve things in life, but not hard enough. On paper, I had all the proper credentials - I was a Computer Engineer, had an MBA from a top-10 university, and worked for JP Morgan, but I had no drive. I would scoot by doing the bare minimum required. Only if it was something that I sincerely enjoyed that I went really deep - but there weren’t many of those.
(we may laugh at the meme today, but there have been times we have done exactly this)
However, as my physical proportions started changing with concentrated effort over the years, my mental blocks also started falling away → That’s how powerful the mind-body connection is.
Still, the vestiges of how I saw myself - the fat chubby underconfident guy - remain with me to this day. And maybe that’s why I have still been accepting mediocrity in many aspects of my life, even if unconsciously.
From skipping the newsletter last week to pausing content creation because it was hard to keep up. From giving up hard-to-close prospects to giving in to laziness. From choosing distractions that deliver a quick dopamine fix to not choosing behaviors that reward over the long term.
If I was being brutally honest with myself, there was always a better option to choose - I just accepted my own excuse and chose the mediocre option.
Let there be light 🔆
This realization was the💡moment for me. It was the knife that allowed me to slice through all my accumulated baggage - the opportunities lost, the regrets accumulated, the shots missed - and find clarity for the first time in years.
I realized I do not need “10 things I learned in 2022” or “7 lessons to improve my 2023”.
I have to be hyper-focused on ONE thing - INTENTIONALLY REJECT MEDIOCRITY - and everything else will take care of itself.
Because not choosing mediocrity is a decision we make every day. It is not one big life decision but an accumulation of thousands of small decisions that determine the life we will create for ourselves.
So that’s my resolution for 2023 - I will use just this ONE framework to help guide my decisions and create the life I desire in 2023.
(because who can remember 10 lessons anyway 🤷♂️).
🏋🏻♂️ MEDIOCRITY REJECTION FRAMEWORK 🏋🏻♂️
(I am still working on a name 😇):
Every time you have a decision to make, every day, ask this question:
“Am I choosing a mediocre option? Am I accepting mediocrity for myself?”
You will know the answer if you are being brutally honest - it is the option that makes you uncomfortable - that demands you to try a little bit harder, act faster, not give in to temptation, or push through failure.
Then do it. Don't overthink or talk yourself out of it.
Even if you fail, you will have the satisfaction of having rejected mediocrity.
And the benefits will compound in your life - one small decision at a time.
Caution ⚠️
Rejecting mediocrity does not mean burning yourself out and pursuing excellence at all costs.
Instead, I see it as doing a little extra each time - embracing discomfort one step at a time until it becomes second nature.
When that happens, you can let go of the framework - you don’t need it anymore.
A New Chapter 🎬
We humans tend to think about life in chapters.
New chapters allow us to feel separate from our old selves. It gives us the licence to say that the failures of the past belonged to a different person. That was the old me, this is the new me.
This disruption opens up the space for reflection, and deep reflection paves the way for behavior change.
This is why many people make new resolutions in the new year. Because it feels like a fresh start, a clean slate, a break in the paradigm of daily life.
Don’t waste this opportunity.
Homework (just kidding) 📝
So, I ask you today to reflect on your year - think about all the decisions and actions, big and small, where you accepted mediocrity (you know what mediocrity means for you).
What question❓ could you have asked yourself at that time that would have opened the better option to you?
Document this - both the event and the question to cut through mediocrity.
This exercise will help you identify your mental make up and the excuses you give yourself.
Use these insights to evolve the Mediocrity Rejection framework for your unique circumstances and make it your own.
And make the resolution to use it to drive the NEW YOU in this New year.
Feel free to ask any questions or observations as you apply this to your life.
Time's Up⌚
That's my 3 minutes with you this week.
If you have a minute, I would love a response. Just hit reply. 🤗
See you next week. 👋
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Some Housekeeping🧹
I'd appreciate the warmth and coziness of your primary inbox. 😇
Just hit reply and say “hi.” That will tell Gmail to keep me in your inbox.
Thanks again 🙏, and please share this with a few friends if you like it. That is the only way I am growing right now.
Well written and keep up the hardwork