Experiment
1. Choose an area of your life you have been trying to excel in.
Examples:
Writing, Sales, Being a mom
2. What would constitute an average day in that area? Not *typical*, but average (as in neither exceptionally good nor exceptionally bad)?
Examples:
Writing – 90 minutes a day
Sales – Speaking with 5 new prospects
Being a mom – Spending at least half an hour before school and half an hour after school focused 100% on being with the kids
3. Project forward into the future – if you did nothing but repeat your “average day” 5 days a week, how much of a difference will you have made in 3 months? A year? 5 years? A lifetime?
Examples:
Writing 100 or so hours in a 3 month period would probably be enough to complete an entire book; 400 hours in a year would be 2 books, some poetry and a screenplay; Over 2000 hours over a 5 year period would make me prolific!
Speaking with 100+ people a month about the difference I can make for them would definitely lead to some sales; over 1200 difference making conversations a year would lead to numerous sales (and an incredible amount of skill development); over 6000 difference-making conversations in a 5 year period would make me rich!
Spending at least an hour a day with my kids seven days a week is over 125 hours in 3 months; that’s more than enough time to really get to know them and tune in to their wants and needs. 500+ focused hours of time spent with my children over the course of a year will create an incredible level of friendly intimacy and positive familiarity; if I make even a tiny difference in each one of nearly 3000 hours over a 5 year period, the impact on their lives and sense of meaning in mine will be anything but average!
4. Do 3 things today that make a small difference – they can be as simple as a kind word to a friend, a warm smile to a stranger or picking up your children’s socks without secretly wanting to kill them. :-) Repeat daily for as often as you like.
Michael Neill is an internationally renowned success coach and the best-selling author of You Can Have What You Want, Feel Happy Now! and the Effortless Success audio program. He has spent the past 20 years as a coach, adviser, friend, mentor and creative spark plug to celebrities, CEO’s, royalty, and people who want to get more out of their lives. His books have been translated into 8 languages, and his public talks and seminars have been well received at the United Nations and on five continents around the world. 
Wonderful idea. I have sent cards to my sister and to my son, both of whom try too hard.
I am incorporating the 3 things per day starting now.
Jeri
Sigh! I’d be happy if my team spoke to 1 person a day consistently. These examples are not ‘average’ – they are ‘ideal’ and therefore already demanding/aspirational. I guess it just shows how much of an overachieving starting point you were blessed/cursed with! Confirmed perhaps by the dissonance of ‘average’ juxtaposed next to an advert declaring ‘Supercoach’ It’s an excellent concept. Just make the ‘average’ more ‘average’!!! An easier starting point, a bar raised less high…
Spot on Sue! You took the words right out of my mouth :0D
It’s so simple isn’t it? consistency is more important that anything. You just confirmed to me that having resigned from my “Sales” position last week and spent a week in NZ visiting my family, I am now sitting at my computer about to create a new ‘job;. Two things – what do I want now – the same job in a different company. or to be creative? Then I realised all I have to do is be consistant about how I approach it and apply for a certain no of positions a day or a week. Even an average amount of applications is going to score me a job. So I better get clear on what I want..
Kind regards – I enjoy reading your articles – very inspiring and a totally different approach than average.
I think it’s a wonderful exercise, and I must admit, a challenging one. I tend to lean towards perfectionist traits and an all or nothing way of working myself over. Every area of my life could benefit from this new perspective, so I thank you for the great reminder that it is ‘OK’ to be “OK”!
What a great idea.
Takes the heat off when society seems to expect perfection and comes down hard when perfection falls off the pedestal it’s been so high up on.
Great coaching tip, great idea and a great way to market the great things you do.
Thank You
Mandy
You change lives so quickly and with such simplicity. So are you a Super Simple Average Coach? :-)