No one likes mediocrity but many settle for it because they don’t realize that experiencing their God-given potential is actually possible.  However, it requires self leadership, vision, and a commitment to moving your story forward.  Although contrary to pop culture wisdom, you can’t become anyone you want to become.  You can however, become the very best you if you are willing to lead yourself well and pay attention to your unique design and harvest the vision that lies within.  Mediocrity means settling for anything less than your God-given potential.  Assuming you believe in a divine creator, it is important to discover exactly what He had in mind when He created you.  My experience is that He won’t do all the work for us but helps us discover and find the courage to re-arrange our lives towards our true potential.  Each day then begins to have new meaning and purpose and our stories move forward.  It is a great feeling to know we are stewarding our lives in a way that will lead us to finish well.

You can get a wide range of opinions on this question.  Here are my thoughts:

Both tap into a person’s ability to imagine a preferred future.  Both are useful and should be utilized in personal development.  Dreams however do not represent anything other than a preferred future.  Vision on the other hand better represents what a person sees in their future and what a person is willing to rearrange their life to pursue.  All people have dreams, few have vision.  The difference is intentionality.

Recently, I had my feet up on my desk which I usually use to indicate to the world that I am in my “thinking big” mode.  (The only problem is, I work by myself most of the time…).  As I was pondering some options for my career, I suddenly realized that mediocrity is an option, as compared to finishing well.

In other words, I can work hard, lower my standards, and live an average life.  I’m not sure if I’m a late bloomer, but that was the first time that I had ever considered the fact that most leaders I know did not finish well.  They settled for something less than their full potential.

I made a very conscious decision that day to push myself and put myself in situations where my best was called upon.  I simply cannot stand the thought of finishing my life less than what I am fully capable of doing.  I have found it helpful to consistently ask myself this question:

“Is there any area of my life where I am settling for mediocrity?”

When I find myself with an answer that I don’t like I try to come up with at least one very clear action step that will demonstrate to myself that I am serious about finishing well.

Self leadership comes at price but it is worth the investment.

I will never forget the day I was sitting in my office and realized that mediocrity doesn’t require much work nor much focus and that it happens almost by default.  The longer I sorted this thought the more I found myself becoming agitated that I had allowed myself to settle for less than my full potential.  Then and there I decided to make changes because I didn’t see a long line of people who were volunteering to make the changes for me.

On average, I spend 8-10 hours each week discussing practical solutions with clients who have a deep desire to finish their lives well.  This includes both their personal life and their professional life.  My general profile of people who seek out leadership coaching are men and women who are fairly successful but who feel that they are losing their edge and are repulsed with the idea of mediocrity or settling for something less than their potential.

Each person bears the responsibility for stewarding their one and only life and focusing daily on finishing well.

The following truth is at the very core of all of my coaching; your story is not predetermined!  You and I have the opportunity to respond to what God has entrusted us with including our talents, passions, vision, resources, and opportunities.

You will find yourself becoming more motivated on a daily basis when you make the decision to do a better job of stewarding your one and only life.  This is the very essence of self leadership; stewarding what has been entrusted to you.

The work involved in stewardship is the work that will bring you closer to finishing well.  If by chance you are in a low season of life, consider closing out this chapter, turning the page, and then doing the work required to write a new chapter in your story.

Usually, I can have people moving in a good direction within a few weeks and we always begin by simply listing out where they would like to be in 90 days.  Then, I have them schedule personal development time on a weekly basis to review and refine their 90 day vision. I reviewed mine this morning and found a couple of places that need more attention.  Give it a try!