Practice #10 - Mediocrity All Around

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,920 Being average in this day and age is significantly lower than being average in ancient Greece or 2 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:21,600 ancient Troy. In modern-day society, being average is normal and it's accepted and it's actually 3 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:28,480 not forced but we're in a society where we're conditioned into being average. We go to school 4 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:40,320 that conditions us into accepting mediocrity and we're surrounded by material things like phones, 5 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:54,640 music, all this technology that is forming our minds and shaping us into mediocre citizens. 6 00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:03,680 So I want to get on here and talk about the difference between ancient Greece and modern-day 7 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:12,800 America. The difference is insane. Ancient Greece, they were extremely rigorous in their training. 8 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:23,040 They founded the Olympic Games and they had this term, I'm pretty sure it's called areto. 9 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:29,200 I'm not sure if I pronounce it right but pretty much it means excellence and everyone strives 10 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:36,080 for individual excellence in ancient Greece. Now there's nothing like that in America. There's 11 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:43,200 nothing like that. We live in a society where everywhere you look, just walk outside and the 12 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:49,680 first couple of people you see will be doing bad habits, I guarantee you. And this is not a knock 13 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:56,960 on these people. This is a knock on the system we live in. This system is to such a degree that 14 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:04,000 everywhere you look people have bad habits and even if you have good habits like let's say you're 15 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:11,200 going out on a run, there are still bad habits ingrained into that. For example, wearing airpods, 16 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:21,680 listening to music and even if you are still, you are completely no airpods, no music, no 17 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:30,400 anything, more than likely this person is not present. And I know this because I go on a run 18 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:37,040 and I'm not present completely the whole time and I'm working on this. I'm actually working on 19 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:45,600 developing this skill. I believe that the system we live in destroys the control that we have over 20 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:52,880 our minds. It actually trains us not to control our minds. That's why people I read in a book in 21 00:02:52,880 --> 00:03:00,160 Napoleon Hill, he wrote, failures allow their thoughts to run wild. And we live in a society 22 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:05,680 full of failures because they're allowing their thoughts to run wild and early on at an early age 23 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:15,440 our society conditions us into ending our control over our thoughts. Early on you hear parents say, 24 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,520 look at this, they say to their child, oh, look at this, oh, don't do that, oh, do this, do that. 25 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:28,480 Look over here, look over there. And so the child is controlling his thoughts. This child is holding 26 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:35,600 their attention in between the outer and inner. But when the parent tells the child to look over 27 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:42,640 here, they're slowly but surely conditioning that child to be immersed and to fall asleep and to lose 28 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:47,760 control over their attention. And when you lose control over your attention, you don't even have 29 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:54,480 control over your personality, your soul. Your attention is the most valuable asset that you have. 30 00:03:55,120 --> 00:04:03,600 Because it's a well known, it's a well accepted saying that your time is the most valuable asset. 31 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:10,960 Like don't like time is more valuable than money. It's very accepted, common for people to say that 32 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:18,480 your time is extremely valuable. But the thing is, the quality of that time actually matters. 33 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:26,400 When you're sitting around immersed, watching TikTok, endlessly scrolling, and your mind is 34 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:33,360 numb, you're a zombie, that time is not actually high quality. That's extremely low quality time. 35 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:39,760 So in that sense, that time is being wasted. So yes, you have that time, you're experiencing that 36 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:46,560 time, but it's not to its fullest potential. And so I said that your attention is actually the most 37 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:54,880 valuable asset more valuable than time. It's because our attention has been trained to be immersed 38 00:04:54,880 --> 00:05:00,720 in the outer or the inner. That's why you see people immersed on their phones. That's why you see 39 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:07,600 people immersed deep in thought overthinking. That's why you see people angry, low awareness. 40 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:13,680 And when you're immersed, that is low quality time. When you're immersed, you're not actually 41 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:18,720 controlling your attention. So you don't have your attention when you're immersed. Someone else is 42 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:26,080 controlling your attention. Somebody else is controlling your soul when you're immersed. 43 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:32,960 And like I said, we're conditioned to be immersed. So I guess this is a wake up call. 44 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:40,720 Some to wake up and actually start focusing on your mind, develop self control. One of my favorite 45 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:49,920 quotes from Napoleon Hill's book, The Laws of Success in 16 Lessons is self control is solely 46 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:55,120 a matter of thought control. Self control is solely a matter of thought control. So then, 47 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,120 develop impeccable self control.