What is complacency? It is the feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better. Unfortunately, way too many people fall into the trap of being complacent. Quite frankly, to me it’s like giving up or throwing in the towel.
Life is way too short. Each of us are designed with a purpose and we’ve all been gifted in many different ways. It’s important to keep growing and to do everything you can to go to the next level.
People often have said to me, ”Rich, you’ve accomplished a lot. When are you going to retire?” My response has always been, “And do what?” My philosophy has always been, no matter what you achieve in life, keep setting new goals and keep growing. Complacency keeps you living a comfortable life, not the life you desire though. The comfortable life is a complacent life.
So, how do you know if you have fallen into the trap of complacency? Evaluate your life and find out what you are doing with your time. You will be amazed at how much time is wasted. For example, how much time do you spend being a couch potato watching mindless TV? Perhaps you’ve talked about exercising more, but you’ve made the excuse that you don’t have enough time. Do you find yourself procrastinating saying to yourself, “I’ll do it tomorrow, next week, next month, next year”?
Complacency often comes after some success, and people feel comfortable and confident enough to stop trying so hard. We see this in sports a lot, especially after a team wins the championship. That’s why it’s difficult to repeat. People tend to lose the hunger.
So if you have found yourself in a place of complacency, the good news is that you have recognized it’s time to change. Stop taking the little things for granted and repeat the things that made you successful. It’s time to do the things that led to past successes.
Challenge yourself to step it up and work hard so that you can experience more success. A good thing to do is remember what it feels like to win. Get emotionally connected to that feeling and use that to get rid of complacency. It’s time to focus on the next achievement.
Usually when someone becomes complacent, it’s because they stopped setting new goals. You should always be working toward a new goal, even after you just accomplished one. It’s important to celebrate success, but make sure shortly after that, you begin to set new goals. They must be challenging enough to inspire and motivate you to strive for more success.
It is important that the goals you’re setting are specific. It’s the reason behind the goal that matters most. This will truly drive discipline and performance. Keep your purpose clear and remind yourself constantly. Make sure that your new goals align with that purpose.
Healthy competition is always a good thing. When people become complacent, they will often make excuses and say winning doesn’t matter anymore. We all love competition, especially when we are at the top of our game. Make the decision to be a top performer, set your goals higher each time. Tom Brady was once asked “What is your favorite Super Bowl win?“ he responded with “The next one.” That is how you stay at the top of your game. There is no complacency there.
Becoming complacent can be an easy trap to fall into. This is why it’s important to make sure you are hanging around with the right people. Take a moment and reevaluate your current social circle. Are the people you are hanging out with ambitious? Are they spending time working on improving themselves? You are who you hang with, so make sure you are hanging out with winners.
Make the decision this week to challenge yourself to move out of complacency and feel more alive! When you challenge yourself, you step out of complacency and a comfortable life and you begin to live a charged life.
Write out both your short-term and long-term goals. Make a commitment right now to take action. Do what you say you are going to do, and push yourself to follow through. Challenge yourself to keep the commitment to yourself. If you do this, you will take a massive step towards becoming the person you know that you can be. You will find yourself living a completely successful and positive life and becoming a winner.
No more complacency! Let’s do this!
Have a super fantastic week!
RICH NORTON
Regional Sales Manager RMS
Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash
pictures taken. Over two dozen photo-ops in a professionally designed walkthrough experience that is 100% family-friendly, but also meant for Christmas lovers of all ages! Plus, all guests get the chance to have their photos taken with Santa!
