It’s possible you might find some wisdom on this blog, but mostly I’m just an ordinary man asking questions about my life and then trying to find answers–which is hopefully helpful and relatable for others, because most of us are ordinary; not gurus, not Tony Stark, not some superhuman in the spotlight. We are just ordinary people.
I have some thoughts about being ordinary in this extraordinary time, but I’m having a hard time cohesively putting the thoughts into words, maybe it’s because the thoughts aren’t yet fully formed and are swirling around in my head, actually–that’s what it feels like. Important thoughts are swirling around my head, thoughts that, if implemented correctly, can change my ordinary life into and ordinary-extraordinary life.
What’s that? What’s an ordinary-extraordinary life?
I know what it means, I think.
I’ll walk you through my thoughts I’ve been trying to nail down. Maybe you’ll find yourself nodding along saying, “yes, yes, yes…I feel the same way.” I don’t know, maybe. Maybe you will be able to explain it all to me.
Okay…
- Human Knowledge – More knowledge exists now than has ever existed in history.
- Access – 99% of that knowledge is free or cheap and it’s all stored on a supercomputer which I keep in my hip pocket at all times and I can access the knowledge any time I want.
Now, take a moment and just consider how extraordinary this all is…
Okay, moving on to my problem…given that I have access to any knowledge I could ever want to have access to…why am I broke, out-of-shape, and feeling like an utter failure in life?
I don’t make a lot of money. I have no retirement nest egg. My 12 year old son asked me the other day, “Are we poor?” I explained that we have enough money for everything we need and a little bit left over, which is true. But he certainly didn’t ask me, “Are we rich?”
I wish we were rich, son. I don’t care what people say, 90% of our problems could be solved with money.
I don’t know what my problem is. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
It seems with all this wonderful knowledge and cheap tech I could figure something out.
I’m not especially smart, I know that. I suspect an IQ test would put me slightly left of average. That’s okay though, IQ is more about how well your brain processes information. Even low IQ can process information. Just like a computer from the year 1995 would still be capable writing the next great New York Times bestseller book.
Where am I going with all this? What was I saying?
I don’t know. Maybe you can tell me.
I think I’m saying something like I think with all the easily accessible knowledge and cheap tech laying around even a man like me could figure something out and be ordinary-extraordinary.
There’s that phrase again. What’s it mean? I don’t know.
I’ll tell you what I think it means, though.
All this knowledge and tech opens up a new possibility for a new class of people–ordinary people who live extraordinary. Instead of leveraging all this amazing knowledge and tech for launching amazing Silicon Valley businesses, we instead leverage this to answering questions like: “How can I implement a system to clean the dishes more effectively and efficiently?”
I know that doesn’t sound as exciting, but hang with me.
Here’s a few more questions:
“How can I make getting in shape easy and easy to maintain?”
“How can I leverage this amazing tech to make $50k per year nearly passive?”
“How can I take my family on an epic trip to Alaska?”
I think in this extraordinary world we live in an ordinary man like me and leverage the available knowledge and tools to live an extraordinary life. That’s the crux of the thought that’s been bouncing around my head. I just haven’t figured out the answer yet to achieve ordinary-extraordinary.
Honestly, I like my ordinary life a lot. I like my house. I like my minivan. I love my wife and kids and they love me. Mostly I just wish I had more time with them. I wish I could give my children better lives, better futures and I’m really scared that I can’t. I wish I spent less time cleaning dishes.
Anyway, here’s my thought process:
- I’m an ordinary man
- A lot of smart people wrote books, created systems, created tech
- I should implement their advice and apply it to my life
- Hopefully good things will happen then
We are in uncharted territory for ordinary people.
That’s what I keep thinking about. Doesn’t matter anymore if I have ordinary intelligence. There is so much I can leverage without needing to be smart. I just need to follow good advice.
And that’s what this blog is mostly about.
How to become ordinary-extraordinary.
I think that’s what I’m trying to say.