Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

This article is about the challenges you will face as you strive to become your personal best. There are incredible rewards for you if you reach the top but there is a powerful obstacle in your way. If you want true success, you will have to escape the social gravity of a bell curve.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Look at the image above - we’ll use it to illustrate how wealth is distributed. The black line is called a bell curve. On the left side of the bell, a small number of people make the lowest incomes. In the center of the curve the largest number of people earn an average salary. The bell’s easterly slopes are home to a small number of people earning the highest salaries.

The green sloping curve shows the amount of earnings in relation the the bell curve. It is based on the Pareto Principle, also called “The 80-20 Rule.” The people at the top earn so much more than the average, it doesn’t seem fair. It may not seem fair, but it’s true all over the world. The best in the world get paid so much because they are exceedingly rare.

Urgency and Desire

The first step to becoming the best is having a deep desire. You need to want it as much as you want to take your next breath. You cannot wait till later. You must start now. What are you really interested in? Your experiences are unique from everyone else so you need to use that as a launching point. Forget about your competitors who seem more naturally gifted than you - talent is useless unless it is paired with desire and practice. Most talents are squandered and you owe it to yourself and the world to use the talents you were born with. Make it a habit to ‘do it now’.

Social Gravity in the Curve

Your toughest obstacles will always be your own ego. It resists pain and clings to pleasure - it is the root of all your suffering. What I find interesting is that parents love to warn their kids about the evils of peer pressure as they (myself included) sell out for comfort, give up their dreams and conform to the norm. What message are we really sending? The bell curve has social gravity due to the mass of people and products clustered around it’s center. Too poor and you’re ostracized. Too rich and you’re demonized. Breaking free from what everyone considers normal is the most difficult thing you will face if you want true inner and outer success. It’s hard to write an article every day, it’s hard to stay on a strict training diet, it’s hard to study when all your friends are partying.

Sometimes it feels like you’re pulling a wagon uphill with no wheels. Those are exactly the times you need to keep pushing. You’re passionate about something; everyone is. Use that to face the difficulties in your inner life. Find your own voice. Greatness isn’t in a big idea, it’s in how big you allow yourself to be. Give yourself permission to be better tomorrow than you are today.