“Even ordinary people can do extraordinary things,” Dr Tim Sharp says. Most people are familiar with motivational quotes like, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’ Tim has found that this in itself is not enough – we need to work for it. “That’s what’s often missing: the ability to work for it.”
“That’s what ordinary people did to achieve extraordinary things: they worked step-by-step,” Tim says. For example, the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), was started by one person, and now helps to support Indigenous students through high school to university, employment and further education, at the same rate as all Australian students.
Tim tells us that 80% of people are suffering needlessly from mental illness, not seeking help, but Batyr – started by one person, one conversation – has now changed the lives of tens of thousands of young people to feel more comfortable talking about mental health.
Are these people extraordinary? Maybe not, but there are a number of characteristics these people have in common:
- An ability to analyse the events of their own lives: mindful reflection with the intention to learn and improve
- A knack for identifying and utilising their own strengths: instead of obsessing over what they’re lacking (six-packs, biceps), they focus on their strengths in the areas of kindness, compassion, love. Why not have a conversation with others about what you’re best at to discover your strengths?
- The wherewithal to turn inevitable setbacks into future successes: ‘bouncing back’, or better still, ‘bouncing forward.’ They use the experience of struggle to become ever wiser. This is called Post Traumatic Growth.
Doing little things each and every day can make significant differences in your life. What you receive from doing good things is positive emotions, witnessing happiness.
“Achieving the extraordinary requires little more than practicing the ordinary each and every day,” Tim says. “If you improve something by 1% every day, what will happen if you do it 100 times?”
Dr Tim Sharp is a leading positive psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute
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