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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Inspirational
- Subject: Life Experience
- Published: 06/29/2020
How to become above Average.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United StatesAverage is a funny word. On average, we all are…well, average. Average height, weight, strength, etc…. Then there are the exceptions: people taller than six foot two, smaller than five foot two, people less than 100 pounds, people more than 220 pounds, people with Doctorates, and people who dropped out of High School. The middle is filled with averages, and average people.
There are ways to make yourself above average in most cases. You can add twenty five pounds of muscles, accumulate a couple of degrees, earn more money than the folks around you, or learn a skill that most are average at…then master it.
What I would like to talk about today is how easy it is, how little it takes to be “above average” on the ordinary average things we do day to day…like dishes for a starting point.
Okay, if you are average- and on average, you probably are. LOL
When you made your lunch- or supper- you used some cutlery and dishes. Maybe even a pot, pan, or skillet to prepare the food in. If you are average, you left the now empty pot, pan, or skillet on the stove, or counter top.
When you finished eating, you probably put the dishes in the sink and gave them a light rinse. You may have also left the spices and condiments on the table to put away later. Then you went in the other room to have a cup of coffee, tea, or a sip of wine, you will clean up later.
Average.
Now, here is how little it takes to be “above average”. One method is too clean as you go. Take the cutting board out of the cabinet, cut up your onions, peppers, tomatoes and garlic. Then put them in a bowl, or the pot. Then, and I mean right then, clean the knife and cutting board, rinse them, and set them in the drainer to dry. Even if you are going to use them both again for the meat, or fish.
Make it a habit. (Good habits make you above average. Bad habits make you average…or below average).
How many times have you eaten off of a plate, or sipped your coffee from a cup- and when you finished, you took them to the sink…maybe even gave them a quick rinse…and then let them sit until “later.” You are already at the sink when you put the dirty plates, cups, and silverware in it, why not take the extra few seconds (and that is all it takes to wash a plate and cup)and wash the dishes while you are standing there? Most of us don’t. Which is why most of us are average.
I have a cousin who taught me this. She cooks a dinner for four people, puts the food on the table for all of them to eat. If you would excuse yourself and go into the Kitchen to get something, you would never know she had just made a meal for four people. The Kitchen would be spotless.
She cleans as she goes. When pots are done, and food put in the serving dishes, the pots are washed immediately, dried, and put away…before she even sits down to join everyone for dinner. The food never even had a chance to cool down. She is quicker than most at doing the dishes, because she has made “clean as you go” a habit.
I learned from her. No standing dirty dishes in my house - except on a few lazy days. Days that sometimes make me guilty because I didn’t do the dishes right away. LOL
When the meal is over, she clears the table, does the dishes, resets the table for desert/coffee/tea. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes of pleasant chatter around the table until the coffee and cake/cookies/pies are served.
Then those dishes and cups are washed dried and put away. When you leave her house, it is immaculate. Her house, dining room and kitchen as spotless as they were before you came to dinner. And she did it all in about the same amount of time you would have used to leave things cluttered up and undone.
She is above average.
Here is a lesson I learned from an old man when I was a kid. I did a favor for him (without him asking me too). When he next saw me, he called me over. He shook my hand and held it a little bit so that I would look him in the eye.
“Thank You, that was so kind of you.”
I learned that he did that for everyone who did something for him: his daughters, his neighbors, or his nurses. He made them take a moment to appreciate his thanks. He made you hold still for just a second or two, so you could see that he meant it when he thanked you.
It works when you tell someone you love them too. Don’t just rush by with a quick peck on the cheek and a hurried: “I love you!” No. Do what the old man does, take the extra two seconds to look someone in the eye when you say thanks, or I love you. Try it, it takes only two seconds to say: "I love you", or “thank you. When someone holds eye contact for those few seconds, it seems much longer…and it is scary to do…at first.
Want to be above average in kindness, well then, take the two seconds to thank someone, compliment someone, or encourage someone. It will make them feel above average, and make you above average.
We are all writers here on StoryStar…each of us with a unique way of telling a story. So on average, none of us are average. LOL
So how do you become “above average” as a writer? The average writer writes on a whim, doesn’t continue to add to their grammar, punctuation, or style skills. Nor do they write every day. Many don’t write letters or emails to folks they care about. Nor do they keep a journal or diary. Nor do they read much beyond the few subjects they like to read. Average indeed.
Writers need to read. A lot. And well. Average readers just enjoy the story (Me too!). They don’t think about the era in which the book was written, by whole, and what their place in that Society or culture was. Above average readers do.
An average reader finds a word they don’t know and pass right by it. Either figuring out its meaning from context, or simply ignoring it. Above average readers look the unknown word, write it down- so they can spell it properly- and try to use it in their own vocabulary in the future. When they write some future story, they have another word in their Author’s Toolbox. It takes just a few seconds to look up, understand, and learn to spell a new word. Yet many of us don’t. Which is why we are average. Look it up!
Above average writers read- a lot. That isn’t enough though, they have to read different types of books: Fiction, Fantasy, Technical Manuscripts, Biographies, Histories, Science…and all the genres from Horror to Mystery stories too. Why?
Because a broader base makes for a wider world for the writer to choose from. Above average writers have a library in their house, or on their kindle!
When you find the kind of subject you like to write about the most, then you dive deeper into the kinds of Author’s who write the best on those subjects. This moves you up from above average to Expert. Experts have a thorough knowledge of a narrow field, but a wide set of interests to compliment that narrowness.
An average writer might have one book on Grammar, punctuation, or Style. An above average writer will have several books on each of those subjects. An average writer doesn’t work at acquiring better technical skills by reading the: “Elements of Style”, “Eats, shoots, and Leaves,” “Everybody Writes,” “Penguin Guide to Punctuation", “Practical English Usage,” and you will probably find Stephen King’s book: “On Writing,” thrown in there too.
The difference between being an average Writer and an above average Writer is simple: it is the difference between leaving the dishes for later, or doing them as you go along. LOL
Average Writers write when the feel like it. Skipping days, taking long breaks, or stopping when no ideas come to them. Above average writers also write when they feel like it. Above average Writers write even when they don’t feel like it. They also write every chance they get: in between classes, on the bus, sitting in a cafe, when an idea hits out of the blue.
Above average Writers write the way my cousin fixes meals, continuously doing things that need to be done, right when they need to be done. It only takes a few seconds longer than it does to be an average Writer to look up a word, jot down a story idea, or phrase- things that would make you above average!
Add one new word to your vocabulary, each and every day. Just one word. In a single decade of doing this, you will have a vocabulary that almost doubles the average number of words a person knows and can use correctly.
Do you know when to use the word “hard” and when to use the word “difficult”? They have different meanings, yet most average writers use them as synonyms- like they can be interchanged at will. A diamond is hard. Life is difficult. But you can have a hard time in a difficult situation. A diamond can be difficult to work with, but it will never be anything but hard. A choice can be hard, but difficult to make.
Average Writers aren’t sure what to make of the paragraph above, above average Writers laughed and learned from it. In fact, above average Writers are probably using that paragraph as a launching pad to soar off into the use of “exact” and “Precise”…and how, in some situations, something might be exactly precise. LOL
The experts on Health tell us that a twenty minute walk at a medium pace every day is the single best thing you can do for both your health and fitness. Yet the average person doesn’t even do that. So you can become average by just walking thirty minutes a day, every day, at a pace that raises your heart beat.
It isn’t hard, nor is it difficult, to become “above average” at almost anything. A single kind thought, or deed, just one, done every day - will eventually make you one of the kindest people anyone has ever met.
Read just one book a week you are way above an average reader. The average reader reads one book a month- which means half the people who read books, read less than that! Most Writers (that I know of), have read thousands of books, some even tens of thousands, putting them well above the Lifetime average of having read about 732 books.
My guess is that if you are reading this far into this “Story” you, yourself have read more than seven hundred books already in your lifetime. You, my friend, are above Average!
If you were keeping track while reading this story, then you know that the difference between being average and above average is only a few seconds, a few minutes, or a few actions. Learn a word a day, read a book a week, write every day, walk for twenty five minutes a day, drink one less soda, or beer a day, and at the end of one year…you, yes you, will be above average: as a reader, writer, person. And you will have lost twelve pounds, and gained a stronger heart and lungs too boot.
As you can see it isn’t difficult to become above average, but it can be hard, because it isn’t easy. LOL
Smiles, Kevin
How to become above Average.(Kevin Hughes)
Average is a funny word. On average, we all are…well, average. Average height, weight, strength, etc…. Then there are the exceptions: people taller than six foot two, smaller than five foot two, people less than 100 pounds, people more than 220 pounds, people with Doctorates, and people who dropped out of High School. The middle is filled with averages, and average people.
There are ways to make yourself above average in most cases. You can add twenty five pounds of muscles, accumulate a couple of degrees, earn more money than the folks around you, or learn a skill that most are average at…then master it.
What I would like to talk about today is how easy it is, how little it takes to be “above average” on the ordinary average things we do day to day…like dishes for a starting point.
Okay, if you are average- and on average, you probably are. LOL
When you made your lunch- or supper- you used some cutlery and dishes. Maybe even a pot, pan, or skillet to prepare the food in. If you are average, you left the now empty pot, pan, or skillet on the stove, or counter top.
When you finished eating, you probably put the dishes in the sink and gave them a light rinse. You may have also left the spices and condiments on the table to put away later. Then you went in the other room to have a cup of coffee, tea, or a sip of wine, you will clean up later.
Average.
Now, here is how little it takes to be “above average”. One method is too clean as you go. Take the cutting board out of the cabinet, cut up your onions, peppers, tomatoes and garlic. Then put them in a bowl, or the pot. Then, and I mean right then, clean the knife and cutting board, rinse them, and set them in the drainer to dry. Even if you are going to use them both again for the meat, or fish.
Make it a habit. (Good habits make you above average. Bad habits make you average…or below average).
How many times have you eaten off of a plate, or sipped your coffee from a cup- and when you finished, you took them to the sink…maybe even gave them a quick rinse…and then let them sit until “later.” You are already at the sink when you put the dirty plates, cups, and silverware in it, why not take the extra few seconds (and that is all it takes to wash a plate and cup)and wash the dishes while you are standing there? Most of us don’t. Which is why most of us are average.
I have a cousin who taught me this. She cooks a dinner for four people, puts the food on the table for all of them to eat. If you would excuse yourself and go into the Kitchen to get something, you would never know she had just made a meal for four people. The Kitchen would be spotless.
She cleans as she goes. When pots are done, and food put in the serving dishes, the pots are washed immediately, dried, and put away…before she even sits down to join everyone for dinner. The food never even had a chance to cool down. She is quicker than most at doing the dishes, because she has made “clean as you go” a habit.
I learned from her. No standing dirty dishes in my house - except on a few lazy days. Days that sometimes make me guilty because I didn’t do the dishes right away. LOL
When the meal is over, she clears the table, does the dishes, resets the table for desert/coffee/tea. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes of pleasant chatter around the table until the coffee and cake/cookies/pies are served.
Then those dishes and cups are washed dried and put away. When you leave her house, it is immaculate. Her house, dining room and kitchen as spotless as they were before you came to dinner. And she did it all in about the same amount of time you would have used to leave things cluttered up and undone.
She is above average.
Here is a lesson I learned from an old man when I was a kid. I did a favor for him (without him asking me too). When he next saw me, he called me over. He shook my hand and held it a little bit so that I would look him in the eye.
“Thank You, that was so kind of you.”
I learned that he did that for everyone who did something for him: his daughters, his neighbors, or his nurses. He made them take a moment to appreciate his thanks. He made you hold still for just a second or two, so you could see that he meant it when he thanked you.
It works when you tell someone you love them too. Don’t just rush by with a quick peck on the cheek and a hurried: “I love you!” No. Do what the old man does, take the extra two seconds to look someone in the eye when you say thanks, or I love you. Try it, it takes only two seconds to say: "I love you", or “thank you. When someone holds eye contact for those few seconds, it seems much longer…and it is scary to do…at first.
Want to be above average in kindness, well then, take the two seconds to thank someone, compliment someone, or encourage someone. It will make them feel above average, and make you above average.
We are all writers here on StoryStar…each of us with a unique way of telling a story. So on average, none of us are average. LOL
So how do you become “above average” as a writer? The average writer writes on a whim, doesn’t continue to add to their grammar, punctuation, or style skills. Nor do they write every day. Many don’t write letters or emails to folks they care about. Nor do they keep a journal or diary. Nor do they read much beyond the few subjects they like to read. Average indeed.
Writers need to read. A lot. And well. Average readers just enjoy the story (Me too!). They don’t think about the era in which the book was written, by whole, and what their place in that Society or culture was. Above average readers do.
An average reader finds a word they don’t know and pass right by it. Either figuring out its meaning from context, or simply ignoring it. Above average readers look the unknown word, write it down- so they can spell it properly- and try to use it in their own vocabulary in the future. When they write some future story, they have another word in their Author’s Toolbox. It takes just a few seconds to look up, understand, and learn to spell a new word. Yet many of us don’t. Which is why we are average. Look it up!
Above average writers read- a lot. That isn’t enough though, they have to read different types of books: Fiction, Fantasy, Technical Manuscripts, Biographies, Histories, Science…and all the genres from Horror to Mystery stories too. Why?
Because a broader base makes for a wider world for the writer to choose from. Above average writers have a library in their house, or on their kindle!
When you find the kind of subject you like to write about the most, then you dive deeper into the kinds of Author’s who write the best on those subjects. This moves you up from above average to Expert. Experts have a thorough knowledge of a narrow field, but a wide set of interests to compliment that narrowness.
An average writer might have one book on Grammar, punctuation, or Style. An above average writer will have several books on each of those subjects. An average writer doesn’t work at acquiring better technical skills by reading the: “Elements of Style”, “Eats, shoots, and Leaves,” “Everybody Writes,” “Penguin Guide to Punctuation", “Practical English Usage,” and you will probably find Stephen King’s book: “On Writing,” thrown in there too.
The difference between being an average Writer and an above average Writer is simple: it is the difference between leaving the dishes for later, or doing them as you go along. LOL
Average Writers write when the feel like it. Skipping days, taking long breaks, or stopping when no ideas come to them. Above average writers also write when they feel like it. Above average Writers write even when they don’t feel like it. They also write every chance they get: in between classes, on the bus, sitting in a cafe, when an idea hits out of the blue.
Above average Writers write the way my cousin fixes meals, continuously doing things that need to be done, right when they need to be done. It only takes a few seconds longer than it does to be an average Writer to look up a word, jot down a story idea, or phrase- things that would make you above average!
Add one new word to your vocabulary, each and every day. Just one word. In a single decade of doing this, you will have a vocabulary that almost doubles the average number of words a person knows and can use correctly.
Do you know when to use the word “hard” and when to use the word “difficult”? They have different meanings, yet most average writers use them as synonyms- like they can be interchanged at will. A diamond is hard. Life is difficult. But you can have a hard time in a difficult situation. A diamond can be difficult to work with, but it will never be anything but hard. A choice can be hard, but difficult to make.
Average Writers aren’t sure what to make of the paragraph above, above average Writers laughed and learned from it. In fact, above average Writers are probably using that paragraph as a launching pad to soar off into the use of “exact” and “Precise”…and how, in some situations, something might be exactly precise. LOL
The experts on Health tell us that a twenty minute walk at a medium pace every day is the single best thing you can do for both your health and fitness. Yet the average person doesn’t even do that. So you can become average by just walking thirty minutes a day, every day, at a pace that raises your heart beat.
It isn’t hard, nor is it difficult, to become “above average” at almost anything. A single kind thought, or deed, just one, done every day - will eventually make you one of the kindest people anyone has ever met.
Read just one book a week you are way above an average reader. The average reader reads one book a month- which means half the people who read books, read less than that! Most Writers (that I know of), have read thousands of books, some even tens of thousands, putting them well above the Lifetime average of having read about 732 books.
My guess is that if you are reading this far into this “Story” you, yourself have read more than seven hundred books already in your lifetime. You, my friend, are above Average!
If you were keeping track while reading this story, then you know that the difference between being average and above average is only a few seconds, a few minutes, or a few actions. Learn a word a day, read a book a week, write every day, walk for twenty five minutes a day, drink one less soda, or beer a day, and at the end of one year…you, yes you, will be above average: as a reader, writer, person. And you will have lost twelve pounds, and gained a stronger heart and lungs too boot.
As you can see it isn’t difficult to become above average, but it can be hard, because it isn’t easy. LOL
Smiles, Kevin
Jason James Parker
06/29/2020Love this, Kevin. As a clean-as-I-go kinda guy, I really connected with it. I also write all the time but I still feel sorta average (a pretty normal feeling, I guess). It's fair to say that writing's like oxygen for our little community: essential. Excellent piece, sir! : )
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
Kevin Hughes
06/30/2020Aloha Jason,
Yep, writing is essential for the folks on StoryStar. I would argue that you are way, way, way, above average. And boy wouldn't the Nuns of my youth yell at me for using the same word over and over to show exclamation, instead of just one to make my point. LOL
And I am a "clean as you go guy" too!
My Dad used to say us kids: "Why is there always time to do it over again, but not enough time to do it right the first time."
Smiles, Kevin
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Kevin Hughes
06/29/2020Thanks Kanishka,
Making mistakes is part of life, learning from them is the beginning of growth. I may end up above average after all. LOL. Smiles, Kevin
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Kevin Hughes
06/29/2020Aloha Kanishka,
Yes, it is. I reread the story above...ouch. So many typos, and "time or number" mistakes. Mistakes that taking the few seconds to proofread would have excised from my writing...which means, I am average. LOL.
Smiles, Kevin
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Vinni
06/29/2020Your cousin's kitchen is my wife's kitchen. Spotless! I am not allowed in there even to make a cup of tea.
You exactly described my wife.
Thanks Kevin.
Vinni
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Kevin Hughes
06/29/2020Hey Vinni,
I try to keep mine like my Cousin's...but I am lazy! LOL
Smiles, Kevin
COMMENTS (3)