What I am about to say is going to blow your mind. What if I told you that the things you think hold you back can be used to your advantage and disadvantage?
The things you lack could be what help you to get to the next level. The truth of life is that we have no idea what a real advantage is in life. Benefits come from how we use our situations as opposed to what they consist of. You have to be willing to stop making excuses, and see the opportunity in front of you.
The things you lack could be what help you to get to the next level. The truth of life is that we have no idea what a real advantage is in life. Benefits come from how we use our situations as opposed to what they consist of.
Money is an Advantage and a Disadvantage
If money were always an advantage, it would mean that the people with the most money will always win. Most of the time, they do because there is an assumed advantaged.
It means that Netflix would have never have beaten Blockbuster. If money were always an advantage, it would mean that kids could never be spoiled by it.
Most people say they can't do something because they don't have money, but what a lack of money can do is make you much more creative. For example, if you don't have a gym in your home, you can get creative and find ways to work out and achieve the same goal.
It's hard to work your butt off when you come from money. It's not impossible, but it is just harder. The reason is that you know things are taken care of.
When you come from poverty, you know that if things do not work, you may not even have a meal. That creates a different type of animal and hunger to succeed.
On the outside looking in the world will tell you that success goes to the person with the most resources all of the time. So we fight to get in that position because statistically, it's more comfortable. You are not a statistic, though, and you are ready to break barriers.
Time is An Advantage and a Disadvantage
We regularly make excuses for the things we can't do due to not having enough time. The reality of the matter is that it does not matter.
There is a saying that goes if you want something done ask a busy person to do it. The reason for this saying is because working people make the most of each second and they don't have time for excuses. They don't look for what they can't do because they are too focused on what they can do.
Being constrained for time can produce the best results. The reason is that it creates focus when we have a deadline. Just think about getting an assignment done for school or work.
If you have unlimited time you feel zero pressure to work and often nothing gets done. The second we are given a deadline it creates the focus needed for our creative mind to thrive.
Having less time to society means you have no chance. Many have figured out how to use their lack of time to their advantage to succeed.
Abundance is an Advantage and a Disadvantage
We currently live in a society obsessed with having more. Don't believe that? Look at all of the storage facilities popping up?
Look at garages and basement and shows like Hoarders. We have more stuff than ever, and we still think we need more. We never have enough.
The reason is that we think more is always better. Athletes believe doing more workouts is still better. Eating more food is always better. The obsession with abundance is killing us because it eventually starts working against us.
Food is a great example. If we have no food, we start to die, and that is not good. But most people are overeating. We have so much food in abundance; we eat it like it will be our last chance ever to eat.
Then before you know the advantage of having so much food turns into obesity and other complications — all a sudden the power switches to the people who lived their lives with a bit hunger — Lifeworks in crazy ways.
Use What You Don't Have to Your Advantage
Everyone is missing something. Arnold Schwarzenegger could not speak great. He figured out how to use the perfect command of the English language that he did not have to his advantage. Mougey Bouges was way below average when it comes to height, and he found a way to make it being 5'3 in the NBA.
What is it that you don't have that people say is your disadvantage? How can you use it to blow past the competition? When you are different, it makes it easier for you in some ways because people don't expect what you bring to the table.
Winners are great at doing this, and if you want to win in the long run, you need to be great at it as well.
Perspective Can Be an Advantage and a Disadvantage
Your perspective right now may say that you must be over 6 feet tall to be in the NBA. Mougsey Bouges had a different view. He realized that because most people thought this and most NBA players were used to guarding taller players, it would be tough for people to defend him.
Once you change your perspective, you make that thing that others said would hold you out and you make it your superpower. The very thing people prepared to use against you is now going to be used for you. Once you stop making excuses, you can see the power you have just been granted.
Once you change your perspective, you starting seeing the truth. That truth is that there is no good or bad; there is just a way how we perceive things. Being broke has many advantages; being wealthy does as well. One creates the hunger to be better, and the other can creates complacency.
How Slavery Created Great Athletes
The last example I want to give is a long-term example of how disadvantage can create an advantage. The reason people of African-American descent tend to excel at sports has a lot to do with the slave trade. The slave trade is harmful and has created a lot of disadvantages.
Slavery is devastating to humans, and it creates very harsh conditions. Only the strongest can survive, and only the strong are bred together.
Over 400 years of this disadvantage and you end up with only genetic freaks left. The difficulty ended up creating an advantage that no one thought about at the time.
In Conclusion
Are you ready to change your perspective and start using your weaknesses to be great? Life is full of opportunities to be great, but we miss them because they are often buried in work and what others call disadvantages.
Starting now we are going to change this. We are going to see our disadvantages for what they can be. We are going to re-evaluate what it means to have an advantage in life. This one shift in perspective has changed the lives of many before you, and it can change your life as well. All you have to do is stop making excuses.