Back in the early 1960’s, John F. Kennedy challenged Americans to dream of things that have never been. He called Americans out out of their comfort zone.
Why did he make this call? I believe it was because he knew dreaming was the key to living a full and exciting life. He also faced significant problems, and he knew protecting the extraordinary American legacy would require the courage, ingenuity and sacrifice of people who were prepared to take extraordinary actions.
What our 35th President needed were leaders who would answer the call and respond to great challenges, leaders who would live out their purpose and calling, leaders who would help our country remain a beacon for the world.
Fast forward to today. Americans are experiencing a unique set of challenges on a scale we have not seen in over 75 years. Once again we are hearing a similar call, a call for extraordinary leaders to step up and take action. Once again, we must find the courage not only to solve the current problems we face and seek new opportunities, but also to rekindle the American dream.
Houston, we have a problem!
There is a continuous debate over what is the biggest problem we face right now as a nation. Many feel economic problems are the biggest challenge we face. Others say energy dependency, unemployment, environmental challenges, sustainability, or some other major challenge constitutes the gravest threat to our nation over the next decade. I disagree. While I’m convinced each of these problems are significant and their consequences will be dire if we don’t respond with real solutions, I believe the biggest challenge to our success as a nation, as individuals, families, and communities in the next decade (or century) is our COMPLACENCY with our current ordinary circumstances.
All the other challenges connect to a shortage of leaders who are willing to go beyond what is usual, regular and customary to live lives that are exceptional to a very marked extent.
COMPLACENCY:
The act of being self-satisfied and unaware of possible dangers.
Complacency has led the masses to live ordinary lives and accept ordinary results from the efforts they put forth. Our national epidemic of complacency affects everything we do as individuals and everything we produce as a country. It leads us to a life of false comforts, of contentment with the status quo, of stagnation.
In 1854, the American author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” This "mass" of quiet desperation seems even bigger than it was in the nineteenth century! Apathy is rampant across the American generations today. We lack the extraordinary leaders who are willing to commit to meeting the challenges we face and to live their dreams instead of someone else’s.
The Call and a Calling
History has proven our extraordinary leaders come in all colors, shapes and sizes. Every great leader hears a call. There have been some extraordinary leaders who responded to a call from another leader in their life; others responded to an inner calling which challenged them to go beyond the status quo.
Extraordinary leaders choose to live out their calling and answer the call to live an extraordinary life day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. As a result, they leave an extraordinary legacy.
Unfortunately, many people I talk to want to live The Extraordinary Life but they don’t feel the need to answer the call today. In all the “busyness” of life, they decide not to take the time to identify their true calling in life. Most of them are too comfortable with their ordinary lives to answer The Call of living the extraordinary life.
QUICK QUIZ: Can you name this country? Here are some hints:
The answer? (Scroll down)…
ENGLAND … in the year 1900!
Could America experience a similar decline in its world dominance due to the complacency epidemic we now face? I believe the answer depends, more than anything else, on the number of us who wake up and answer The Call to live extraordinary lives.
If you look at the statistics, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that we’re headed in a downward spiral. In many of the areas the U.S. was once considered number one in the world, we have now fallen to record lows. Consider this current snapshot of everyday life in America:
[1] According to The Conference Board Consumer Research Center
[2] According to The Conference Board Consumer Research Center
[3] According to U.S. Small Business Administration
[4] Organization for Cooperation and Development Study among adults age 25 to 34
[5] Based on a national survey conducted by Center for Disease Control
[6] Family Matters Survey
[7] Newsweek Magazine & a recent study done by CreditCards.com
We need more LEADERS in America who will no longer accept this sad state of affairs as our everyday reality at the individual level or the national level. We need to turn ourselves into the leaders who will to respond to THE CALL to live extraordinary lives and deliver extraordinary results. As the saying goes “We are the people for whom we’ve been waiting!”
There are really only two kinds of people in this world; the extraordinary leaders who live their dreams and change the world and those who depend on those leaders who do.
The opportunity is here for a new American Revolution – a revolution against complacency and the ordinary life. You can choose to answer the call and live the extraordinary life or you can ignore the call and continue to live an ordinary life.
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.
I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States