When I switched from JDStrength.com to my own personal domain which I aptly named JeremeyDuVall.com in a binge of creativity, I made a choice to stray away from fitness content and focus more on lifestyle development pieces and other musings that interest me. After all, I write about fitness quite a bit. It’s nice to get a refresher of something new every once in awhile.
When I started to think of central ideas and themes for the site, one concept kept coming back to me over and over again – the notion of living bigger and louder. I imagined living a life where you can take risks, travel where you want, hang out with who you want, and ultimately make your own decisions and choices. After all, you get one shot at this life. Might as well make it right.
I’ve been thinking about this concept for quite awhile inspired by people like Nate Green. I didn’t want my coaching program or writing to be simply about fitness. That’s far too one dimensional for me. I wanted it to be all-encompassing much like a good book that can evoke many emotions not just a select few. I wanted this site to become a resource for guys and gals that wanted to live better whether it meant learning how to save more money, cook a great breakfast in a pinch, or just get into better shape.
After some discussion, I ended up settling on the term “super-ordinary”.
Super-ordinary – (adj) living the life you want to live on your own terms.
It’s a term that means combining the ideals of heroes with the challenges of everyday life. It’s a commitment to living better and doing the right thing, but more than that, it’s a challenge to live the biggest and loudest life possible.
How Big Are You Living?
That’s the question: How big are you living right now? Are you getting everything you want out of life and more?
In my opinion, we don’t take time to really sit down and evaluate our lifestyle. We live at 90 mph and don’t take time to enjoy the scenery along the way. That would be completely fine if we all weren’t going to eventually die at some point.
That’s a pretty sobering fact: You’re going to die.
The idea is to live the biggest life possible while you’re here. There aren’t any hard and fast rules to living a super-ordinary life. That’s completely dependent on you as an individual and your own personal hopes and dreams. The end goal is to lay in bed at night and be able to answer the following questions:
- I accomplished everything I wanted to do today and more.
- I enjoyed every experience I had. Whether it was inherently positive or negative, I learned something that I could use to improve myself.
- I helped to improve someone else today.
- I spent quality time with the people I love.
You know what is not on the list?
- I ate perfectly today and didn’t succumb to the tasty desserts on the table.
- I made a lot of money.
- I pushed someone else down to propel myself up.
The end goal is to make yourself better every day – that’s a success.
Steps to Finding Super-Ordinary
The path and time frame are going to be different for everyone. I can’t tell you what you want out of life. You have to figure that out for yourself. However, I can give you some brief guidelines to help you create your own checklist to happiness.
- Make a list of the things you want to do in your life – and then act on them. Want to travel Europe? Make it happen. That’s one of the biggest things on my list at the current moment. Want to go skydiving? Why not do it over Europe and knock out two birds with one stone. The idea is to dream big and make this list count for something.
- Figure out what you have to offer people that’s unique to you. Offer it up for free and help someone else cross some things off of their list. Karma is a bitch. You want it on your side.
- Do one thing really well. Figure out what you do extremely well and become the best person in your field. Make sure it’s something you’re passionate about. If it keeps you up all night thinking, it’s probably worth a go (stole from Jon Goodman).
- Surround yourself with kick-ass people. If you are truly the sum of the five people you spend the most time with, don’t spend time with people that suck – plain and simple.
- Be honest. Tell the truth and you’ll have a much easier time going throughout your day. Tell a lie and you’ll spend the rest of the day figuring out the other lies you have to tell to make your story hold up.
- Find time to hang out alone. Due to some issues with my car stereo, I’m forced to sit in quiet on most of my morning drives to work. In a time when it’s hard to find a spare moment along to sit in silence, it can be quite hard not to check my phone every two minutes or drum my fingers on my steering wheel. Get comfortable spending quality time by yourself each day to reflect on things you’re doing well and where you’re falling short.
- Learn to laugh at yourself. Simply put, don’t live with a stick up your ass. Take yourself seriously, but not too seriously. If you can’t crack a smile when you do something stupid, friends will be few and far between.
- Spend money on what matters to you. Look, I’m all about cutting back on spending, saving money, and paying off debt. But, I’m also realistic and mesh well with the idea that you can’t take paper money to the grave. While you can’t just go living your life in a black hole of credit debt, I also think you need to spend money on stuff you enjoy. For me, that means good beer and better coffee. I splurge on good food. On the other end of the spectrum, I rarely go shopping for clothes because I’d rather buy some quality stuff and spend my money elsewhere. See more on this at the bottom. (Note: When I told a client that I was cutting back on groceries to save more money, he replied “I’d cut my cable before I cut back on groceries.” Well played sir, well played.)
Make a commitment to living better and making choices that bolster your happiness rather than break it down. Super-ordinary isn’t a magic term – it’s a choice you make each day.
So, tell me the biggest choice you’ve made recently to start living a bigger life.
I’ll go first: I’m making a choice to pay off every bit of credit debt in the upcoming months. It means less fun now for more fun later. Sometimes the best choicest are the toughest.