Controversial Life Advice: Do Not Strive to be an A Student!

That's right.

If you study hard, you work hard, you do what you're supposed to, you pass the tests, you ace the quizzes, you're an A student.

It's what they tell us we need to strive for.

Well, I'm gonna flip the script on this, and I want to erase that mindset from your memory.

No longer do I want you to go through life, and I'm talking about all aspects of life, all chapters of life, not just school.

It's your career, it's your relationships.

I want you to instead of focusing on being an A student, I want you to focus on a B plus instead.

Now, me having an opinion that's different than most isn't real uncommon because, well, I guess I just think a little bit differently about certain things in life.

But we'll save some of those other controversial opinions of mine for another episode.

Today, we're focusing on the grade you're getting in life.

So let's dive into this topic and let me explain myself in the hopes that you're gonna listen to what I'm saying and you're going to implement what I'm telling you so that you can start living better by focusing on just getting a B plus rather than stressing yourself out over that A.

So let me ask you, do you ever find yourself battling perfectionism?

Like you can't dare move forward until what you're working on is absolutely perfect, which of course that only leads to more stress because things in life aren't progressing like you want them to be.

What about when you were in school, however long ago that was?

Were you one of the kids that went to school thinking of it more like a job?

Your parents have their job, and they taught you that your job was to go to school, learn, get good grades, and do what you were supposed to do?

Or were you more of the other side of the spectrum where school was basically a social hour?

It was a social playground where schoolwork was just uh kind of the annoyance that got in the way of you getting to socialize with your friends.

Admittedly, I was one of those kids who tried to do good in school.

I strived to get good grades.

I wanted to make my parents proud.

I wanted to impress my teachers.

And I guess even for myself, I wanted to, I guess in some way, impress me that, hey, I could do it.

I mean, I was one of those kids who all growing up, I always got good grades.

I was on honor roll, I think pretty much every year through school.

I mean, the lowest grade I ever got on a report card was a C.

And that was in third grade because I chose to not do my social studies project.

Rest of the time, it was either straight A's or the occasional B.

Now, I can say that I strived to do this because I wanted to make my parents proud, or I wanted to do it for myself.

But the truth of the matter is, is that that's what we were taught in school.

That's what we were led to believe that we needed to do.

We needed to strive to be an A student, to get straight A's on the report card.

But here's what I have learned later in life is okay, that's fine and dandy, but at what expense are you willing to make that happen?

Stressing over tests, agonizing over the infamous pop quiz, making myself half sick over projects, or letting myself get upset because I couldn't do the multiplication flashcards as fast as the other kid in class.

Was any of that really worth it?

I just don't think so.

And so that's when I think: why are we continuing to let our kids have that kind of stress on them?

That there's really nothing better than an A.

Because here's the truth of the matter.

Do you know what separates me from the kid who earned Bs or even C's?

Not a darn thing.

Because the kid who was earning C's and B's, he was able to go on and get a good job just as I could have when I graduated.

Those letter grades, they only matter when we're in school.

They don't matter in the real world.

Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive to do our best in anything we're doing, school included, but I'm just wondering, at what expense is that really worth?

Now, I'm gonna assume that you, if listening to this podcast, are probably not still in school.

So let's turn the tables a little bit.

Let's fast forward in life, and let's start looking at your life today.

What in your life today are you stressing yourself out about?

Trying to be perfect at?

Is it your career?

Is it trying to be the best employee?

Is it trying to be the best parent?

Do you want to receive an A plus in your marriage?

Are you trying to be the best friend ever?

If so, then I want to encourage you to really listen up to what I'm about to say.

You need to stop driving yourself half mad, trying to get that A in life when a B plus will work just fine.

Yep.

You heard that right.

Because just as I compared the grades we got in school to life today, I'm here to tell you that none of it matters either.

No one but you notices that you slacked off a little.

You took the B rather than the A.

And so cut yourself a break.

Give yourself some slack in life and realize, you know what?

I don't always have to be an A friend, an A spouse, an A parent.

I can just do a B plus and everything will still be just fine.

And you know the other thing?

It's because bees, well, bees, they just have more fun in life.

So that is today's message inside of episode 118, is for you to really examine your life, to look at what you're doing, what you're stressing out about, what you're worrying about, what you're trying to be perfect at, and realize that that's not truly serving you, that you are better off without those stresses.

Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't strive to do your best.

That's not at all what I'm saying.

Because, well, I feel as though we all should strive to do our best.

But I ask you, at what expense?

So if that means you're stressed out, if that means that you're worrying about things that you really shouldn't have to be worrying about, then maybe you need to take it down a notch and stop living life as an A student and just take the B instead.

I hope you've enjoyed today's quick hit episode.

And if you are loving the episode, loving the podcast, I would ask you to please leave a rating and review.

Five stars in an awesome message would be incredible on Apple Podcast.

That review, it not only helps me to realize that, hey, people are loving the podcast and like what I'm doing, but it also helps the podcast to be discovered by more people, helps me to get more guests, better guests, bigger guests on the show, and helps it to just keep growing and helping me to be able to continue producing content that is going to be a benefit to you.

So, with all of that said, I send you out into the world with the reminder stop striving to be an A student and go for the B plus instead.