Challenge YOUR Status Quo

Challenge YOUR Status Quo

It’s funny what a difference a word or two can make in meaning. Most of you have heard the quote, “practice makes perfect.” It’s a Vince Lombardi quote, but the popular version isn’t the whole quote. The actual quote is, “perfect practice makes perfect.”

Small word change, but a huge difference in meaning. The first version tells me that if I practice my flawed golf swing, over and over and over, I’ll magically have a better golf swing. The latter coaches that I need to get my golf swing to a good place and then practice the right way over and over to achieve excellence.

It’s a pithy piece of advice to tell someone to “challenge THE status quo.” I’ve written a number of articles over the years on that topic myself.

It sounds very rebellious. Many people are willing to try it. There’s little to no risk in it. Here’s why.

Challenging THE status quo is a nebulous endeavor. What does it even mean? Is it driving a practical car when all, your friends drive sports cars? Does it mean growing your hair longer or wearing out-of-style clothes? Does it mean saying yes when society as a whole says no or vice versa?

These type of behaviors aren’t challenging anything meaningful. They’re non-conformity for non-conformity’s sake. What is that but a new kind of conformity?

No, you must challenge YOUR status quo. You must put your most cherished beliefs to the test once in a while. Take them out to the woodshed and kick the crap out of them. Poke holes in them like a prosecutor would. Evaluate your beliefs the way you would your ideological opponent’s.

Until you do that, what are they but someone else’s theories and talking points adopted by you?

Do they stand up to that kind of scrutiny? Yes. Wonderful, you’ve got principles that are keepers. No or not sure? Maybe these are things you should reconsider or at least be more flexible and less dogmatic about.

Just like perfect practice makes perfect. Challenging YOUR status quo is the only way separate the wheat from the chaff in your belief system.

Have an amazing 4th!

Ray