Why you Should Make no Room for Status Quo in Life

I often find myself thinking about what we call the “status quo” of things in life. And somewhere in that pondering, I find that I have always had a unique way of approaching it. As such, I really think, with the proper placement of awareness and prioritizing of status quo, we could leverage it into better things in our lives and communities.

Sometime around about second grade, I developed my sure-fire approaches to getting “good” grades. Through most of the projects I did in school during those early years of learning, I suffered from the “Ricky Bobby Syndrome” – I wanted to go fast. So I did all projects as fast as I could and was most often done first among my peers. Rarely did it mean my work was done best or even correctly. In my haste, I would often skip over small details in instructions and complete assignments with many errors.

This was of less concern, however, when we were doing creative projects that involved more than guessing if the answer was A, B, C or None of the Above. I would do my project and then, in the hustle and bustle of everyone finishing their own projects, I took the opportunity to walk around and look at the others. If there were projects were looking too much like my own, I would go back to my desk and improve upon my own. Some kids suggested it as a form of cheating, but I never did. To me, it was holding myself to a higher standard.

I always wanted my work – in addition to being done first – to stand out.

I wanted it to be beyond the status quo.

When Good Enough is not Good Enough

I once attended a conference where Debbi Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies fame explained her simple recipe for business success. It contained two ingredients; “Butter Tastes Better” and “Good Enough is Not Good Enough.”

Think about that for a moment.

Mrs. Fields demanded her cookies be made with the “real” thing when every other baker uses less expensive imitation ingredients that diminishes the overall quality. In doing so, she also held her product to higher standards. She wanted her cookies to stand out from every other cookie. She knew that people would go out of their way and even pay a little more for a superior product that stood above the status quo. It’s a recipe many other successful businesses have deployed to take their companies to new realms (think Starbucks, Apple, etc.).

But what about people?

How do we integrate recipes of authenticity into our lives?

First, start with the real thing. That being a foundation that is firmly fixed on God.

From there, though, how about we start with status quo? That’s right. We all reach a point in life where we suggest to ourselves that we have accomplished enough. Some call it the “I’ve Arrived” syndrome. We obtain a certain status and we become content with it. We realize it and then we convince ourselves that “good enough” is good enough. Then we never do anything significant again.

While this may be most apt in terms of careers, it goes beyond that. There is a place for that sort of thing. But there is much more to life than a career. Your employment is important, but if it is simply to make money, you’re missing out. A career should have significance beyond a way to pay your bills. Jobs can be much more fulfilling if you place a personal interest in them and approach them with an enthusiasm that is the result of something more than money.

Consider the possibilities of living a life where you seek out and achieve satisfaction in areas centering around your family, your hobbies, or even in helping others. Consider how much more satisfying it would be to take your personal life to new heights where there are “no limits” placed upon you by status quo.

Our world puts an emphasis on a lot of things and becomes accepting of actions or behaviors that really should not be – by making it status quo. But none of us has to live like that. Whether is is giving into divorce as an easy way out, driving one’s self into deep financial debt, working seventy-hour weeks to get the next carrot, or anything of that nature, we can live for something beyond that type of status quo.

Make no room for status quo in your life.

Live it like you’ve been given new life.

Because you have.

Your freedom is the will of God. “Uncompromising, unrelenting, indomitable freedom. For this Christ died. For this he rose. For this he sent his Spirit. There is nothing he wills with more intensity under the glory of his own name than this: your freedom.” (John Piper at Desiring God)

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ~ Galatians 5:1-5