How many people do you know that significantly changed their socio economic status? People who went from working two minimum wage jobs and feeding their kids fried bologna sandwiches, to changing class levels and moving onto dropping their kids off at private school and picking up not just a coffee, but also those expensive breakfast sandwiches at a coffee shop on their way to their job that has health insurance and a quality 401k matching plan. Based off of research and if you’re in America, then I would say you don’t know too many people who’ve had that change in lifestyle. In America, half of all children born into extreme poverty stay in extreme poverty.

I don’t want to discourage anyone, but what I’m leading to is that we can’t wait for politicians to work out the issues of our country’s limited and difficult social mobility. The issue could be our extreme incarceration rate, systemic racism, classism, access to quality education, access to health care, or a combination of all those things and more. If you’re called to activism, you can work on solving those issues, but in the meantime we still have to find a way to get to the next level. I have some ideas. Are you ready to do this?

1. Imagine a different standard. If you want to level up, you have to take your mind to a place it hasn’t been. Perhaps you haven’t been around millionaires or billionaires. Perhaps you haven’t been around people who aren’t in debt and make six figures a year, but you want to be at that level. It will be difficult to get to that level if you keep following the behaviors and habits that everyone around you follows. You have to be different. You have to imagine a different standard. How would someone who is a millionaire behave if they were you and in your current situation?
2. Be patient. As you’re developing new behaviors and habits, it might take some time for you to see the improvement you’re looking for. I can say from experience that changing your fitness, eating habits, improving your communication, etc. to make lasting change, has taken some time. Steadily keeping my ideal goal in mind and gently working on one habit at a time, profound change eventually took root.
3. Trust in the process. Leave the stress for those big moves you’re going to make. There is less stress when you truly believe in your future. And you should truly believe. Why not you? It might not happen exactly when or how you want it to, but believe it will happen and you will have an intoxicating calmness. And remember, you have to get better at not letting little problems bother you. If you can solve the problem easily, do it, and don’t talk or complain about it anymore. Imagine a future where you’re making million dollar deals and working with international partners. In that future, you don’t have the time or energy to spend 30 mins complaining about the flat tire you got or that rude coworker who keeps interrupting you. You’re going to be so successful; have compassion on the people who bother you and who don’t respond to calm communication, they’re struggling to work through their own issues.
4. Wake up early and read. I try not to be too specific in my advice because I know everyone is different and has to follow their own path, but this habit was so significant in changing my trajectory that I want to strongly encourage you to wake up 30 mins to an hour before you have to get ready for the day, find a comfortable spot, grab a coffee, tea or whatever and crack open a book that speaks to where you are in your process. Some of my book recommendations are: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Crucial Conversations by Joseph Grenny, Al Swizzler, and Ron McMillan, and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
5. Ask someone who is better than you for advice. This helped my career extensively. I used to be so competitive that is was hurting my success. I would be so competitive with my peers or even those ahead of me that I would never ask anyone for help. However, one day I got over my pride and asked someone at a higher level, to give me advice. She agreed and ended up giving me tips to significantly improve my performance. To this day, if anyone is good at anything I try to ask them to teach me about what they do. It has definitely sped up my progress. And sometimes people are only better than you in one area. That’s ok, you can still learn from them in that area. You don’t have to take all the advice, just listen to them in the areas they are excellent at.

Let me know if you have tried any of these tips, and if you have additional leveling up tips, please post them in the comments for myself and others to read. This is a team effort ❤