When Michael Jordan arrived at the University of North Carolina in 1981, assistant coach Roy Williams told Mike that he would have to work a lot harder in college than Mike had worked in high school.

"I'll work just as hard as everyone else, coach," Mike responded affirmatively.

Well, Michael, do you wanna be like everyone else?

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Too often I see and meet people whose only frame of reference, when it comes to their potential, is based on what their friends did. Many people only want to do what everyone else is doing. Some people cannot fathom possibilities for themselves that stretch further than what people around them have done.

These same people then tell me about their lofty goals and dreams. We all need those. But when it comes time to do something to make them happen -- which requires a new set of beliefs and actions from what they're used to -- the resistance hits.

You have to decide if you really want to be different (and being better than average -- like most people, by definition), because it will separate you from most of the people around you. Easy to say, much harder to do.