Surfing the Bell Curve

Everyone falls on the Bell Curve – there are really, really good people, and of course, at the opposite end of the curve there are the counterparts – really, really bad people. There are the extraordinarily wealthy and the extraordinarily poor, the extraordinarily fit and the extraordinarily unfit – and so on. There is always that certain person in any martial arts class who is such a positive force for the school, always positive, always encouraging of others, always raving about the benefits of the school to their friends, etc – and then of course, there is their exact opposite, the person who is gloomy, who finds fault with everyone, etc … that’s the person you want to get rid of – and fast – life’s simply too short!
The bell curve is an interesting concept – and we all surf it whether we want to or not. What I mean by this is that we may sit nicely to the right of the bell curve in some areas of our lives, right smack in the middle of it in other areas; and way to the left in other aspects still. A genius at making money might be terrible at his personal relationships; a great family man might be lacking in fitness; a seriously fit athlete might be no good at making good life choices, etc.
I like to think that we all have the capability to surf that Bell Curve in the direction we like, I like to think we are all capable of moving to the right – from very mediocrity to acceptable – from acceptable to very good – from very good to excellent. Moving to the right of the Bell Curve makes us happy; we feel good about ourselves, especially when we notice that we have made the move. Noticing is very important – not noticing that we have made improvements is a sure-fire way to let our behavior and habits slide back to the left side of the Bell Curve. When we make a decision to shift one of our positions on the Bell Curve, we have already made progress. Nothing is fixed! Life is short … get surfing.
JBW