Focus On Incremental Improvement, Not On “Miracles”

Posted on June 2013    

It’s a real tragedy – when you’re down and out and desperate for help. When applying forNorth Carolina social security disability benefits, you’re more likely to look for miracle solutions and less likely to find and leverage incremental efficiencies to make your life better.

This mentality is understandable. When everything seems like it’s going wrong, it seems like you need a “big solution,” not a tiny solution applied over time.

This mentality is not only incorrect, but it is also dangerous. It sets you up for unrealistic expectations and yo-yoing behavior. Plus, it puts you at risk for getting scammed by unethical people who would use your desperation to market you useless or even provide illegal services.

Let’s back up for a second. WHY is this attitude about social security disability benefits misguided?

Ask any successful businessperson “how he or she did it,” and you will get an answer to the effect of “I slowly but steadily improved over time, found little efficiencies, and sweated the small stuff.” In his book “How to Be Rich,” John Paul Getty–once the world’s richest man–gave instructions along those lines for people who wanted to embrace the “millionaire mentality.”

It’s not about gambling or making big bets–although you may need to make those from time to time -it’s about finding ways to get slightly better and then committing to a process of continual improvement or refinement. Here’s a visual metaphor to help you understand. Imagine if you wanted to climb Mount McKinley–the tallest mountain in the North America. Would you try to, in a single leap, jump from sea level to the top of the mountain? Or would you carefully, expeditiously, in a planned-out way, hike up a pre-carved trail, making sure that you are well-trained, well fed, and well supervised as you make the incremental rise?

Which method would have a better chance of succeeding? Which method would be more dangerous?

When you strive for miracles to fix myriad problems in your life–your medical problems, financial problems, or social problems–you are doing the equivalent of jumping to the top of Mount McKinley.

Instead, you need to strive for incremental improvement over time–do what Jean Paul Getty advises aspiring millionaires to do–find small efficiencies in your life and leverage the resources of other people, who know better, to help you along the path to success.

To that end, we at DeMayo Law Offices invite you to connect with us for a free consultation regarding your case–let’s put our minds together to help make the Social Security Disability journey a little easier.