Upgrade 1: Benchmark! or Never Settle for Average

I've always strived to become different in everything I do. Part of it is because I don't want to be part of the majority. Just because everyone's doing it, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do! Just because everyone has a Sattelite Dish or a small grey/black/white box thingy sitting on top of their TV doesn't mean you desperately need to get one too just so you would not feel left out B-).

Being different means many things. It could be good, or even be negative. Let's talk about being different in positive terms specifically, of not being average (as majority of people are in the average group).

Question: How does one become above average?

Answer: Benchmark!

Before you benchmark yourself, you must first find out what is the average's benchmark. You can compare based on your salary, the car/house that you own, where you are in your career, or any other area where you want to upgrade your life. Comparison of course has to be apple to apple, based on the same circumstances. This could be benchmarking those of the same age as you, those in the same industry, the people that graduated with you from the same Uni/College, your schoolmates, those with the range of salary, etc.

Once you have found the benchmark, next is to benchmark yourself against that benchmark, are you doing better, average, or worse below average?! If you are already above average then CONGRATULATIONS you are already on your way to become the best of the best, the Creme de la Creme. You are destined for greatness and a bright future awaits you.

As for those who did not fair very well, don't fret. At least you are aware and no longer in the dark. "In the Land of the Blind, the One Eyed Man is King" (credit to Azizi Ali for introducing me to this quote). Now that you know where you are now, think and decide where should you be in order to become above average? You don't have to be so dramatic or ambitious like " I own a Myvi and now I want a BMW" or "My salary is RM3.5K and I want at least a 5 figure income". It can be as simple as targeting for the next nearest benchmark! For example target from owning a Myvi to owning a Honda City, or from a salary of RM3.5K to a salary which is 30% higher.

Sharing some of my personal past benchmarks.

- I used to work for a Telecommunication GLC. I think it was middle of 2008 when i realized that more & more of those in my batch were getting promoted to Manager level. I felt challenged and decided that I am as good, or even better then them. So I decided that I should become a manager too! Before end of the year I was finally promoted.

- In the same year due to a certain act of nature (read mistake) I got to know the exact salary of some of my fellow colleagues. I realized that some of them were getting paid higher than me! Again I was challenged and set a new benchmark for my salary. I did well for that year's assessment and subsequently got a higher increment and increased my salary (though it was not much due to the slow performance of the company).

- However, I next realized that some of friends who have left the company are getting at least RM5K? Cukup tak puas hati malah lebih daripada tu. I knew it was impossible to get the same salary by staying with TM (bukan nama sebenar) so I decided to find another job. I managed to get a new job which gave me a 50% increase from my previous job. Someone told me that it was the same salary of an AGM, which in turn would take me like 2 to 3 years to achieve?

- Last year when me & my wife wanted to get a 3rd car to replace our 2nd car (which btw never got sold sebab tak laku huhu) we wanted to buy a Vios. A few days before purchasing the car we realized there were too many Vios'es on the road so we decided to upgrade and bought an Altis instead

- This year we wanted to finally buy our house and move in before the end of the year. We realized that we have been living in the same low-cost house ever since we got married more than 4 years, yet almost everyone else we know already had their own roof over their heads after 2 years, some even before they got married. So we decided it would be only fit if we buy a better or at least a bigger house than them. Keeping the story short, we finally bought a Semi-D in Bandar Teknologi Kajang.

OK. Now that we have our benchmark, what do we have to do to achieve it? Well my  dear friend, that will be covered in another lesson. One at a time, one at a time.

p.s.: Of course it's always better to strive to become the top 20% (Pareto Rule), but to some people this is something too far fetched. Not settling for average is a good START!

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