The Secret to Success in Life

I realized a few nights ago, as I was not sleeping, that I had discovered the secret of finding success in this life. I know, I know, people have been claiming this for years and have written countless self-help books on it, but for real I have found the key to success. The secret to success in this life is to set everyone's expectations for you REALLY low so no matter what you do after that you look awesome in comparison. Below are some of my life experiences that helped me discover this vital truth.

Example 1: My older sisters are freaking smart. In fact annoyingly smart. My oldest sister (Mary) got her first B her senior year of college. Annoying right? Mary always wanted voice lessons. My parents always said no. Now enter Laura. In eighth grade I cared a lot more about my friends than school. So much so that on my mid semester evaluation I had a D in math. I also got a 17% on my mid semester math test and yes that was out of 100%. So my parents said if I could raise my D to an A they would give me voice lessons for a year. And guess what? I did it. Moral of the story: A to A = nothing. Zip. Nada. D to A= voice lessons. Look now I am good at math. Set the bar low and everyone wins.

Example 2: In high school I might have had a slight driving problem. I may or may not have gotten in like 5 accidents in my first year of having a license. It's no big deal. But, everyone made a massive stink about how terrible of a driver I was. Then I went to college. I didn't have a car at BYU. My junior year I REALLY wanted a car and I asked my parents, pretty much assuming that my past driving record would make this impossible. To my total shock my mom said, "Well.......you have not been in any accidents in almost 2 years so maybe that is a good idea". Keep in mind I had not driven in like two years because I did not have a car at BYU, but hey I was not about to tell my mom that. Moral of the story being terrible and then becoming slightly less terrible means people are impressed and give you a car.

 Example 3: The night before our wedding I flipped. Massively, totally, psycho level FREAKED OUT. I texted my absolutely wonderful husband and 4am and told him I was not coming to the wedding. And then I fell asleep. And then I forgot to call him the next morning and tell him that I had calmed down and was in fact coming to the wedding. And then our car broke down and I was like an hour late to the temple. Ya this was not one of my finest moments. It was so bad that my husbands Uncle (that he had met for the first time that day) was asking everyone if they should leave and go out to breakfast cause the bride was clearly not coming. But my massive freak out set the standard incredibly low in my in laws eyes. I am actually really surprised they were letting their son marry this total nut job. Now pretty much everything I do they think is awesome because in comparison to the psycho nut job my in laws thought their son had married I am actually only a slight nut. Moral of story three make your in laws think you are a psycho and when they realize that you are only slightly crazy they are so relieved that they think you are awesome.


So in fact, the secret to success in life is setting the standard SO low that no matter what you do it looks way better in comparison.