Book: Escape Average – Go for the BIG

This was so unlike me.

For starters, I’m not much of a reader—at least, not unless I’m learning something or digging through documentation. And second, picking things up off the sidewalk? Definitely not my thing.

But that morning was different.

It was a dreary, rain-soaked December day. The kind that makes you question why you ever left the warmth of your bed. I was groggily walking Loki, my dog, through the misty streets, counting down the days until a lonely Christmas. As we passed the bench outside my building, I noticed something I had been ignoring for days—a sad, abandoned pile of books.

They’d been sitting there for a while, slowly surrendering to the elements. The damp pages curled at the edges, the covers warping under the weight of the cold rain. Normally, I would’ve kept walking. But something about that soggy heap made me stop.

Curiosity got the better of me.

I sifted through the pile, half-expecting nothing of interest. And then I saw it—Escape Average – Go for BIG by Michael Botts.

I picked it up, wiped the wet cover with my sleeve, and flipped it open. The author’s bio caught my attention: husband, father of four, U.S. Marine, and hard worker. He had faced struggles—real struggles, some that weren’t even his fault. Or… were they? That question hit me harder than I expected.

I’ve always been successful in most aspects of life, at least on the surface. High school? Boring. Not challenging enough. I dropped out in 10th grade. But then life took its turns. A few years later, I found myself managing a State Farm branch as an insurance agent. The irony? I had to go back to “school” to get certified for the job.

That’s what reignited something in me.

For the first time, I saw education as something other than a tedious obligation. It was a tool—one I could actually use. I started wondering: What else could I learn now that school didn’t feel like high school?

One morning, I called in sick, but not for the reason my boss assumed. Instead, I walked into a testing center and inquired about getting my GED. They handed me a pretest, and when I finished, the instructor looked at my results, raised an eyebrow, and said, You don’t need to study—go to the back room and you can take the test.

That day, I walked out with my GED. Two weeks later, I was in college.

I couldn’t decide between art and logic, so I studied both.

Three years later, I graduated with two degrees: one in design, one in programming. I landed a job with a national media organization, honing my skills in marketing, design, sales, and copywriting. I absorbed everything. Years later, I pivoted again—this time leaning into programming.

For the last 12 years, I’ve been deep in the agricultural industry, navigating the world of enterprise-level eCommerce. A world I had built for myself, step by step.

But lately? Lately, something had been gnawing at me.

Despite all the success, I felt like I’d been playing it small. I’d built barriers around myself, limiting my own growth without even realizing it. Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was comfort. Maybe it was something else entirely.

That’s when I found Escape Average – Go for BIG.

Or maybe… it found me.

I didn’t expect a random, rain-soaked book on a city sidewalk to shift my perspective. But here I was, standing in my kitchen, flipping through its pages with a cup of coffee, realizing it was exactly what I needed.

Sometimes, life has a funny way of putting the right things in front of you—if you’re willing to pick them up.