Mediocrity as an Outcome
Mediocrity in terms of a goal, blows but mediocrity as an outcome isn’t the worst thing.
As someone in my 20s, I feel an immense pressure to find my true calling and stick to it — with that pressure comes the fear of mediocrity. As the middle-child, I am yet another mainstream example of someone that suffers the middle child syndrome. Years of low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy and the need to be noticed has led to an extreme need to excel in everything I set out to achieve. The need to excel, then led me to a growing fear of being perceived as mediocre.
Delving further into this, I have spent months contemplating what it means to be mediocre, how to out-grow mediocrity or simply how to avoid it. These few months have been a time of genuine understanding and growth that were well…humbling…more or less .
Trying new things, be it a new job, a new hobby or an innovative project, it is extremely likely that you will face a stretch of failure followed by a large pile of humility. The fight-or-flight response comes into play more often than you would prefer and self-doubt makes you question why you ever took it upon yourself to try new experiences in the first place. It’s a terrible feeling, it really is.
It goes without saying that every person wants to leave their own unique mark behind, something they will be remembered by even decades after they’ve left the earth. Is it possible to achieve that? In a world that holds a population of over 7.2 billion people, only a mere 1000 to 2000 people, truly have massive global influence at any given moment. That still leaves a massive chunk of the population who are unable to make large waves due to the limited resources available to them or fail to gain recognition for the small differences that they make. We need to come to terms with the fact that majority of what we do will most likely no longer be significant after we’ve died. This a full-blown reality check that is difficult to think about, let alone accept.
However, I have come to realise that being mediocre at some point does not have to prevail as a negative experience. Awareness of mediocrity and experiencing a wave of mediocrity means you are attempting new experiences and out-growing all that you already excel in.
Constantly riding waves — sometimes smooth sailing and other times attempting to stay afloat is a part of doing something great; achieving big things; and living a life that is full of creativity and productive experimenting. It is a difficult but worthwhile process that will ultimately lead you to reaching your full potential.
All aspects in life basically consist of a ‘trade-off’. Human-beings are born with a diverse set of skills and capabilities, while some may possess high levels of intellect, others may have great physical capabilities or may be artistically adept. However, in the long run anything and everything we accomplish in life ultimately is a reflection on the amount of energy and effort we are willing to put in to reach our sole purpose and potential.
This is where the bell curve comes into play. On average about 10% of the population are low achievers, 70% of the population consists of average achievers , while the remaining 20% consists of the high achievers. Each individual holds their own strengths and weaknesses and most of these individuals might be quite average at most things they try. Despite being extraordinary at one thing, be it a professional athlete, a violinist or making money off the black market — odds are that your performance in other areas may be lacking; below average or mediocre at most.
To truly become exceptional at something, it is necessary to dedicate your full energy and time to it. And because of the immense pressure and responsibilities of life most of us have only just very limited time and energy to spare, therefore it is only a few of us that actually truly become great at more than just one thing, if just one thing at all.
It can be argued that an individual can master many areas in their life, or even all areas of their life. However, for the most part, the larger sum of the population is pretty average at most. It is the high performing chunk of the population that gains publicity, that in turn pulls your attention. Celebrities that you idolise and follow are more often than not just as clueless as you; professional athletes are often lacking academically; brilliant entrepreneurs often lack in their personal lives. The large majority might never be extraordinary at even just one thing, but thats OK.
This definitely does not mean you should aspire to pursue mediocrity — but rather, to accept mediocrity if you do end up there, despite your best efforts use that as a stepping stone to better yourself.
Mediocrity in terms of a goal, blows but mediocrity as an outcome isn’t the worst thing.
However, only a small percentage of us understand this. There is a whole lot of “I’m just never going to be good at anything” type of insecurities that surface when we expect to be exceptional at everything or really just when we feel entitled to be exceptional. Reality check: it’s not very feasible and not to mention highly unlikely. For every, Beyoncé, there are tens of thousands struggling artists playing dead-end gigs; For every Jeff Bezos, there are millions of struggling entrepreneurs trying to keep their startups afloat; and for every Tom Brady, there are thousands of aspiring kids fumbling around with a ball praying to make it pro one day.
So here is where the issue stands. The society of today more so than any other time in history hold unrealistic levels of entitlement and expectations. The reason being technology and economical privilege; and the access to a variety of channels and information.
However, this is both a blessing and a curse, due to our short attention spans, we lack the time to process the heavy flow of information on the internet, therefore, the only information that catches our attention is the truly outstanding achievements which happens to be the mere 20% of high performers.
All that we view, all the information that we perceive comes from the extreme high performers of the bell curve, leading you to believe that in a world of great achievers you are considered a loser. That’s not your fault though, because that is the information that catches the media’s attention and is pushed forward for your viewing.
This overflow of information has unconsciously conditioned our population into believing that being outstanding is the new norm. And since it is rare for every person to be extremely exceptional, we are all constantly feeling a sense of insecurity. We are all constantly attempting to prove that we’re somehow more special or extraordinary only to have that moment drift away in all of the human brilliance that is constantly progressing. What a lot of people fail to understand is that if each and every person was extraordinary then by definition no one really would be.
Our generation seems to be incredibly terrified of accepting mediocrity, because they believe in the notion that accepting mediocrity will result in them never achieving anything great and therefore, their life not being significant. However, this mindset is a risky one to have because accepting the fact that the only life that holds value is one that holds great achievements is basically accepting that the larger sum of the population holds no value or significance.
But there are exceptions to this mindset, and those are people that do not want to accept mediocrity because they feel as though they may begin to lack motivation to work on doing better. This also tends to be a faulty judgement, as people that are extraordinary at something are not extraordinary just because they believe they are.
In contrast to what people may believe, an extraordinary person is not born extraordinary, they outgrow expectations because they are committed to improving. The commitment in itself stems from the notion that they are mediocre, using that as motivation to push themselves to be the greatest they can be.
