It is Alright Being Average!

To embrace mediocrity is the true acceptance of the self

There is this guy. A 6'3 billionaire who drives a Bugatti around. He is a world champion kickboxer, has millions of fans and seems to have everything in his life in order.

I am sure some of you know who I am talking about. Too often, we seem to be surrounded by so many individuals that have achieved a crazy amount of success.

Remember how we used to say:

“Mom, I want to be a millionaire when I grow up!”

We all dream of achieving a level of success when we were kids, after all, that was what our parents have always told us.

Dream Big! You can be anything you want to be, you can do whatever you want to do!

We have been praised endlessly for our small achievements, whether it is winning in a sports competition or topping the class for a particular subject in school.

We have been so accustomed to success and inevitably, formed our own idea of what success is to us. Surely we will be able to achieve that right?

But of course, life gets in the way. You grow up experiencing struggles. You underperform. Somehow, there is always someone out there who is better than you.

Too often, we discover that we are just…average.

But is being average so bad? Why does society consider “average” as a new standard of failure?

The Bane of Social Media

It is tough living in the 21st century…it really is. You have celebrities flaunting their wealth, Instagram models flying on private jets just by looking pretty and some 14 year old kid who graduated university is now coding and making 6 figures.

We are constantly bombarded with these social symbols of success that we just feel that we could never measure up. That is why we are too quick to be critical of ourselves as we face such enormous pressure to achieve success, simply by scrolling our Instagram feed.

But that’s not reality!

There is a reason you are seeing these shiny subjects of success in your feed. They are among the top percentile of the population. Simply put, they are a minority and really do not represent reality. There are 8 billion people in the world and in fact, a large number of them do not ever achieve this abnormal success.

Remember that for every successful celebrity out there from those who are able to consistently display exceptional performance to those that are termed as an overnight success, these individuals have put in years of hard work.

Do not be too quick to judge!

You are a unique combination of traits

I like football, piano and hitting the gym. And it turns out, I am pretty good at my interests. But my ability to play a string instrument should never see the light of day and I suck at billiards. On the contrary, these may be your strengths!

A man’s weakness may be another’s strength.

You are good at certain things but actually average at mostly everything else. Even the masters of their craft who are truly exceptional at a skill lack in other aspects of their lives.

Football/Soccer (depending on where you are from) athletes are frequently associated with infidelity, celebrities face the same anxiety issues as we do and top performing writers still face writers’ block!

Embrace your unique set of traits for they make up who you are today. Comparison is the thief of joy so the next time you look at a stunning hallmark of success, remember that they also possess flaws.

Strive not only for Excellence but Balance

Yes, this may go against what I have been saying the whole article. But I am arguing that we should be okay with mediocrity in some aspects of our lives, but we should always strive for excellence in a specific few.

It is this pursuit of excellence and struggle that make life worth living.

Being mediocre in some aspects of your life does not mean that you lead a mediocre life!

As the common saying goes, everyone is unique in their own way. Hone in on your unique set of strengths and sharpen them.

• A chess player stares at set plays daily
• A bodybuilder trains consistently

Of course these individuals are mediocre in some ways but they are also truly exceptional in their craft. They are the extremes of the human race and we should realize with their level of extremism towards their craft, comes extreme asymmetry in other aspects of their lives.

Concluding Thoughts

We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

Tyler Durden (Fight Club)

The guy who has everything effortlessly does not exist.

Batman does not exist. Well, even Batman has trauma! Behind the perfect faces on Instagram lie crippling self-doubt and constant anxiety of being judged. Behind successful businessmen who work long hours lie the inability to balance work and family.

We only like to portray the best of our lives for the world to see, but we fail to consider that these models of success spend most of their time struggling… just like us.

So hone in on your craft and your strengths. But remember to raise your expectations of performance for the things you really care about and lower them for the minor ones.

Each of us are unique in a different way. You do not have to be the best or even great at everything you do. You just have to strike the perfect balance, one step at a time.

It is ok to be average. As long as you understand what you are passionate about, who matters to you and why you do what you do!