How do you handle mediocrity?

Consider the following analogy: Picture a slow moving river. Now, think about every person on earth being in their own canoe moving down that river. Assume that most people choose to sit in their canoe and meander along by the power of the river alone. Notice that the people are moving forward, but at the same pace as everyone else. They are floating along, without bothering to exert themselves by paddling. These people are mediocre. They are average. They are "normal". They fail to push the limits, work hard, or better themselves in any way other than being social to those that meander along with them.

They do the least possible to move forward in life. In reality they get a high school education, go to a decent college, graduate, and get a job. They have succeeded in life, to an extent, but their life fails to have much meaning beyond their mediocrity. Now let us consider the analogy of the river once more. Moving past these mediocre people are people in canoes that are paddling. And ahead of these people are those that are paddling like their life depends on it. These people are the leaders, the innovators, the hard workers They're destined for personal development and chasing the dream of success.

The mediocre will laugh and poke fun. They will jeer at the paddlers, questioning them as to why they choose to paddle. The mediocre can't stand these people, because the mediocre want no one to be better than them. They have a deep envy of the paddlers. In response, those paddling for their lives keep their head down and continue to paddle, aware that there is no need to be bothered by the heckling of the mediocre. Be the person who paddles like his life depends on it. And don't be bothered by the mediocre, as you will come upon such people more often than not.

Mediocrity is where you wind up when you keep settling for less. And when you expect less of yourself. It’s the end result of selling yourself short. Consistently. As a habit. Why do people do this? It’s because their parents, their teachers, their coaches, their bosses, and virtually every other responsible adult they know, settled for less. So they got used to it. Think about that for a second. I bet it hits home. How many negative messages do you think you received as a child? You can’t do this, you can’t do that. Don’t do this, don’t do that. Don’t try something new - too risky. Don’t experiment. Don’t. Take. Risks.

How many of your friends and family members and neighbors and people you hung out with wrapped themselves in a cocoon of fear? Better safe than sorry, carried to an extreme. At some point, we each have to throw off the yoke of our prior programming. We were raised by who we were raised by, and that’s the story. Those people were who they were. We just do not have to be like them. We can decide for ourselves who we want to be. This means doing an awful lot of self exploration and self discovery to identify our capabilities. Our talents. Our drives. Our desires.

And it means distancing ourselves rom those people who bring us down. Even if they are not intentionally trying to get us to sink to their level, they can negatively influence us. So we need to hang out and associate with people who are on the rise. Who are trying to achieve their potential. Who want to be all they can be. There’s an old saying about people who live their lives playing it safe. They are greeted at the pearly gates thusly: “Congratulations! You’ve arrived safely at death.” Such is a life based on mediocrity. It does not have to be yours. Just make the commitment to not settle for less. Cheers!