# What should a person do if they feel mediocre?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-a-person-do-if-they-feel-mediocre/477965>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 19, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-a-person-do-if-they-feel-mediocre/477965 "2008-12-19T20:13:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-a-person-do-if-they-feel-mediocre/477965/61 "2009-01-05T21:00:17Z")

</div>

I’ve been trying for the past ten years or so to come to terms with my mediocrity.

> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> My point is, I have a dad who is far from mediocre. He’s exceptional. He’s got a website, dozens of inspired and/or disgruntled volunteers, a few interviews in newspapers and a knighthood to prove it. And he is a [pain to live with](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=454707), as he has no time or energy left for his family. I wish my dad WAS mediocre.

I don’t know about anybody else, but this did make me feel better.

I feel mediocre largely because I dropped out of grad school in astronomy with only a master’s degree. But if I’d gotten a Ph.D, I’d probably have felt obligated to get a faculty job. Mr. Neville has gone this route, so I get a front-row seat to see what it’s like. From where I sit, it appears to kind of suck. He works a lot more than I do for not much more money.

Speaking of things that suck, make sure you’re not going to grad school just because you don’t know what else to do, or because you think you should. The only thing that will get you through the long hours and laughable pay is if you really, really love your subject. At least not knowing of anything else to do and thinking I should be in grad school weren’t enough to get me through more than a couple of years.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-a-person-do-if-they-feel-mediocre/477965/62 "2009-01-06T03:11:18Z")

</div>

> [@msmith537](#):
>
> Chances are, you probably actually are pretty mediocre. I mean are you a top athlete? Valedictorian of your college (and is your college Harvard or Stamford)? Do you run a successful business? Are you the mayor or governor or president of anything? Did you win an Academy Award or a Nobel (or is it Noble) Prize for anything? Most of us, by definition, are pretty mediocre.
> 
> Maybe the solution is for everyone to stop believing they are special little snowflakes destined to do great things? Just go do them (or don’t…no one really cares but you anyway).

There’s a lot of wisdom in this. Myself, I revel in my mediocrity, so maybe that’s why I’m so happy. That and having found one person whom I managed to fool into thinking I’m special. That’s really all you need.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-a-person-do-if-they-feel-mediocre/477965.md?page=3)