Surely, the saddest day in anyone’ s life, is the day that he/she realizes that he is never going to win the Nobel prize, or head a major corporation, or will the Davis Cup. We who are condemned to a life of obscurity, know in our hearts that we are just “average”.
In my case, my life has been marked by unremitting failure… I wanted to be a mathematician, but as an undergrad, I soon learned that I had no ability to be one. I then changed careers, and became a moderately successful engineer. Now, as I turn 40, I am beset with the knowledge that :
-I will never be rich
-I will never be a CEO
-my lawn has crabgrass
How did YOU cope with the realization of your own mediocrity?
I always plagerize (sp?) that life is what you make of it. I do not believe any of us are truly mediocre. We are all different and have the ability to change the future. If we do nothing in life, that doesn’t mean we are important; the lives we touch are changed forever when we touch them.
Also if you have children, you can be safe in the knowledge that you are passing on your genes toward a new evolution of Humans.
You can always do something to stand out from the crowd, whether it is changing one person’s life, or mowing down a group of people in the mall…Lives are altered and you have had an effect.
I read a lot and I, as the words to the song go, “Know a little bit about a lot of things” and have an EE degree with about two additional years of advanced schooling plus 35 years of experience in the field. When I read posts on this board by those who are real experts in a subject I realize that I’m just a dilettante about most things and even about some aspects of electrical engineering.
Doesn’t bother me a bit because learning has always been fun for me.
Never underestimate the power of being “ordinary”. Life is much simpler for us average folks than for the CEO of a major (or even minor) corporation.
I was probably in my 40’s when that finally dawned on me.
Like everyone, I do some things very well, and others not so well; and some things I just can’t do at all. It’s called being human. Like David I think that learning new stuff is fun - even if I’ll never be an expert at it.
Revel in the things you enjoy doing, and lack of talent in other areas will lose significance.
Being successful is not mediocre. If someone achieves something desired, planned or attempted, he is successful, not mediocre. Perhaps a person is happy being a worker, or a supervisor. If he plans this, he is certainly not mediocre. He has achieved his goal and is content with that.
Maybe you are mediocre, but not everyone is. But whatever standard you’re using, there’s got to be a few above and below, and one each on top and bottom.
On the other hand, remember this and remember it well:
I am going to be one of the biggest rock stars of my generation. No joke. So, no, I haven’t accepted mediocrity yet, and don’t think I ever will (even if for some reason my bid for stardom doesn’t pan out. Think though, you knew me when).
I would say that you become mediocre when you think that you are.
As it has been said here, being ordinary is not being mediocre.
Now, if what you mean is that you will not be remembered a 100 years from now as someone who did some significant achievement that changed humanity (for the good, I hope), then I would say that you become mediocre when you stop hoping… I still hope that a few months from now, or a few years from now I will write “THE” book, or have “THE” philosophical insight, or think of “THE” scientific breakthrough, or become the oldest one to win “THE” sporting event…
Another factor - no matter how great your native talent at something, there are other people out there who are about your equal. And you are eventually going to be up against some obsessed SOB who not only has your talent, but is willing to devote every waking minute of their existence to using it on a very narrow field of endeavor.
Thus, the corporate CEO who hits the office at 7:00 AM, and is still scanning paperwork and tearing his hair out at midnight.
You could take up macrame, and I’m sure you would find some nut job out there who does nothing but knot wall hangings and reads nothing but macrame magazines, in order to become the best.
You are not going to beat these people at their chosen game. They’ve not only not stopped to smell the roses, they’ve long forgotten that rosebeds exist. Hell, they’ve forgotten that most of the world exists. Their office suite, athletic field or studio has become their entire universe. And they’re usually crazier than outhouse rats.
Most people who have reached the top ranks of visible accomplishment have paid an awful price for it in forgoing amost everything else. In many cases, you needn’t envy them.
As someone who recently upgraded myself from “hideously ugly” to “just ordinary looking”, I am still working on raising myself from “an abject failure/nobody” to “mediocre.”
