I work for the guy you’re describing. I have a slight envy of his bank account, but I wouldn’t trade lives with him for anything. I’m a lot less driven, but I have more fun. I’m at a lower risk of heart attack, too. Poor guy.
Yes and that person is better at it then me as well.
Mediocre?
Nope, not me. I’m the only person in the world like me, and I like it that way. I may not be rich (but someday I might be) or famous, but I’m unique, and that alone is fantastic.
(I’m having a GREAT ego day, by the way. 
)
I am not mediocre. I have fought a battle I was afraid to win against a mood disorder, and learned enough to know that I will have to fight that battle over and over… but I’m better armed against it now and I am making some progress… there were, at several points, doubts over whether I’d live a normal life (with a job and friends and the other things that people take for granted).
I am not mediocre. I have derived a moral code from my understanding of the universe, contemplated right and wrong until my own personal ideals coalesced independant of religious teachings. I have followed that code admantly and made a positive difference in the life of nearly everyone I’ve met. THat is not mediocrity.
I am not mediocre. I have learned art forms which nobody I know could even attempt, and have a deep well of knowledge to draw from as I learn new trades.
I am not mediocre. Nobody I know is. Everyone I’ve met has overcome incredible challenges, faced horrible fears, and grown through harsh times. My challenges are perhaps a little easier to define, but each of us has achievements we can take pride in. Mediocrity is, in my eyes, only achieved by giving up, refusing to grow or try. I’ve met a few mediocre people, but no one who is would wonder about it…
To me, mediocrity is entirely a matter of your intellect - are you inquisitive, trying to learn, grappling with complex questions? If so, and even if you never leave your bedroom, I wouldn’t classify you as being mediocre. On the other hand, you take a successful CEO who’s thoughts seldom stray from cutting another deal, and who can’t be bothered with the finer questions of existence – well, to me that is the mediocre person. (I realize I’m stereotyping the CEO). Basically, I think to be mediocre is to quit trying.
NEVER!
I have no intention of ever believing I am mediocre.
Well, ralph124c, you’ve gotten a lot of input from people, many of whom want to challenge the nature of your question. I see their point - mediocre smacks of giving up - but can very much relate to your question.
I am 39 and reasonably successful by society’s standards, but I have really realized this year that I am not going to be able to fulfill the fantasies I had for myself when I was 20 regarding standing out in society for any number of cool things. It has been very depressing for me - clearly a mid-life crisis.
But you know what? I have also seen that while I may not stand out in ways I had fantasized about when I was 20 -
- I know longer find the majority of those things interesting or worth it now that I better understand the costs
- I see ways I can be a better me that excite me and are much more worthy and realistic
- I see that everything is relative and everybody struggles with their place and with meaning in their lives regardless of their situation; all one can do is take their situation as given and choose where to go from there.
So I am still struggling with stuff, but feel better about it. Do I feel mediocre? Yeah, but only in a realistic sense of ordinariness - there is also hope and a future within that context.
How pathetic. Is everyone so terrified of their own averageness that the only way they can face mediocrity is to redefine the word so that it doesn’t apply to them?
Yes, everyone is unique, but uniqueness isn’t excellence.
And, yes, being ordinary IS being mediocre; that’s what it means, “of moderate or low quality or ability.” i don’t think quality is a terribly well-defined concept for people, but ability is, and I’d say that 5 out of 6 people meet a reasonable definition of “moderate or low ability.”
I was about to admit that I was mediocre, but then I realized that when it comes to being ordinary, I am extraordinarily GOOD at it!
Now what do I do??
I am mediocre.
Sure, I have won some fights and I do some vaguely interesting things. Aside from the trivialities, my life is punctuated by large-scale failure and the simple fact that my abilities will never be able to keep pace with my ambitions. There is a massive divide between how I would like to see myself and how I really am. I do not possess one ounce of greatness, either of intellect or spirit.
Uniqueness is fundamentally unimportant to me.
I do not plan to lower my ambitions or to shoot for anything more “reasonable.” I would prefer a life of dissatisfaction to a life of squalid complacence.
I finally realised that it didn’t matter that I was failing at being superlative - ooh, about 6 months ago. The process of realising took about 6 years, I think. I’m still quite good at some things, and average at lots of things, and really shit at some other things. I don’t mind being mediocre, because I don’t see the value of my life as a binary choice between “Superlative” and “Too Stupid To Live” any more.
I’m an average Joe. I do have a decent job (both in terms of pay and in terms of environment), so I can’t complain there. I’m not an unrecognized genius (or a recognized one, for that matter), but I know a few things. I’ll never be “the best” at anything, but, as others have pointed out, being “the best” usually requires single-minded devotion (or a relatively small pool of candidates).
My original goal was to become a paleontologist; however, thanks to my above-average shyness, I never even made it into grad school. No matter. I can persue the activity as a hobbyist, and get just as much out of it. I’m not as shy now as I was then, but I recognize that my situation is such that getting a Ph.D. in paleontology really isn’t an option any longer - unless I win the lottery or something, and no longer have to work.
So, yeah, I can admit to being mediocre.
I realized long ago that I would rather be mediocre at a bunch of different things than be really good at just one or two. True success in life come from balance, as far as I can tell.
Well, I can only think of two magical moments of clarity in my life.
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When I was 24, and heading home from a Yankees game, it dawned on me suddenly that Don Mattingly, the YAnkee 1st baseman who was then leading the AL in batting, was a few months younger than I was. WHY that should have bothered me is a mystery. After all, I’d NEVER been a good athlete, so it’s not as if I EVER had a chance to make it as a pro athlete. But somehow, knowing that, for the first time, most star athletes were going to be younger than me from then on was mildly painful. It was the first time I’d realized that, while I was still young, NOT all doors were still open to me.
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When I was about 36 or so, I heard tha ta guy from my graduating class in high school was running for Congress. He lost, as it turned out, but that was a sombering moment. It occurred to me that, already, people my age and younger were aspiring to the highest of offices, and some were reaching them.
While I’m happy in life, and don’t embrace the “mediocre” label, I DO now accept that it’s unlikely I’m ever going to achieve wealth, fame or high position.
I was either a madman or had available to me the significant important truths that would allow me to fulfill the prophecies concerning the second coming. (Those being Christian prophecies. I was expecting also to fulfill several other archetypal/prophecied roles).
Once you decide you’re just a more or less typical schizophrenic (or a psychiatrically diagnosed messiah wannabe significantly short on the necessary charisma), there isn’t much else that you could possibly do that would seem decently exciting. I feel like I’m a retired person doing crosswords (although they pay me to do what I do).
I definitely feel rudderless. And bored. I program databases and enjoy the creative activity of doing so; sometimes I bang on the piano and occasionally compose something. I do a little activist work within the antipsychiatric movement and engage in some theological and theoretical writing from time to time (less so since I flunked out of grad school and have no one to inflict my papers on).
It seems decently likely that I’ll get a little crazier or things will go a little bit too wrong and I’ll be homeless again. I hate that.
Would’ve been so much more fun to challenge and astonish the world on the most meaningful of levels, upending its most evil traditions on fulcrums provided by their own terms. To be destiny, if only briefly. To speak the words of God appropriate for the age and watch people go into shock as they understand.
(Doesn’t work that way of course. Part of growing up as a messiah is realizing that for the most part people don’t see what is described to them and would only get it if they saw it for themselves after seeking truth of their own accord. And the little gems of clarity I thought I was offering were clear only to me in light of what I’d seen. It is a rare messiah who can speak the vision of the day into words that make sense to anyone else, and an even more rare messiah who can orchestrate social attention and become a phenomenon while keeping sufficient attention focused on the message and not the celebrity or event at hand. Jesus, wisdom sucks sometimes)
Just remember that nobody can be good at everything and even only a very few people are very at something, enough that they become famous for it.
Everything is a trade off, and by choosing one path, others will be closed off. With most good things come responsibilities, and you have to decide if you want those responblities. Kids can be wonderful, but require 18 years of your life. Having a high paying job gets you a lot of cash, but you tend to work hard or long to get that cash. Rock Stars get to have a lot of fun, get laid a lot and make millions, but most don’t have sucessful carrers for long, and many have ****ed up their lives through hedonism. Famous athelete, but to me, many of them seem to be overpaid crybabies (See MLB).
Just remember that fame and fortune are NOT the same as happiness, and being obsure does not make you mediocre.
FUCK YOU ! 
I aspire to be mediocre…I haven’t quite reached that ideal plane yet, BUT I think I can…I think I can…
“A little close to home here”… Lord, you sound like you need to take a walk and fast! Better yet, try fasting and then take a walk, on water (deeeep water)
If you’re dying to really stand out, it’s NEVER too late to set yourself on fire in a public place.