In Pursuit of Excellence vs Mediocrity

In Pursuit of Excellence vs Mediocrity

By: Remon Taal

Taken from: Medium

With the internet, social media, and about a million motivational self-help books, we are getting overwhelmed with information on how to behave, excel, and be a successful person in life. And to be honest, I agree with most of it. When I do something, I go for it and don’t settle for average results. I did this when I was 18 years old and joined the Dutch special forces, and when I moved to Australia and started working as a personal trainer.

Recently I moved to Spain and started over again. I like placing myself in a position that I can evolve from and stay as independent as possible. I’m in charge of the decisions I make, with either a positive or negative outcome. This lifestyle feels natural to me, and I wouldn’t want anything else.

Some people don’t want this and instead, prefer going through the motions of life without having the constant urge to start a new project or chase their next dream. We call this “mediocrity.” In my opinion, there is nothing “mediocre” about it if you are content and satisfied with your current situation.

This here is called a bell curve. A bell curve is pretty simple. You take a population, let’s say, people who go to the gym once or twice per week. The horizontal axis represents how fit they are, further to the right means they are extremely fit and further to the left means they are incredibly unfit.

Now, notice that on either side of the curve, it gets quite thin. There are not many of us who are an elite level athlete nor are so unfit they couldn’t walk up a pair of stairs. The majority fall in the mediocre middle.

We are all pretty average at most things

We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. But the fact is, most of us are pretty average at most things we do. Let’s say you’re truly exceptional at one thing, chances are you’re pretty average at most other things. It is a combination of limited time and energy and genuine interest to progress at something. We are all, for the most part, just average people. It is the extremes that get all the attention.

So here’s the problem. Due to the evolvement of our technology we have unlimited access to the internet, Google, Youtube, and hundreds of tv channels. The media know that we only have a limited attention span and all day, every day, we are being flooded with the truly extraordinary, the 99.99th percentile. The best of the best. The worst of the worst, the best bodies, the most upsetting news. The funniest jokes. Non-stop.

I believe that this flood of information is making us feel that “exceptional” is the new normal. Since recent years it’s an accepted part of our culture to believe that we are all destined to do something truly extraordinary. This doesn’t take away the fact that if everyone were extraordinary, then by definition, no one would be extraordinary.

The thing that gets me the most is that we are being shown perfect lives of perfect individuals. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, they might excel at something and be extremely good at something, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any weak points or are average at other areas of their lives.

We have come to the point that being “average” is the new standard of failure.

The problem is that pretty much all of us are all in the middle, somewhere! Does the acceptance of being there mean that you never achieve anything or never improve? In my opinion, the misguided belief is there is no greatness to find in the middle of the bell curve. Remember that people who are truly exceptional at something, are obsessed with improvement that can bring along their own set of adverse effects.

All this talk on how “everyone deserves greatness and be extraordinary” is being sold to make you feel good for a few minutes before continuing with your day to day tasks. See it as having your favorite meal at Mcdonalds; at first you feel pretty good, but after an hour or so that feeling disappears, and you are being left empty and hungry again.

The ticket to true happiness

True happiness, the ticket to emotional health, is like eating your vegetables. At times it feels a bit boring and bland, like accepting the dull and mundane things in life. But once ingested, your body will feel more potent and alive. The constant pressure of always having to be something amazing will disappear.

You will have a growing appreciation for life’s most basic experiences. To learn to measure yourself through healthier means: spending time with friends, reading a good book, having a great holiday, or creating something.

My advice, if I may: pick your battles, choose one or two things in life you really want to get good at. This could be your job, a hobby, or a sport you are practicing. It doesn’t matter. But keep other things in life at an enjoyable level without having to feel average.