Being average versus being mediocre

Life is a major trade-off. Some of us are born with high faculties for academics. Others are born with great physical skills. Others are wildly artistic. Others can run marathons like cheetahs and never break a sweat. In terms of skills and talents, humans are a wildly divergent group of individuals. Sure, what we end up accomplishing in life ultimately depends on our practice and effort, but we are all born with different aptitudes and potentials.

Of course, we cannot all be exceptional at what we do. That is a fact. If one likes basketball, he or she cannot just be Michael Jordan in one try. But that is okay. We cannot feel entitled to be the best in everything. The people who become truly exceptional at something do so not because they believe they’re the best. On the contrary, they become excellent in what they do because they are obsessed with improvement. And that very obsession with improvement stems from the infallible belief that they are not

“In the efforts of trying, we may discover whether we are good or bad at it. If we are neither, then we classify ourselves as average and that is perfectly fine.

that extraordinary. They have to train, study, learn, and trudge through life with the principle that they can be so much better.

Sometimes, we fail. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we are just “okay”. But WE TRIED. In the efforts of trying, we may discover whether we are good or bad at it. If we are neither, then we classify ourselves as average and that is perfectly fine. We may be average in one thing but remarkable in another. The most focal thing is we tried. What is disheartening is settling into mediocrity. The state of being in the “status quo.” Accepting mediocrity is dangerous. We’ve all heard the statement “Okay na ‘yan. Hanggang d’yan lang kaya ko.” when in reality, the statement came from a person who did not even have the gall to try. And it’s not that a mediocre can’t be great, it’s not that they can’t improve, and it’s not that they can’t learn. It’s simply because they’re inconsistent. Their improvements are not consistent, they are not consistent in their learning, and they’re in a state of mediocrity because they refuse to try.

The falsehood that mediocrity is okay must be replaced by the truth that we must live to a higher standard. Even if we discover that we are just average in one skill-set, we still need to dream and to allow those dreams to consume us, and to mold our lives into what is necessary to accomplish them. The dreams themselves are important. We will celebrate their accomplishment and reap the rewards when finished because we tried. It is who we will become along the way that is most important. We will become a person who is confident, capable, and inspired.

The truth is we all are extraordinary.

We all won the genetic lottery and were born into this world to be our own generis. THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU. There is no such thing as just being an “average” person. There is no archetype.

There is no average person because each conscious being has unique conditions that can’t simply be averaged out. We are all individuals or unique persons. An individual is considered unique because we all have a special place and special worth in our own society. It is precisely because we are different from others that makes it possible for us to make contributions to the welfare of others and to develop anything in society. We all possess a quality or qualities that no other person has and that’s where our uniqueness begins. Refuse settling into mediocrity. Little by little, word by word, chapter by chapter, everything will eventually add up to the life you want for yourself.

Now, let’s go on and live an amazing life that is worthy of who we really are.

“Even if we discover that we are just average in one skill-set, we still need to dream and to allow those dreams to consume us, and to mold our lives into what is necessary to accomplish them.