How To Be Mediocre (in 4 easy steps)
2009 June 21
If you want to be mediocre, do these four things extraordinarily well. Mediocrity is a long road made up of a sequences of choices. People choose to be mediocre or remarkable everyday. What choices are you making?
Mediocrity in 4 Steps
- Make mom happy. Do what people want you to do. Measure yourself by an external scorecard (rather than an internal one.) Always seek to impress people, and meet the expectations of others (rather than your own.) Believe people when they tell you your goals are stupid or impractical.
- Do what you hate. Go get an unrewarding job. Toil all day. Do average work because you don’t care. Complain everyday. Take long lunches centered around a mundane interchange that seems to repeat and repeat and repeat like Ground Hog Day.
- Avoid befriending extraordinary people. Surround yourself with people with small worlds. Ensure they never challenge you. Be sure to focus conversations on professional sports statistics, and your weekend plans of “escaping the grind.” Don’t make plans together for how you are going to change the world. And by God don’t help each other develop action plans.
- Victimize yourself. Don’t make plans for change. Obsess over the tough competitive world and your need for security. Be monomaniacal about the unfair hand of cards you were dealt, and spend everyday dreaming and consuming power porn to fill the void.
Great post, when I moved to Cincinnati I realized no one knew me and I could be anyone I wanted, I did a bunch of soul searching and have basically done what you’ve covered in this post.
Except for a rewarding job, I think I’ve made out pretty good, I may still be mediocre but I’m working on it.
The best advice, surround yourself with people who challenge you!
Get rid of the yes men and negative people who drag you down.
Thanks for the comment, man! Big ups on surrounding yourself with “A players.” Totally agree. It’s probably the best investment a person can make in himself.
Great article. Absolutely-I couldn’t agree more. Always listen to your internal voice first and foremost even if you are receiving advice that’s counterintuitive; each person has their own professional and personal career path to realize. Never be afraid to throw ideas out there that enhance and challenge the status quo for the better, even if no one else is supporting you or willing to put in the extra work. If you’re passionate for a cause or have a dream, seek it out despite uncertainty, initial negative reactions and don’t stop until you’ve built the right teams and resources who are just as excited about it as you are. You’ll be surprised by the people who really want to help–they are probably great visionaries who will inspire you further and lead you in the right direction.