The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
-John Stuart Mill

I never planned on living a mediocre life. Nobody really does. Like all mediocre pursuits, it just kind of happened. Most of us leave high school and college with dreams and visions of future possibilities that set our hearts pounding and minds racing with passion. Somehow, after a few years of “real life”, that passion is gone. That drive for excellence succumbs to the drive to survive. We end up taking on roles that other people define because we lose sight of that fire inside that used to guide us. We become mortgage paying, child raising, bottom line focused machines instead of driven, passionate people.

I’m OK - You’re OK

One of the major reasons we give in to mediocrity is because everything is OK. Not stellar, not excellent, not fulfilling our dreams, but just OK. When life is OK, why should we rock the boat? We are paying the bills, going out to eat occasionally, and not really suffering that much. Sure we are living paycheck to paycheck, but the paychecks keep coming. Our job is a dead end, and we certainly feel that death at the end of each day, but it is a steady job. Our marriage is lukewarm, and that spark isn’t quite there like it used to be, but its alright - we still get along OK. We should be praying for adversity and troubles to come and destroy our OK life, if that is what it takes to move us out of mediocrity.

I think we should strip the word OK from our vocabulary. What does it mean anyway? Where did it come from? OK means mostly dead, tepid, washed up, dried out and ready to give up. None of us should be satisfied with OK.

How Did We Get Here?

Mediocrity is the result of not making conscious choices, but just going with the flow. We should have been making the hard decisions, and walking the difficult road of our individuality, but somehow, we never got around to it. At some point, we wake up and realize that this isn’t the dream we had for our lives. When we wake up, we are faced with either swallowing the blue pill and going back to sleep and just being OK, or taking the red pill and continuing on to face real, challenging, difficult life.

Where To Now?

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
-Viktor Frankl

I can’t answer the question for anyone else but myself. I have been a mediocre person, and lived a mediocre life. I am ashamed of this fact, but it is all past now. It can’t be changed. But I can change the present moment. I can build a NOW that is full of excellence and passion. I can choose to be a person of excellence TODAY. Choice is the last of the human freedoms. Regardless of circumstance, you and I can make choices that will lead to the life we always dreamed of.

Our choices may be constrained because of past actions. If we have too much debt, we have a responsibility to pay it off and may not have the financial freedom to do everything we would like immediately. If there are broken relationships, we may have to mend them to start building the life we desire. If we have committed a crime, we may be limited by incarceration or probation. Accept the constraints and limitations as part of where you are today, not as excuses to stay in mediocrity. Every passionate, excellent choice you make opens doors and expands the circle of the power and authority you have in your life. If you don’t make that decision, mediocrity is the only outcome.

None of us is born mediocre. Mediocrity is thrust upon us by circumstances and choices that slowly but inevitably lead us toward a mediocre life. We must reclaim our inheritance of excellence if we are going to live lives of passionate meaning. We weren’t put on this earth to be mediocre, but as always, the choice is ours.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 11:17 am and is filed under motivation, transformation, Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, bookmark the Permalink in your Browser, leave a response, or trackback from your own site.