Mediocrity- the enemy of high achievers

carolekelly
Dec 20, 2021
2 min read

Life rarely delivers what we hope for.

According to the autobiography of Malcolm X, most adults have resigned themselves to mediocrity by the time they reach middle age. I'm not really sure if I subscribe to this theory or not, but it does offer much food for thought.

Apparently, for some of us, it is not failure that is our real terror, but the thought of being mediocre. Given the era that I grew up in, it was commonplace to be taught that it was conceited and to be having ideas above your station if you spoke of your achievements. As Australians, we are probably all guilty of using the tall poppy syndrome at some stage in our lives.

The author states that rather than rise above the circumstance, we elect to keep safely in the middle, like everybody else, with no fuss or bother. Many of us aim to get through life as un-remarkedly as possible and exit leaving no trace. He likens those to being the medalists in the slow bicycle race of life.

Given that there are many things in our lives that end in "failure"- Olympic dreams, weight loss, the Ashes series, I feel that it's important that we do not deny their existence and the high probability that we will be touched by them. I'd like to think that it is possible to accept them, but to not allow them to re-classify us as mediocre. Perhaps we simply need to make them count in our lives.

My thinking tends to lean a little more to the words of John Paul Getty:

If you're not failing, you are not trying hard enough.

#ChildrenofChange #CaroleKellyAuthor #memoir #author #books #reading#travel #selfhelp # steinereducation #ballroomdancing