Mediocrity is an average life. Mediocrity is to commit the greatest crime against self, people and God. Therefore, the saddest epitaphs read: “Here lies Mr. and Ms. Average. Here rest the remains of what might have been, except for their belief that they were only average.”
Right at the onset, mediocre means being insignificant, refusing to operate at one’s ultimate best. In a page-turner titled Be Inspired Before You Expire, Pepe Minambo pens: “Mediocrity is the anthem of the norm. Mediocrity is the heartbeat of the ordinary.” It is shell-shocking to see people with great potential, best brains, and excellent talents, living averagely, doing commonplace jobs, with mediocre earnings. Meaning, unless something phenomenal happens, such people end up dying average deaths, receiving average send-offs in average cemeteries. Mediocrity is what some people accept and cite to be when their kith and kin ask them why they have not been able to access success in some spheres of life. Splendid indeed, in a heroic book titled An Enemy Called Average, John Masson writes: “Mediocrity is the region of our lives bounded on the north by compromise; on the south by indecision; on the east by past thinking, and on the west by lack of vision.”
Then, mediocrity is to be on top of the bottom. Mediocrity is to be at the bottom of the top. Mediocrity is to be first among the last. Mediocrity is to be the worst of the best. Mediocrity is accepting to be good yet you can be great. Ideally, while putting my act together to weave these wise words, I thought about one of the heroic books I read in my 2023 reading ritual and routine. The tome is titled Good to Great by Jim Collins, who is also the author of an unputdownable book titled Built to Last. In the former text, he compels people not to settle for good, when we can actually crane their necks and become great. The fellow penman posits: “Good is the enemy of great. Somehow, it is why we have so little that become great. We do not have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We do not have great governments, principally because we have good governments. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good — and that is the main problem.”
Moreover, being mediocre is the lazy person’s best excuse. Mediocrity is lacking the guts and gusto to take a stand in life. Mediocrity is living by default. Mediocrity is refusing to go the extra mile. Mediocrity is taking up space on earth for no purpose — reason of existence. Mediocrity is taking the trip through life, but never paying the fare. Mediocrity is returning no interest for God’s great and vast investment in you. Consequently, mediocrity is passing one’s life away with time, rather than to pass one’s time away with life. Mediocrity is killing time, instead of working it to death. Mediocrity is disappearing completely on earth once you pass on. We remember some people for their contributions. Then, we remember others because they just tried or cried. Actually, the average, the silent majority, are just like wisps of whistling wind. They bomb into oblivion like joking clouds that scud near or high in the sky.
Advisedly, in a great text titled The 15 Laws of Invaluable Growth, there is a law John C. Maxwell calls The Law of the Rubber Band. The oeuvre of the law avers that growth stops when we lose the tension between where we are, and where we can be. Rubber bands are useful when they stretch. It is also true to the humankind. In actual sense, God’s gift to us is potential, but our gift to God is developing it. Therefore, we should move from our comfort zones and get to capacity zones. We must strive to stretch not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. For life begins at the end of our comfort zones. We see beyond the sea, and seize new horizons by standing and stretching. Just to be blunt about it: Nobody admires mediocre men and women. In the same token, blue-chip companies do not reward average people with some handsome income. Those who are able to rise above the clouds of mediocrity replace most average people. No wonder, the deft management expert, Peter Drucker observed, “The greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success is today’s success. No one has ever made a significant impact after they won the Nobel Prize.” Yesterday’s fire is today’s ashes. So, in case you accessed success yesterday, do not accept to settle for less by being complacent. Nothing succeeds like success. One form of success should inspire you to do more, dream more, learn more, and become more. Then, you will be influential in your field. Lending credence to winsome words of John Quincy Adams, “If your actions can inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
Lastly, it is mediocrity to go back to school for another degree just for the sake of a certificate, career progression, promotion, position, scale lofty levels, or for the sake of ostentation and show off. To confuse education with schooling is mediocrity at its best.
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By Victor Ochieng’
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