This could be the perfect definition of mediocrity – An average life. It is to commit the greatest crime against self, people and God. The saddest epitaph is this one: “Here lies Mr. and Ms. Average. Here lies the remains of what might have been, except for their belief that they were only average.”
‘Average’ means being mediocre, insignificant, refusing to operate at your ultimate best. Mediocrity is the anthem of the norm. It 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.
Unless something phenomenal happens, as one awesome author aptly put it, these people end up dying average deaths, receive average send-offs in average cemeteries. ‘Average’ is what some people to be when their family and friends ask them why they have not been able to access success in some spheres of life.
In the 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.”
‘Average’ is the top of the bottom. The bottom of the top. The first among the last. The worst of the best. Accepting to be good yet you can be great. Being ‘average’ is the lazy person’s best excuse. It is lacking the guts and gusto to take a stand in life. Living by default. Refusing to go the extra mile. Being ‘average’ is to take up space on earth for no purpose. It is to take the trip through life, but never to pay the fare. It is to return no interest for God’s investment in you.
Being ‘average’ is to pass one’s life away with time, rather than to pass one’s time away with life. It is to kill time. Rather than to work it to death. To be ‘average’ is to disappear completely on earth once you pass on. We remember for their contributions. We remember others because they tried. Then, the average, the silent majority, are just like wisps of whistling wind. They bomb into oblivion like joking clouds that scud high in the sky.
In the book 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 you lose the tension between where you are, and where you could be. Rubber bands are useful when they stretch. It is also true to the humankind. God’s gift to us is potential, but our gift to God is developing it.
We must 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 and seize new horizons by stretching. Just to be blatant about it: Nobody admires average people. The best organisations do not reward average people handsomely. Those who are able to rise above the clouds of mediocrity replace most average people.
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.
It is mediocrity to go back to school for another degree just for the sake of a certificate, promotion, career progression, to scale ranks, or for the sake of ostentation and show off. To confuse education with schooling is mediocrity at its best.
Then, sadly, a ⅓ of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42% of college graduates similarly never read a book after college. Publisher David Godine claims that only 32% of the US population has ever been in a bookstore. You know what Afro-pessimists with condescending attitudes have penned about Africans: that in case anyone wants to conceal something from us, then they should put it in a book.
I do not want to talk about the situation in Kenya. Your guess is as good as mine is. You know that most of us read only when we have a date with exams. It is a sad state of affairs. Books are still mysterious to most us. If that is the case, then why do you expect young people to be imaginative, creative, and innovative yet the only book they read is face book? Most of us only read book covers. That is why we know that Barrack Obama Junior churned out a best-seller in the recent past. We all know the title: The Promised Land.
By Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out talks and training services.
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