IN DEFENSE OF BEING AVERAGE

[Lawrence Barse]

Hi everyone,

here is a good article that I read.
I think most of you will find it interesting

http://markmanson.net/being-average...fe4b0d7d640d58f58&fb_ref=Default#.94ahba:734P

 

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[masaldana2]

i like him

 

[YoungGun]

Good read, I definitely agree with our media's portrayal of exceptional performance. It's only entertaining if you really suck or really good.

 

[Thea.N]

Great article, thanks for sharing!

 

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[Lee Hyde]

Brilliant read! Thanks for sharing!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[EmperorPear]

Oh, I love this dude's stuff. He also has a good article about giving a F*ck. Thanks for sharing this!

 

[ehben]

Wow ! impressive guys

 

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[Eos]

Don't be defensive, aim to be excellent...

 

[Formless]

Most 'excellence' is the result of seemingly mediocre efforts repeated VERY CONSISTENTLY.

Like most motivational fluff. That high-powered feeling of excellence is a product. A dream you sell to people who don't know any better.

Real life achievement is boring. Recommend you guys find MJ's post on Kaizen. Since that's what 90% of 'extraordinary' people do. Advance inch by inch until they're miles ahead.

 

[Get Right]

What a load of horse crap. Perhaps capped by this ridiculous statement:

"Which leads to an important point: that mediocrity, as a goal, sucks. But mediocrity, as a result, is OK."

I have never known someone to not once have a goal above mediocrity. Therefore everyone has attempted something above mediocrity - and in my book they join the exceptional class just by attempting. To label that with "mediocrity as a result" is insulting.

Need an example? Almost every mother on this planet has performed above mediocrity by keeping their kids alive. Are you going to tell me they should be "pulled down" to some clown's definition of "result of mediocrity". Horse crap.

 

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[Silverhawk851]

Awesome. I hope my competitors buy into that bullshit and aim for average. Now back to work.

 

[Kingmaker]

There’s this guy. World-renowned billionaire. Tech genius. Inventor and entrepreneur.

And (spoiler alert) he doesn’t actually exist. He is fiction

Author of the article has apparently never heard of Elon Musk.

Since that's what 90% of 'extraordinary' people do. Advance inch by inch until they're miles ahead.

 

[EN_VY]

Yeah right.

 

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[JAJT]

I didn't care for this article.

I can't think of a better way to lose your ambition and stagnate your life than to accept mediocre results as normal and acceptable.
How can you ever get better than average at anything when you adopt a comfortable relationship with average?
Can you truly even say you tried your best when deep down inside you take solace in missing the mark?

Personally I try to adopt this attitude instead:

"The goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning"

To me, this means try your damn best every single time. You play to win. The result you get is less important than the effort and attitude you put in.
It does not mean you should feel comfortable being average, it means focus on the effort and the goal, not the result.
If you knock it out of the park or fall on your a$$ it doesn't matter - whatever you do next you try to do to perfection. You try again and play to win.

 

[Vigilante]

Better.

 

[SteveO]

I fail to see the point of the article. By most standards, all of us are average. It just takes steady and consistent application of those average skills and abilities to get results.

Just to use myself as an example simply because I know all about my traits.

I am a runner and have been for most of my life. I am short and built stockier than most runners. My lung capacity (by testing) is much lower than average. I don't have any inherent speed to speak of. There is very little about me that says I should be a good runner.

The results say otherwise though. I have been a top performer for the majority of my life running sub 3 hour marathons and sub 5 minute miles. There have been many occasions where I have won races and the majority of the time I will win my age group.

I believe that the results are due to effort.... Effort in training and on race day. I have had people tell me that they don't like to run close to me because I sound like I am about to die. I have thrown up, blanked out, and collapsed at the finish line. I have been known to roar like an animal while trying to beat someone to the finish line.

I do high intensity training 3 days a week and run 6 days a week.

I don't have the same natural ability that most of my competition has. But, I love to run and love to compete.

I do the same with softball. I played on teams that were at the highest level in Arizona. Not bad for being over 50. My throwing arm and batting power are much lower than average. Same thing with the effort. Hours of pitching practice to improve placement and movement. Trips twice a week to the batting cages to perfect hitting placement. My teams have won championships more than 50% of the time. Our teams have been removed from 4 different leagues for winning too frequently. The city of Phoenix told us that we were above the level of all leagues in the entire city.

Anybody on the team will tell you that my physical skills are well below the average player on the team. But, they will also tell you that I get results.

Same applies to business. I am not smarter, more educated, have backing, etc... But tenacity matters!

 

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[Rawr]

I fail to see the point of the article. By most standards, all of us are average. It just takes steady and consistent application of those average skills and abilities to get results.

Just to use myself as an example simply because I know all about my traits.

I am a runner and have been for most of my life. I am short and built stockier than most runners. My lung capacity (by testing) is much lower than average. I don't have any inherent speed to speak of. There is very little about me that says I should be a good runner.

The results say otherwise though. I have been a top performer for the majority of my life running sub 3 hour marathons and sub 5 minute miles. There have been many occasions where I have won races and the majority of the time I will win my age group.

I believe that the results are due to effort.... Effort in training and on race day. I have had people tell me that they don't like to run close to me because I sound like I am about to die. I have thrown up, blanked out, and collapsed at the finish line. I have been known to roar like an animal while trying to beat someone to the finish line.

I do high intensity training 3 days a week and run 6 days a week.

I don't have the same natural ability that most of my competition has. But, I love to run and love to compete.

I do the same with softball. I played on teams that were at the highest level in Arizona. Not bad for being over 50. My throwing arm and batting power are much lower than average. Same thing with the effort. Hours of pitching practice to improve placement and movement. Trips twice a week to the batting cages to perfect hitting placement. My teams have won championships more than 50% of the time. Our teams have been removed from 4 different leagues for winning too frequently. The city of Phoenix told us that we were above the level of all leagues in the entire city.

Anybody on the team will tell you that my physical skills are well below the average player on the team. But, they will also tell you that I get results.

Same applies to business. I am not smarter, more educated, have backing, etc... But tenacity matters!

So you're saying the answer is steroids?

 

[Choate]

Great article, but it can be easily misinterpreted which I think is what's happening here.

To sum it up: Aim for excellence, but realize you can't be excellent in everything. There's too many areas of life and too little time to be the best at everything, so accept mediocrity in many areas of life in order excel at a few specific crafts.

He also makes the point that society is giving gold medals to everyone just for trying and saying that everybody is excellent, when in reality if that was the case nobody would be excellent.

We can't all be exceptional all of the time.