I think being mediocre is a normal way of life until something happens and you wish things were different. It’s only when you want things to be kinda different or better that your eyes finally open and realize something is not okay; it’s not until we grow a desire to have a different way of life that we start seeing a problem in those things we once considered normal. It’s only then that we start recognizing mediocrity simply because the norms we were once comfortable with now stand as barriers to what we really want or desire.

Mediocrity is however not the real issue here – it is the mediocre persons. It is the mediocre people who give us a hard time when we want things to get better. These people want things to be the way they have always been. These mediocre people want to maintain the status quo because it has been in the favour of their interests all along.

I would appreciate it if such people resisted my ideas and initiatives out of wisdom, especially if they got better intentions than those I had in the first place. However, most of the mediocrity stands in our path when we are about to get a new adventure, get better plans or even soar to greater heights. A good example is what commonly happens in the workplace when someone might resist giving you more experience and exposure because they fear you might become better than them and ultimately replace them. My retrospection reveals that it doesn’t begin in the workplace though.

My earliest memory of mediocrity comes when I joined a primary school. It was okay for a bully to possess something belonging to me, and force me to okay with their terms and conditions. It was also okay for me as the weaker person to be okay with it, cower in fear and avoid the bully for my own sake. The bully was in control and it was normal that way. Trying to change things meant risking getting into a losing fight with the bully or else live under threats and fears from these green-eyed monsters of school. I didn’t want to keep losing my stationery or keep being seen as careless. I didn’t want to continue covering up their harassment. I wanted to live free from being interfered with my peace of existence, and so I got thinking of how to succeed without falling victim of mediocrity.  I started befriending potential bullies by occasionally giving them gifts. And it worked! I wasted a little in form of favours and suffered fewer harassments as well as loss of stationary.

Fast forward to adulthood: I may not encounter a school bully. However, I will encounter people that will hold me back and drag my progress. I will face comfort zones and distractions, which are in my understanding the normal way of life. Friends, other people and habits will be my friends when I conform to their intentions; they will do this because they expect me to allow things to be the way they have always been. However, the human I am will in due time get sick of things being how they have always been. I will want a change. I will want more things. I will want the norms to change more in my favour. And when my mind and heart desire this difference, I will be viewed as a cause of chaos and an enemy of status quo. A resistance shall grow as I grow my desire to scale up in skills and experience. Some people will become reluctant helping me out. Some shall attempt to make me meet certain unfavourable conditions before getting their help/service. I must overcome it all.

A positive attitude is what I need to overcome mediocrity. Reacting badly to a bad situation shall only make it worse. Therefore, I will teach myself how to maintain calm and try to make things better rather than make things worse. I shall stay focused on my goals. Distractions may veer me off the path to my goals yet my constant focus on the goal shall lead me the path I need to take to reach my goals. I will spend more time with people taking their goals seriously, and spend less time with those already in their comfort zones.

I will continue leading my life to reach my goals; I will live deliberately.