Mediocrity

Mediocrity – it’s a trap that’s very easy to fall into and at the same time is a very hard thing to step out of. After a defeat have you ever heard yourself saying, “Well at least I tried hard,” or justifying the loss by saying, “They’re just too good!” Those sayings symbolize signs of mediocrity. Why you ask? The answer is simple, it is not that you should never lose, nor should you never come up against an opposition better skilled than you, instead you should never be satisfied being at that level, because that level is generally mediocre. Never justify a loss in your head, it is a way of taking a bad situation and finding a way to feel good about yourself.

The biggest problem that you have brought about with the above scenario is that you were happy trying. Trying always leads to defeat. Have you ever said after a victory that you ‘tried’ to win and did? No, instead you won. No-one ever tries to do something when they succeed in doing it, they just do it; no wonder Nike is so successful! My favourite quote is from a puppet teaching the ways of The Force to his student, “Do or do not, there is no try.” That is 100% correct; trying is just not doing so why ever justify not doing as trying? It’s a cop out!

When perfecting a skill, fighting an opposition, or competing in a sport never think I will TRY this. Also never go at it in moderation. Moderation is that middle ground that never gets you anywhere except with regrets. A boxer never goes into a fight looking for the points win, they want the knock out. Form a clear picture of what it is you want to DO, make sure that goal is at the upper echelon of what you can achieve, and JUST DO IT! If you then didn’t get the desired outcome, don’t TRY to change anything, instead go through the same process again. By all means tweak what needs tweaking, don’t get pig headed believing if you punch the wall enough it will fall down; it won’t but your hand will break. Tweak what you need to do to get the job done and then go through the process, if that means go and buy a sledgehammer then do so. But what you’ve done is exactly that, you’ve done something to overcome the problem, not tried to do something! The difference in the two trains of thought is that one leads to 100% intent behind believing you can do it, the other leaves a way out. One way you are putting your heart and soul into achieving it and are not scared to make a mistake in the process, the other still leaves that nagging voice in your head stating that it may not happen.

If you aren’t successful use that to spur you onto bigger and better things, “They were too good today but they won’t be next time!” is the true mark of a champion spirit. Learn from your defeats and DO what is necessary to make the above statement come true. Keep with that mindset throughout and eventually you must complete your goal. There is no middle ground. Henry Ford refused to believe that the combustion engine could not happen much to his engineers’ disbelief. They kept telling him the idea was pointless, it could not be done to the best of their endeavours. He kept telling them to continue working until it was a reality. How many of the worlds great discoveries would not have occurred if the discoverer did not continue in the endeavour until it happened, no matter how long it took. Anything is possible as long as you see it as what it is, either DOING or NOT DOING. Trying leads nowhere and only justifies failure to you. Experiments are either failures or successes - treat your own training the same, but just because you don’t DO it one time does not mean you give up, instead persevere until you do, DO it.

A passage in the much fabled Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman symbolizes this mindset.

“There is a saying: ‘When you sit, sit; when you stand, stand; whatever you do, don’t wobble.’ Once you make your choice, do it with all your spirit. Don’t be like the preacher who thought about praying while making love to his wife, and thought about making love to his wife while praying.”

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“It’s better to make a mistake with the full force of your being than to timidly avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit. Responsibility means recognizing both pleasure and price, action and consequence, then making a choice.”

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“Moderation? It’s mediocrity, fear and confusion in disguise. It’s the devil’s dilemma. It’s neither doing nor not doing. It’s the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It’s for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die.”

The meaning of the words try and moderation should be put in the dictionary as a way to justify never achieving your desires. They no longer even sit in my dictionary – I’ve removed them – so should you. That is the way to get over mediocrity, hit it with a sledgehammer and move on!