Some of you are probably already thinking I’m crazy just by reading the title of this post.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Aren’t you supposed to be telling us that we can do anything as long as we set our minds to it? My mama always tells me that I’m the best and the smartest at everything I do!”
Yes, and no. Your mama tells you that because she loves you, but love doesn’t make fiction a reality.
I am a firm believer that hard work and persistence pays off, but if you have dreams of becoming the next best basketball player or whatever else it is you wanna do, that's not gonna happen.
Wait, don't dismiss me just yet! It's nothing personal, and it's perfectly understandable why everyone thinks like that.
Why everyone thinks they can only be amazing or complete dogshit at whatever they do
Well, there’s a very logical reason for this. In short, it’s because of today’s culture. Everything revolves around this thing called pop culture, and social media.
Think about this for a moment. Wherever you go on the internet, the news you read, the videos you watch, the stories that appear in your Facebook news feed. When was the last time you read or watched something about an average person?
We are so used to seeing incredible feats performed by the most beautiful and talented people, or people who are so ridiculously bad at doing something that it’s just downright hilarious, that we kind of forget that there is an in-between.
We only see stories that display the extreme of what’s good and what’s bad. So much so that we completely dismiss the idea that average people do exist, and that most people are average at most of the things that they attempt to do. This is a reality, but we somehow think otherwise because of the media.
What does adopting this mentality mean for us?
We become extra sensitive to our failures and develop an unreal expectation for constant success. After being exposed to genius 16 year old millionaires, and attractive, talented musicians, we start to think that we have to be like them or we’re big fat failures.
Well, I’m not saying that everyone doesn’t acknowledge the existence of mediocrity.
All I’m saying is that because of all the media we are exposed to, it causes us to sometimes subconsciously beat ourselves up too hard for our failures or lack of success, or even worse, we are afraid to try because we're scared of being made into a meme or a laughing stock.
Even when it comes to aesthetics. Especially with all the K-Pop craze going on, netizens and followers of these idols and groups develop very unrealistic standards for beauty. We are shown all these attractive people on TV, YouTube, and social media, and we start to think that we can’t be beautiful if we don’t look exactly like them.
BUT think about this for a moment
We don’t realize the kind of effort that some of these people put into their craft, or what they look like underneath all the makeup, because we only watch their one moment of glory that was recorded and shared all over the internet.
Very much like movie stars. They work on a film for months and even years, just for that 1 or 2 hours when the movie is finally screened.
Sure, some people might be geniuses or just naturally that beautiful, but there’s no doubt in my mind that they still put in a ton of effort to get to where they are today.
Social media makes it so easy to share content like videos and stories. Just a click of a button and everyone in your friends list will see what you were laughing at just seconds ago.
"Let's share this boring and uninteresting video"
- No One Ever
That’s what makes viral marketing so effective. 1 person shares with 10 friends, which is then shared with 100 friends, and naturally, we would only want to share the best or the worst content.
So embrace it, your mediocrity!
Of course, I'm sure there are some things you excel at, but it's not possible to be the best at everything you do, so just do what you want. Try new things, and don't be afraid to share your stories or talents.
It’s perfectly normal to be bad or average at certain things. Only by accepting that you are average at most of the things you will ever attempt to do, will you then be able to make progress in those areas of your life where you are lacking.
I personally believe that perfectionism is unhealthy. No offence to any perfectionists reading this right now. Especially if you believe in the 80/20 rule, where most of your results come from a small part of your efforts.
Think of it this way, it’s not as productive to spend all your time trying to perfect a single blog post on Steemit when you can spend that time posting 10 more mediocre/decent articles and maybe have 1 of them turn out to be a big hit, and then you can spend more time polishing that one up.
There is a sea of information on the net, and as the pioneer consumers of this amazing technological advancement, it’s only natural that we find ourselves lost in it at times.
“And where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite.”
- Motoko Kusanagi
The only way you can grow and make progress is by first accepting yourself for who you are.
Let me know what you think, and as always, if you enjoy my content, you can support me by upvoting or following me.
