Doin' the Backstroke in Stagnant Water
(i.e. Straying From the Path of Mediocrity)
There are always smoother waters than those that lead to awesomeness. Often the mediocrity pool is warm and comfortable, and you won't even notice how it slowly drains the lifeblood from your veins. Eventually it may even take a hold of your true soul and relentlessly choke it.
You just coast along in your unfulfilling job, telling yourself that things are "even" because you only give enough to get by. Or maybe you did try to find a new position, but the handful of resumes you sent didn't get any response, so you signed up for some graduate courses (and some more student loans).
Now you're starting to sense that self-development which doesn't lead to accomplishment is not only financially unsustainable, it is also emotionally hazardous. But what to do?
The fact is that you have created your life as it is now. You created yourself into your current (insert qualifier) job and your never-ending education - a cycle that puts you in a state of suspended growth, anticipating an imagined future while encouraging you never to actually build toward that future.
How do you escape the soothing undertow of mediocrity? You have to struggle: Crush your comfort zone!
You probably have something you want to do. Do you want to get a new job, or start a new business, or just chill and focus on "me time" for a bit while you figure out what you really are meant to do? How about quitting your current job? Miraculously, you now have at least eight more hours every day to find that perfect new job. (Note: This takes serious gumption. "Gumption": That word rules.)
"Oh, no!" you say, and begin flapping your arms and pulling yourself underwater, even though you can easily stand in this shallow stream. "I could never do that."
What would happen if you did? You would either:
A: Figure out how to do it and survive, (most likely scenario) or:
B: Die. (Not at all likely scenario - although fear can make it seem very real)
But here's the catch: Even if you don't do it, you will also eventually pass away. In the meantime, the pain of lost opportunities will take its toll on your wellbeing and possibly of those around you too.
Yes, I hear you: Now is really a bad time. But how often in life do we find ourselves in ideal situations? When is it a good time to get married? Have a baby? And what about things like getting sick or dealing with the loss of a loved one? When is a good time for those things? And yet they happen. And yet we overcome, survive, and even find ourselves thriving.
If you don't do it now, at the very least set a deadline. Then you can hem and haw, fret, dilly-dally, or good ol' fashioned procrastinate all you want. Waste your time and your life for the next X days / weeks / months, but when the day comes, you know you have to do it.
Don't set yourself up for total failure, but don't soften the reality. If something is draining your life, you need to get rid of it. Move. Make new friends. Think about what a person who has already achieved what you want would be doing in their life.
Let's do it together.
Here are the steps to get you going:
- Find something you are doing that is pulling you into the whirlpool of mediocrity.
- Create a rough plan in less than 30 minutes to eradicate it from your life.
- Bravely escape mediocrity's relentless pull.
- Relish in your awesomeness without getting stuck in it (It's a great story, but it's not your whole life):
- Start at 1 and repeat the entire process again.
