Being average is like a disease.
It takes years of living in mediocrity to see the bad effects it has on your health, relationships and spiritual and mental life. But the results are quite depressing.
To recognize it as a disease you need to let go of conventional wisdom and get out of the crowd. Only then will you be able to see the bigger picture.
The truth is that we live ordinary lives, where nothing new and exciting happens, and everything is predictable and expected.
We usually don’t see it because there are plenty of distractions to help us not to think about that. So we focus on little daily worries, things we “need” to do and problems we need to pay attention to. There’s also TV, the Internet and all the technologies, gadgets and stuff around us.
And the bad thing about that truth is that we will never see ourselves become the person we are meant to be and achieve all the greatness we can.
We are practically wasting our potential and powers so that we can do things of little importance that make no difference at all.
But if you are okay with that, then this is what you need to do to be (and stay) average:
1. Have a 9-5 job;
2. It’s better if you hate it;
3. Get a mortgage;
4. Get a loan to go to university;
5. Study business (or something similar), if you don’t know what you want to study;
6. Then work so that you can pay the loan;
7. Watch as much TV (especially commercials) as you can;
8. Be on every social medial and spend a lot of time there every day;
9. Never speak up;
10. Be always worried about the things you need to get done;
11. Procrastinate;
12. Never actually get anything done;
13. Be in a relationship just because you don’t want to be alone;
14. You don’t need to travel – it’s safer at your place;
15. You don’t need to learn new languages;
16. Work a lot so that you can have a great pension once you retire;
17. Then when you retire, regret having worked so much and never figure out a proper way to spend your money;
18. Think about making a big change in your life every few weeks, but never do anything about it;
19. Then feel even more disappointed;
20. Never find your purpose;
21. Make things as complex as you can;
22. Have strong convictions and don’t let new ideas and conceptions distract you;
23. When you have a deep insight and ask yourself “What am I doing with my life?”, immediately start doing something ordinary so that it can go away;
24. Buy a lot of stuff you don’t need;
25. Live in clutter;
26. Make New Year’s resolutions every December and ditch them a week or two after that;
27. Set many goals at once, but never be specific;
28. Have a bad attitude towards life;
29. Be always in a hurry and keep yourself busy;
30. Play a certain role in front of people – never be yourself;
31. Dress and behave the way you’re supposed to;
32. Do stuff the way other people do it;
33. No spontaneous decisions allowed;
34. Think about changing;
35. Then decide it’s too risky and scary;
36. Then feel bad and go watch TV;
37. This is how you want your life to be – repeat that statement a few times every day;
38. Start your morning with coffee and a cigarette, in a hurry and being late for somewhere;
39. Give up after you fail;
40. Or don’t try at all;
41. Seek security;
42. Whatever you do, make sure it feels safe and comfortable;
43. Spent a lot of time each day analyzing why other people’s lives are so great (meanwhile look at their profiles in Facebook);
44. If you are in doubt, write it in Google. You’ll get an answer;
45. Don’t learn new things after school;
46. Never try a new sport or an exciting hobby.
That can go on for hours. But, basically, this is the life of any ordinary person (although if you become one, you should never admit it).
Here is what you’ll get:
• security (or an illusion of it);
• control (at least that’s what you’ll be thinking);
• no risk;
• no change;
• nothing new;
• no excitement;
• lost potential;
• wasted time;
• no productivity;
• probably bad health;
• stress;
• retirement plan;
• diploma.
And you can live like that for the rest of your life.
Or there’s another option. To become someone better, to do something meaningful with your life, to be happy, peaceful and open-minded, to travel, explore, learn and grow.
To have that chance, you need to do exactly the opposite of what an average person does and thinks.
Only then will the world offer you its unbelievable opportunities and you’ll reach greatness. Just get out of the crowd, follow your dreams and think for yourself.
See also:
126 ways to to lead an extraordinary life
How to be unremarkably average
5 ways to stop being average
The decision to be remarkable
17 things extraordinary people do every day