The Dip & How Being Average Is Overrated

Posted by Parke Ladd on Jan 26, 2009 in Business As Usual, Featured {Article}, Greatness | 0 comments

I am having a Robert Frost moment.  

You know, one of those “two roads diverged in a wood, and I,  I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” type of moments.  However, in this case I find myself almost yearning for only two roads!  Not the 4 I must choose between.

Ever been there?

Of course you have.  We all have.  We all make choices every day that propel us towards greatness or cause us to shrink into mediocrity.

Ever been great?  Ever been the greatest?

Ever been mediocre?  Barely there? Unnoticeable?

The choice is ours of course.  Greatness.  Excellence…OR… Average. The good-but-nothing-special ordeal.  Here is my advice: When faced with a choice…choose greatness!  Choose that which you can be the greatest in the world at.  Deny mediocrity!  Make little decisions every day that propel you towards great endeavors and adventures and challenges.

Still not buying the choose greatness, being average is overrated plea?  Here is an in-your-face passage from Seth Godin’s book The Dip.  This book puts things into greater perspective, and, along with a lot of sincere prayer, helps make the decision making process that much simpler.

The next time you catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realize that you have only two good choices: Quit or be exceptional.  Average is for losers.

Am I being too harsh? Isn’t your time and your effort and your career and your reputation too valuable to squander on just being average?  Average feels safe, but it’s not.  It’s invisible.  It’s the last choice–the path of least resistance. The temptation to be average is just another kind of quitting…the kind to be avoided.  You deserve better than average.

-Seth Godin, The Dip

Think about it.  Help a lot of people.  Choose greatness.