Coming up next on the passion struck podcast. Is there a merit in just being average? Is it okay
to strive but be at arm's distance from achieving your goals of maybe being the best or the
greatest? Maybe being average or above average is not only okay, but also underrated. Welcome
to passion struck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles and on the show we decipher the secrets,
tips and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice
for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality
so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show. I offer
advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week
with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military
leaders, visionaries and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become passion struck. Hello,
everyone. And welcome back to momentum Friday and Episode 163, of passion struck. And thank you to
each and every one of you who comes back weekly to listen and learn how to live better,
be better and impact the world. And if you're new to the show, or you would just like to
introduce this to a friend or family member. And thank you for doing that. You can now find
episode starter packs, both on Spotify and on the passion struck website. And these are collections
of your favorite episodes that we organized into topics such as astronauts or women at
the top of their game or leading military leaders or how to overcome adversity, just go to passion
struct.com/starter packs to get started and in case you missed my episodes from
earlier in the week, they featured Professor Sara Mednick, who's a cognitive neuroscientist at the
University of California Irvine and the author of the books take a nap and the power of the
downstate and we discuss in our interview why this downstate and upstate ratio is so important for
how we achieve maximum performance and health in our lives. I also had on Carrington Smith,
author of the new best selling memoir, blooming and Carrington combines her wit and wisdom
to share her journey going through the shit of life to finding a life that was bursting with joy,
opportunity and purpose. And in case you missed my solo episode from this past week, it was on the
10 benefits of meditation and how you can practice meditation. If you've never done it before. Please
check them all out. I also wanted to acknowledge our fan of the week, Mason Goodwin who writes in
from the United Kingdom and he says love passion struck. The shows are fascinating and have great
info. I've never been one to listen to podcasts, but I am booked. I look forward to listening to
them on my drive home from work. I'm constantly telling people what I have learned from the shows
love the show, and always looking forward to next week's inspiration and especially Jon's momentum
Friday episodes. Thank you so much Mason for that review. And thank you to each and every one of
you who provides ratings and reviews those five star reviews goes such a long way in promoting
the popularity of the show and making us one of the top 10 alternative podcast in the world.
Now let's talk about today's episode, I'm going to spend the next two momentum
Friday episodes discussing a topic that I think is extremely important and that is
mediocrity. In today's episode, I want to discuss the culture of exceptionalism that is infiltrating
so many of our lives and why we should dare to be mediocre? What do I mean by daring to be mediocre?
And why would anyone want to do that? Shouldn't we all strive to be excellent? I'm going to tackle
those questions and so many more. But I think today so many of us are struggling with this
huge sense of inadequacy because we will not dare to be mediocre nor know how to accept
being mediocre with humility. Thank you for choosing passion struck and choosing me to be
your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now let that journey began.
I want to lead you through an exercise that quickly gets to the core of your sense
of legitimacy and well being throughout your childhood. Did you experience a feeling that you
were on balance okay with who you are? Or did you derive the idea that you needed to be exceptional
to feel satisfied with who you are somewhere along your personal journey? And more importantly,
are you now happy with your status in your life? Or have you become obsessed with exceptionalism
or filled with so called mediocrity Today nearly every self improvement pundit
constantly pushes this concept that we must be exceptional in everything that we Do and in who
we are. They say that mediocrity is the enemy of being extraordinary. It's accepting
to live in the state of being ordinary along with living in the status quo. Some will even tell you
that mediocrity is fatal just Google mediocrity. And you'll find hundreds of quotes on this topic.
Here are just a few of them from prominent self help gurus, Robin Sharma writes average performers
accept mediocrity. Iconic producers are obsessed with mastery. Tony Robbins says All too often,
the promise of the mediocre present is more comfortable than the adventure of trying to
be more in the future. And Brandon Bouchard says this mediocrity begins the moment that you swap
love for challenge with love for comfort. Author Colleen Hoover says a life of mediocrity is a
waste of life. And Grant Cardone says most of the world is seeking comfort and familiarity,
which are the traps that cause you to settle for mediocre. And lastly,
Stephen Covey writes, everyone chooses one or two roads in life, the old and the young,
the rich and the poor men and women alike. One is the broad, well traveled road to
mediocrity the other the road to greatness in meaning fictional and real life accounts
create these bigger than life heroes that embody excellence in service of our aspirations. The
glorious hills of billionaire turn superhero Tony Stark, though Bill Gates's of the world who go off
and save the planet at night while running a billion dollar enterprise or foundation
during the day. But the reality is, for the most part, we are all pretty average.
We all intuitively understand this, but rarely is it talked about or thought about.
So then what is causing this extreme pursuit of exceptionalism? Maybe it's because we like
the idea of living in extremes. After all, it's the extremes that get all the publicity. Think
of the ideas that we're programmed to pursue how to be most intelligent, most likely to succeed,
most popular, most just about anything. This feeling that we must be in a constant state of
pursuing excellence and falling short raises questions about our purpose and value. I also
think it leads to chronic hopelessness that so many around the world are experiencing today.
There is so much pressure bestowed upon us that we have to be the best all day every day we are
bombarded with exceptionalism non stop this flood of extreme information is coming from all angles,
pop culture, social media, books, the news movies, it's all social conditioning,
that makes us believe that being mediocre is a blemish on our personality. But there are people
who were that blemish with pride. You can love to learn and not be the most brilliant person
love to sing and not be the greatest singer have a passion for drawing but not be the greatest artist
love to play baseball but not be a major league baseball player. This leads to a vital point
intentionally striving to pursue mediocrity sucks, but mediocrity as a result of all our best efforts
is okay. And this is a point that I think is so important that I'm going to repeat it
intentionally striving to pursue mediocrity sucks, but mediocrity as a result of our best efforts
is okay, few of us understand this and even fewer accept it because troubles emerge severe problems
like my life isn't worth living, if I'm not living my potential or pursuing being exceptional,
and there are those who believe that they were born with a silver exceptionalism entitlement
spoon in their mouths. In reality for every Adele or Lady Gaga, millions of singers are playing in
small venues, coffee shops and bars, and most won't ever get a recording contract for every
Tom Brady and Babe Ruth. 1000s of kids believe and dream about becoming the next goat yet few even
play in college, much less professional sports. millions of kids grow up wanting to be the next
Serena Williams or Rafael Nadal, but only a handful in the entire legacy of the sport
can be mentioned alongside their names. And for every Adam Grant or Ryan Holiday, many writers
strive to create the next best selling novel and never even receive a publishing contract.
So what's so wrong with being mediocre author Joseph Heller famously wrote in his novel,
catch 22 Some men are born mediocre some men achieve mediocrity and some men have mediocrity
thrust upon them. Joseph Heller's intention was clear, mediocrity must be avoided at
all costs. Yet most people go on to live by all standards, pretty common lives.
Maybe you feel mediocre. And everything that you do in life, you're a good software developer,
but not the best. You're a very good tennis player, but you don't play at a five oh level,
you've gotten a master's degrees. Maybe you've gotten a couple maybe you've gotten a doctorate
and you've made huge strives in your lives, but you feel like you're not achieving your potential.
What if you don't feel like you're exceptional at anything? All you see is mediocrity. Everywhere
you say to yourself, I have yet to get my dream job. And I am afraid of ending up stuck where
I earn mediocre money and live a mediocre life. So what's so wrong was settling for mediocrity.
People often define mediocre as being average. When you look though at a bell curve,
exactly half the curve is below average, and the other half is above average. Looking at it
through that lens. There's nothing wrong with being mediocre at many, if not most things in
your life. The secret is finding one or two things that you excel in. But how do you do that? First,
look deep within yourself to find a direction that you're passionate about. Second, be intentional
about the process of achieving that objective. The key word here is intention to live with intention
is to make daily choices that get you closer to achieving your goal. All that matters is
that you're doing what is most deeply yourself and you're doing it with all your mind as I discussed
a few weeks ago in Episode 148 it's the journey that matters, not the destination. If you're on
your journey and pursuing your passion, then you are already succeeding self acceptance
and inner happiness occur because you have given your best The trick is to dare to accept
mediocre results even after you have given your best that is true humility I believe it is also
the only road lasting inner peace Think about how your life could be different if you can enduringly
acknowledge that while you have strengths on the net, you are pretty average. Overall, you
will have a growing fondness for life's essential ventures you will learn to gauge yourself with a
new and healthier lens realizing that you have a choice to live exactly what you were called
to do every single day. Maybe you don't feel exceptional at anything but perhaps your average
for a reason in a much deeper sense. You feel whole and profoundly centered in your journey,
you are making a significant contribution to society in a way that is distinctive
to you. It is deeply satisfying in your content. The most important thing is to pursue your
ambitions intentionally without judgment are towering expectations. And if you're doing that,
don't ask yourself if you're exceptional that has already been decided. The rest is just details.
I hope you all enjoyed the show. And I wanted to thank everyone who wrote in,
ask a question or gave us a review this week. And of course, everybody who listened thank you so
much. A link to the transcript will be in the show notes on passion. struck.com videos are on YouTube
at John R miles, please go there and subscribe. advertiser deals, and discount codes are all in
one convenient place at Passion struct.com/deals. Please consider supporting those who support the
show and make it free for all our listeners. I'm at John R miles at both Twitter and Instagram.
And you can also find me on LinkedIn. And if you want to know how I managed to book these
amazing guests who come on the show every single week, it's because of my network, go out there
and build yours before you need it. And most of the guests on the show actually contribute ideas
like today's episode, and also guests suggestions. Come join us and offer your suggestions you'll
be in amazing company, you're about to hear a preview of the Passion Struck podcast episode
I did with Jean Oelwang, founding CEO of Virgin Unite, and its current president co founder of
plus wonder and a B team leader. She also sits on the Advisory Council for the elders as well as
being the author of the new book partner and forge deep connections and make great things happen.
Love was at the center of all of these companies. And I think John were taught
to think that we can't have love in a company, we have to just focus on the goal,
it has to be transactional. And I think that's such a mistake. Because when you build love and
deep connection at the center of a company have a partnership of movement to change the world.
That's what's going to keep that bond strong. And that's what's going to bring really light and joy
into our lives are these deep connections that we build with one another.
Remember, we rise by lifting others share the show with those you love. And if someone that you know
is feeling that they're experiencing this exceptionalism, share today's episode with them
so that they can have a counterview. What matters to us most on the show is when you hear something
from the show, whether it's an interview, or one of my solo episodes and you share it with
those that you care about. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show
so that you can live what you listen and until next time, live life passion struck.