Mediocrity

"The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency." - Jim Collins

Mediocrity: The state or quality of being mediocre.

Mediocre: Of moderate or low quality, value, ability or performance; ordinary, so-so.

I am struggling with concept of mediocrity in my life -mostly in general I suppose, but brought to light specifically by the quote listed above.

I am in so many ways the epitomy of inconsistancy, zigging this way and zagging that, picking up things with a high degree of intensity only to veer to the other side as something else catches my eye. I'm certainly not unwilling to change, as the quote suggests; I am, unfortunately, chronically inconsistent.

Chronically inconsistent I can live with as a label - what it suggests, a mediocre life, not so much.

But I have to be willing to ask (and answer) the hard question: is my life of moderate or low quality, value, abilty or performance? Have I come to accept this as the norm?

Certainly large portions of my life would seem to celebrate it. In theory society and the workplace reward excellence and ability; in point of fact this often does not seem so, or in fact the very people that supposedly call forth this level of activity either don't lead by example or swallow the efforts for themselves. And it is certainly true that excellence and superiority go where they are welcomed, not where they are scoffed and ignored.

But as convenient as that is, it does not excuse me personally. All the reasons to do something wrong in the world does not make it right to do that wrong.

So then the question becomes a simple one: if I have let my life slip into mediocrity, how do I start to move it back towards excellence? How do I reverse the trend I feel and see in myself? How do I fight my way clear, rededicate myself to being an excellent me instead of a mediocre me? How, when I so often feel defeated by circumstances, do I find the will and stamina to push myself over the top?