Steady now, it’s finally day FOUR of Mediocrity Week!
The Invitation
Note the quote says it’s an invitation. That means you do not have to accept it. Having a regular paycheck at a steady job has within it the temptation to become mediocre. It does not mean it is a requirement. It is something to watch out for though because mediocrity in the work world is like a long term habit that leads to a disease that you don’t know you are acquiring until it is too late.
My Wife’s Resistance
My wife, Linda, is a business woman. She has worked in the same industry with the same company (bought and sold many times over) for over 20 years. She has had every opportunity to become settled and mediocre in her job but she hasn’t. She has always been committed to doing her job really well. There have been years and years of her building up effective business structures and procedures only to see them be dismantled by those who came after her. On a regular basis she is asked to go back in years later and clean up the detritus of failures and rebuild what she built before. And she does it. She has done this with the higher ups almost never realizing the incredible ability she has to do those things again and again. And the reason she can do them? Because she is dedicated to be not just competent but excellent at her job, whatever it is.
Tombstone
So, I have seen it done. The key is the desire to be excellent has to be internal. It cannot be decided by if you are high on your job at any one moment or not. It can’t be decided by the recognition, the salary, the perks. It has to be driven from your character. YOU have to want to be excellent apart from anyone or anything else. Just YOU.
If you are wondering if you want to be excellent, imagine having a tombstone that says, “Here Lies a Mediocre Human”.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is married to an excellent woman.
Quote is Anonymous
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Mediocrity Week has so far had visits from 36 countries including:
- Latvia
- Zimbabwe
- Uganda
- Suriname
- Algeria
- Malaysia
Isn’t it the best to have chosen so wisely ?~! I am married to a man that is the most excellent man I could have found for me. He just does what needs to be done without complaint or any bullshite, accommodates my idiosyncrasies and chronic pain issues, helps me with my home baby whisperer business (three-month-old sound asleep on lap as I type), and loves me unselfishly 24 hours a day. Which, with my health issues alone, is incredible-never mind all else I do that he assists me and our small community of 450 families with.
He likes me too which also helps keep us going after 26 years. He’s my best friend and I wouldn’t be who I am today without him.
He does sound like an excellent husband and life partner! I am very happy that is how it turned out for you. You are blessed as I am sure he is as well.
Again, love this post. It’s thought provoking and also a compelling conversation to me. In my own life, I have a spouse who is an excellent employee, well liked in his field and very good at what he does. However, for years we have had the continued conversation, in disagreement, of taking that same passion, drive and lack of mediocrity to your personal life. The disagreement is about being satisfied and not driven as a partnership because a person only has so much energy. There is a genetic predisposition to have one foot in the grave from my hubs family. I noticed it when we were dating and the conversation started 25 years ago … work hard, die. Is that all there is to life? Not to me and it looks as if I can never be satisfied, when that is not the truth. It’s your point … I don’t like mediocrity, apathy, not squeezing the life out of life. Accepting the recliner as your bff is not ok with me. Now, that said, thumbs up to my hubs being a great dad and providing for the family. Is it wrong for me to say at the end of the day … thank you but what else? Am I asking to much? Being selfish?
I am not sure if you are asking too much, but you might be asking too much of him. It is hard to accept but we all have different levels of energy and drive. His drive is reserved for work, kids, hopefully for you as well. But hobbies or charity or adventure, maybe not so much. It can be frustrating but if you were married to someone else whose to say he wouldn’t be skewed towards the drive and adventure and away from the providing and love of family? It’s a crapshoot when you marry and we don’t always get the perfect match, but we also have to admit at times that while not perfect, perhaps they are a lot better than the alternatives, right?
Linda is not a big adventurer either and she would admit to that. But we do our best to compromise so that I can get some adventure and she can get some comfort. Sometimes I am uncomfortable with so much comfort and sometimes she is uncomfortable with so much adventure but we do it for each other because we love each other and in truth we like that we balance each other out a bit from our extremes.