what is the advantage of being a mediocre?

Question

I am probably the most mediocre person in the world i live in. Not too rich, not too poor, not too smart, not too dumb, not too handsome, not too ugly... I always get B-grade marks, never an A... Always comes up second or third in love and competition... Although i'm not last, am I still a LOSER? what is the advantage of being a slightly-above-average guy?

Answer 1

Insightful comments by the previous posters. I thought I was going to be the first poster, but it took me 1 hour to write this.

To an honest question, here is my honest answer:

Just as there is no snowflake exactly the same, everybody is unique, and possesses different latent talents, passions, skills, strengths, and potentialities. If you feel mediocre, it's because you don't know what your own unique passions, talents and potentials are yet. You don't know the best parts of your self - so it's a matter of self-understanding, and not about being #1 in something, but unfortunately, schools don't really emphasize that.

If you continue to compare yourself by conventional society's standards of $$$, IQ, looks, grades, and contests, you will fall into the average - and so you will feel like average. But none of these standards determine the true value, happiness, power, and potential of any person. If you analyze these standards, you'll see that they don't hold up in the big picture: many rich/beautiful people are unhappy (Britney Spears), and most Fortune 500 CEOs didn't go to top tier universities (many didn't even go at all). You know Steve Jobs of Apple, right? He dropped out of college and said it was one of the best decisions of his life. He says you have to follow your passion. He's one of the richest people in the world - so maybe he's on to something. (You can search for and read his Stanford commencement speech online.)

This, by the way, is a great way to learn more about "success" in life: study the lives of both successful people. You'll discover that very few of them advise people to: "become more beautiful," "study harder and get good grades," "win more contests". Take something even superficial as beauty, for example: if you ever watched America's Top Model, you'll see that in order for a model to win, it's not enough that she is beautiful because everybody on the show already is. Listen to what the judges say - they talk about passion, attitude, spirit, creativity, etc.

Have you ever compared yourself or other people in terms of: easygoingness, determination, responsibility, loyalty, sincerity, trustworthiness, friendliness, kindness, generous, considerateness, politeness, tolerance, empathetic, genuineness....etc. Perhaps you score extremely high in 1 or more of these categories. And you may think these are unimportant now, but trust me - they are very valuable when it comes to future money, love, family, work, happiness, and success.

Here's an exercise you could try: using these alternative standards, think of all your good friends and loved ones, and identify 1 or 2 traits that you admire about them, makes them special, and sets them apart from everybody else. There has to be - otherwise you wouldn't care about them. If they have something unique to them, don't you think you do as well?

Some last remarks:
1) Identify your own passions/strengths. Develop them even more. This will be relatively easy and natural.
2) Identify qualities that you admire or care a lot about, that you'd like to possess also. Educate yourself on how to develop them. This will be harder and unnatural. If it's really that important to you, don't give up. The reward will be worth the effort.
3) Don't worry too much about what other people think - it's what you think about yourself. "Be yourself" means = follow your own heart, care about what you want to care about, walk your own way, grow in the direction you want to grow - and gradually, you'll discover that you won't be just mediocre/average anymore. Other people will see it, but most importantly, you'll feel it and be it.

Answer 2

I think you fly below the radar, and by that I mean that you don't attract attention, good or bad. If you believe that you're "slightly-above-average, that gives you something to aspire to, doesn't it? You can seek self-improvement by trying new things that interest you, maybe a few things other friends seem to enjoy and find rewarding.

You are not a loser, or you wouldn't be questioning your lot in life.

Answer 3

I suppose the advantage might be that you won't upset anybody.
You won't crave your boss's job, your best friend's girlfriend, or splash a passer-by in the rain.
But I don't accept that you're mediocre. I suspect you're rather intelligent; you must be to have asked such an introspective, thoughtful question.

Answer 4

A mediocre person, in comparison with a genius, in Schopenhauer's vision, is someone who doesn't live to surpass it's condition, it is always disposed to make compromises and lives it's life inspired from "Carpe Diem"...

Answer 5

Not being noticed.