Why be ordinary is perfectly normal
A Life / / December 19, 2019
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Mark Manson
Author of "The Subtle Art pofigizma" blogger.
There is one guy - a world-famous billionaire. A more technical genius, inventor and entrepreneur. He's athletic, talented and so eye-catching, it seems that Zeus descended from Olympus and made it his own lucky. It has a fleet of sports cars and several yachts, he donates millions of dollars to charity, and changes how girls gloves with model looks. When he's not busy than usual engaged in all the rich powerful people, he invents technological innovations in order to save the planet or help the weak and the oppressed.
Yes, you guessed it, this man - Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. And he invented.
People tend to come up with ideal characters embody all that they would like to become.
In the Middle Ages were valiant knights, conquers the dragon and rescue the princess. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome - heroes who single-handedly won the war, and even opposed to the gods. Today we have a superhero comic book. We need these characters to cope with the feeling of helplessness.
Think about it: the world is more than 7 billion people, and at any one time only about a thousand of them can influence what is happening in the world. So, the rest have to put up with the limitations of his life and the fact that a large part of what we do after our death It will not mean anything.
Take is not so easy. I'm not saying that it is necessary to strive for mediocrity. Of course, we must strive to become better. Just worth to accept the fact that in general, most of us remain common. Let's look at the chart.
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If you take a group of people, for example golfers, it turns out that some are playing great, the other - terribly, but most - medium.
Or, for example, Michael Jordan, throws the ball into the basket.
![Michael Jordan is a genius at what he does Michael Jordan](/f/00f7abf8fb58c9cc546910a37d7389b0.gif)
Well aware that he is one of the best basketball players in the world. Therefore Jordan on the right side of the bar graph: he is better than 99.99% of the total, who once picked up a basketball.
And there's this guy.
![This man could not become an outstanding This man could not become an outstanding](/f/1aa3e406069f067f14e1ab79200e67eb.gif)
It is obvious that it is far to Jordan. Most likely, you can do it better than him. He is on the left side of the chart, near the bottom of the curve. Well, most of us - in the middle. This principle works in all areas.
Even if you are really outstanding person in something one, otherwise you are likely to mediocre success. That's how life is. It is impossible to succeed in absolutely everything. Bruce Wayne does not exist. Just rare cases craftsmanship get more attention: they are covered in the press, are saying about them.
The problems arise from the fact that we do not want to accept it. We are confident that we can become exceptional, that is as it should be. This is quite understandable. Today we have access to an unprecedented amount of information. Since the attentional resources are limited, we can not learn allThat every minute appears on the Internet or on television. We note only that stands out: the most outstanding achievements, the funniest jokes, the most sad news, the worst threat. Media are trying to talk about them more and more, because they attract viewers, and therefore profitable.
This constant flow of exclusive information taught us assume that the uniqueness - this is the new norm.
And since most of us are not at all unique, we constantly suffer from self-doubt and desperately wanted to become outstanding. We have to somehow compensate for the feeling of inferiority. Someone comes up with a scheme to get rich quick, and someone is sent to Africa to save starving children. Some studying diligently and win awards, others arrange shooting in public places.
In our culture today, the conviction prevails that the need to constantly prove their singularity and uniqueness. We are conditioned to believe that we are destined to do something incredible. This is indicated by celebrities, business tycoons, politicians: "Absolutely everyone can be outstanding!" People usually do not notice the hidden contradictions: if all become prominent, whereas in fact be equal to one other.
The "ordinary" was considered a sign of failure. "How can you call a life worth if it is not exclusive?" - it is a dangerous delusion. If you look at the statistics, most of the population is just an ordinary, we just scared it to yourself to confess.
It seems that if we accept their mediocrity, then nothing ever will achieve, we will never become better.
"I will not be the same motivation develop, if I consider myself mediocrity. And suddenly I was the exceptional case? "But the truly outstanding people become so not because of the faith in its exclusivity. On the contrary, they consider themselves to be mediocre and want to rise above itself. Paradoxically.
"Everyone can become an outstanding and achieve greatness," and other similar statements - nonsense, which we offer as the pill, so that we feel better and we do not quit your job. The taste is pleasant, but in reality it is empty calories, from which it becomes emotionally bloated. Big Mac for the heart and brain.
Emotional health, as well as physical, comes when you do not forget to eat vegetables. That is, taking tasteless and everyday facts of life. Light salad - "In general, you're pretty mediocre" - and a couple of broccoli - "Most of your life is mediocre." It may not be very tasty, but the body feels stronger and healthier.
Adopting its ordinariness, we remove the burden of constant striving to be better than others.
Getting rid of the stress and anxiety caused by the feeling of our "failure". We get the freedom to achieve what for us is really important, without criticism and unrealistic expectations.
We begin to appreciate the simple things in life: the pleasure of chatting with a friend, help a needy person, reading a good book, laughing together with my boyfriend. Sounds boring, right? Because it is mediocre stuff. But that's what makes them so important.
see also🧐
- 10 simple ways to motivate yourself every day
- 5 most common myths about geniuses and genius
- Universal way of solving problems of mathematical genius