Why is mediocrity bad

But this year they are on track to become a billion-dollar company. But because most corporations are so mediocre, we can all learn from the rare examples when they do something right. In your own life and work, do you strive to provide excellence to others, or have you fallen into the same trap?

Tags: coffee , excellence , seattle. Not everyone can excel at things. Otherwise excellence would be normal. Some people must be average. A lot of people are getting depressed over trying to achieve excellence and falling short of that mark in comparison with other people. Average is good. For me, my early morning best is far different from my late night best! For him, it appears that excellence is a measure of the moment. I think this is an encouraging and non-threatening way to approach things.

The key, then, would be to prepare ourselves and our environment for doing our best, and then approach things with excellence as the process as well as the goal. All to say, average results might come from excellent performance, but excellent results rarely come from average performance.

I joined the AB Forum a few days ago and have been thoroughly enjoying reading your posts here. Your concepts and ideals are to be applauded and I love your way of writing. Thank you for the wake up call to be the best! This post is exactly what I have been thinking about recently due to a series of incidents that happened in my life with people I know. Keep up the good work! Excellent post and plenty of food for though.

I guess it would depend on the criteria going to use. So can I comment on your Southwest example? Yes, I fly Southwest, but racked up k miles on Northwest, Continental and others as well in a recent 2-year period.

I agree. You eventually begin to hit limits on finding enough employees who can maintain your standards and culture. Dude, thanks so much for your detailed and well-reasoned comments. This is exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for here. You are right that I am kind of taking on a sacred cow with SWA.

I think that they Southwest are only considered to be ahead of the field when compared to the average American flying experience these days, which is hovering slightly above awful for most people. I do wish they could be even better, but sadly, that is probably not going to happen.

Just discovered your site and very pleased with your writing and articles. This really hit home as my impression of service industries here in my hometown of Atlanta, GA is just as described. For some odd reason, HR departments tend to follow this mediocrity line of thinking and hire less than excellent folks. While you do not need a Mensa member yo make you a latte, you do need competency when your health and finances are being administered.

Congratulations for posting and saying what I could not! Thank you for this article! You only have to pass. Anything to do with fresh cookies is a good idea to me! The acceptance of mediocrity has contributed to clutter, environmental damage, and a reduction of our standard of living. Products have become plastic and disposable, breaking frequently and requiring constant replacement.

Where do they end up? Often, the quality product can be cheaper. Take cast-iron pans as an example. Do you remember the old steel toasters? There are 50 year old models that still work. Rather, they were worrying about their achievements, about not excelling or standing out in their chosen field. The problem, Mr Manson argues, is that social media ensures we're constantly exposed to the highlight reel of people's lives and that's leaving some feeling like they're not quite making the most of their time in this mortal coil.

He says that while "mediocrity, as a goal, sucks It's similar to the conclusion Gloria Origgi and Diego Gambetta came to in their study. Ms Origgi recalls the experience of an American friend who was renovating a house in Italy. The Italian builders never delivered when they promised to but conversely they didn't expect payment on time either, so both sides gained something. In the end though, the renovation was never completed, which wasn't perhaps what the American friend had bargained for.

But in general, the deal is you give up high standards and in return you get flexibility and an overall easier, more laidback life. She lives in a small town of about 10, people in the Canadian province of Alberta, just outside the city of Edmonton. That's rich, oil country where glass-like lakes reflect soaring, thickly forested mountains and clear, cobalt-blue skies.

It's not particularly isolated, plus she's travelled quite a bit in her life, to Africa, Europe and different parts of Canada. What's more her husband is west African and she's taught herself to be bilingual. I put it to her that all of that doesn't sound very average to me. She pauses and laughs sheepishly. How to look interested in a boring meeting. Image source, Thinkstock. So what's wrong with settling for mediocrity?

The art of kakonomics. Italy's fabled la dolce vita lifestyle can come at a price. Twice or half as many people as they were told to expect The time allocated to speak was halved or doubled Proofs were not properly revised or were mixed up People did not show up for meetings or showed up unannounced Messages got lost Reimbursements were delayed, decreased or forgotten altogether.

Are you willing to give people, especially your children, the time for that perceived delay? In many societies — too many, in fact — the pressure to be the best starts early. Classical music is being channelled so that the baby is learning even before its arrival on Earth! In my town, a suburb of New York City, there are WhatsApp groups for every grade, yes, even kindergarten discussing how best to prepare that oh-so-gifted child for every test and competition. Each child is under pressure to outperform everyone else in the grade.

Playdates may be a waste of time. Signing up for swimming, music and multiple sports classes are a must; the summer camp applications are filled out early in the year.

None of this is terrible, you say, because life is tough and to compete in a global world, your child must be ready.

Even friends may come and go. Failure will make your child resilient so, once in a while, let success not be what you reward them for. It may be that this moment is not one when they will. I will say, however, that mediocrity is an option some of the time and everyone should be given the time and space for it.

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