Mediocrity Rant

There is a ton of argument and debate all over the place at the moment on whether humanity is collectively getting stupider and/or lazier. This is paradoxical, as collectively we have arguably the most real-time access to information, tools and skills that we have ever had historically. However the arguments undoubtedly resonate..

What is frustrating however, is that there is an ever-increasing prevalence of incredibly smart, motivated, hard-working people, with game-changing ideas and exceptional work-ethic, who are producing amazing things that we all take for granted. I see this even in my own small circles. The barrier to entry for such people has also been pretty much obliterated by the Internet, as highlighted by Seth Godin in his awesome book Linchpin. 

I'd contend that we are much more prone to, and perhaps worse, *comfortable* with, mediocrity. Things get cheaper and more accessible, so if they aren't ideal, well, it's not so bad, is it? We have a mass of options for the same thing, from multiple providers, so hey, if a few of them suck, well where is the major harm? You have a contract to deliver something, why exceed expectations? Why not just deliver as promised? That's the expectation, isn't it?

It is an insidious disease - once it starts to rear it's ugly head and creep in a little, we tend to get more comfortable, and make more and more allowance for it. Give it a little..and it takes everything. It's also really difficult to eradicate it once it's set in..the obligatory cliche - prevention is better than cure. This falls pretty squarely into the lap of today's leadership, who should be shot for allowing it, but more so, with each and every one of us. 

We should be teaching our kids that average is not good enough, our students that a pass mark doesn't cut it, our employees that delivering just what the client, your colleagues or your boss expect is the path to disaster. "Good enough" should not exist, and each time we are just doing enough to get by, we should feel dirty.

Granted, not everybody can be exceptional - that's an impossibility all on it's own. But how much better a place would the world be if everyone was constantly trying to be..?