Exceptionalism Is Overrated. Be Average.
If nothing else, let this remind you that there isn’t anything great about the gold medal. It may be fun to watch a handful of athletes compete for one of the top-three slots in a competition, but remember that there is someone who was there, competed, and got zero time on the TV. They placed 74th in something like biathlon or the long-jump, and they had the best time of their life doing it.
Natural talent is great, but perfectionism only goes so far. There aren’t many songs you can sing if you can only sing one note perfectly.
When I was growing up, swimming was my sport. I swam for the Blue Springs South Jaguars (the school team) and the Kansas City Blazers (the year-round team). My high school relay team placed first at state. We also set the school record for fastest time. This was in 1996 - no one has gotten around to breaking our record.
Not to brag or anything. Seriously - I was the slowest person on the team. The worst of the best.
For you land-locked readers out there, a swimming relay has a certain strategy. The second-fastest swimmer leads the race. The absolute fastest swimmer on your team - the “anchor” - goes last in case you need to make up time. In between the two? Me - the slowest swimmer.
Yay.
It was actually one of the best positions I could have been in. Looking back, this was the learning opportunity I needed. Natural talent is great - but it is also an anomaly. Natural talent can just vanish, or the athlete can just decide to not compete. Then what?
The stars are made in the average folks. The people who put in the time, the reps, the practice - those are the ones who make it further. When you know you’re not the absolute best, when you know you aren’t blessed with some kind of talent, you get the drive to work harder and put in more than the rest of your team. Every practice, every training, gets EVERYTHING.
I was never the best. I’m still not. But I still win. I’m not the smartest, strongest, fastest, whatever-est, but I still come out on top because the rest of my team are the anchors who seal the win. This is how I structured Elemental Coaching. This is how I crafted the Far From Perfect Summit.
I know what I’m good at (even if I can’t define it by specific terms). For everything else, I count on the best. Also, look at it the other way: there might be people who are using you the exact same way! You never know how people count on you.
There is no formula for success. In a world that demands the “best ever,” give them the best you have - whatever it may be. Be the worst of the best, and you’ll get exactly where you need to be.
