Is It So Bad To Choose Mediocre?
Fairlady|October 2017

We all succumb to the ‘do more, be more, excel’ mentality. But is it always possible to be everything we want to be?

Sameena Amien
Is It So Bad To Choose Mediocre?

Mediocrity – such a loaded word. But if the reaction to Canadian blogger Krista O’Reilly Davi-Digui’s post ‘What if all I want is a mediocre life?’ is anything to go by, it’s fast becoming something acceptable, rather than shameful. In it, O’Reilly Davi Digui questions a ‘noisy’ world, with its ‘loud, haranguing voices lecturing me to hustle, to improve, build, strive, yearn, acquire, compete and grasp for more. For bigger and better. Sacrifice sleep for productivity. Have a huge impact on the world. Make your life count.’

The post instantly went viral and, judging by the legions of commenters who thanked O’Reilly Davi-Digui for speaking their truth, it was clear that there was a low-level rebellion brewing in ‘the middle’.

‘Sometimes all this rhetoric about efficiency is just unbearable, so people like to have a chance to ease up a little,’ says researcher and philosopher Gloria Origgi, co-author of an Oxford University paper on mediocrity, or what she and co-author Diego Gambetta call – wait for it – ‘kakonomics’ (kakos being Greek for bad!).

So the case for mediocrity appears to be a reaction to the pressure to excel… But what is so wrong about aspiring to greatness?

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