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    The Subtle Art-Notes

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    mmjpgcil
    Being average has become viewed as failure, as success is defined by being extraordinary. As a result, some people choose to portray themselves as the most miserable, oppressed, or victimized in order to feel special and receive attention, even if it means being at the extreme low end of the bell curve. The document also states that those who become great at something do so because they understand that they are currently average and can improve, rather than thinking they are already great. It suggests defining yourself in mundane, ordinary ways rather than through narrow identities in order to feel less threatened.

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    The Subtle Art-Notes

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    mmjpgcil
    26 views2 pages
    Being average has become viewed as failure, as success is defined by being extraordinary. As a result, some people choose to portray themselves as the most miserable, oppressed, or victimized in order to feel special and receive attention, even if it means being at the extreme low end of the bell curve. The document also states that those who become great at something do so because they understand that they are currently average and can improve, rather than thinking they are already great. It suggests defining yourself in mundane, ordinary ways rather than through narrow identities in order to feel less threatened.

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    Being average has become viewed as failure, as success is defined by being extraordinary. As a result, some people choose to portray themselves as the most miserable, oppressed, or victimized in order to feel special and receive attention, even if it means being at the extreme low end of the bell curve. The document also states that those who become great at something do so because they understand that they are currently average and can improve, rather than thinking they are already great. It suggests defining yourself in mundane, ordinary ways rather than through narrow identities in order to feel less threatened.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    26 views2 pages

    The Subtle Art-Notes

    Uploaded by

    mmjpgcil
    Being average has become viewed as failure, as success is defined by being extraordinary. As a result, some people choose to portray themselves as the most miserable, oppressed, or victimized in order to feel special and receive attention, even if it means being at the extreme low end of the bell curve. The document also states that those who become great at something do so because they understand that they are currently average and can improve, rather than thinking they are already great. It suggests defining yourself in mundane, ordinary ways rather than through narrow identities in order to feel less threatened.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Being “average” has become the new standard of failure.

    The worst thing


    you can be is in the middle of the pack, the middle of the bell curve. When
    a culture’s standard of success is to “be extraordinary,” it then becomes
    better to be at the extreme low end of the bell curve than to be in the
    middle, because at least there you’re still special and deserve attention.
    Many people choose this strategy: to prove to everyone that they are the
    most miserable, or the most oppressed, or the most victimized.

    And that obsession with improvement stems from an unerring belief


    that they are, in fact, not that great at all. It’s anti-entitlement. People who
    become great at something become great because they understand that
    they’re not already great—they are mediocre, they are average—and that
    they could be so much better.

    truths such as “Your actions actually don’t matter that much in the grand
    scheme of things” and “The vast majority of your life will be boring and not
    noteworthy, and that’s okay.”
    the knowledge and acceptance of your own mundane existence will
    actually free you to accomplish what you truly wish to accomplish, without
    judgment or lofty expectations.
    But maybe they’re ordinary for a reason: because they are what actually
    matters.

    Parkinson’s law: “Work expands so as to fill up the time available for its
    completion.”

    Murphy’s law: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.”

    We all have values for ourselves. We protect these values. We try


    to live up to them and we justify them and maintain them. Even if we don’t
    mean to, that’s how our brain is wired.

    I have both some good news and some bad news for you: there is little
    that is unique or special about your problems. That’s why letting go is so
    liberating.
    My recommendation: don’t be special; don’t be unique. Redefine your
    metrics in mundane and broad ways. Choose to measure yourself not as
    a rising star or an undiscovered genius. Choose to measure yourself not
    as some horrible victim or dismal failure. Instead, measure yourself by
    more mundane identities: a student, a partner, a friend, a creator.
    The narrower and rarer the identity you choose for yourself, the more
    everything will seem to threaten you. For that reason, define yourself in
    the simplest and most ordinary ways possible.
    This often means giving up some grandiose ideas about yourself: that
    you’re uniquely intelligent, or spectacularly talented, or intimidatingly
    attractive, or especially victimized in ways other people could never
    imagine. This means giving up your sense of entitlement and your belief
    that you’re somehow owed something by this world. This means giving up
    the supply of emotional highs that you’ve been sustaining yourself on for
    years. Like a junkie giving up the needle, you’re going to go through
    withdrawal when you start giving these things up. But you’ll come out the
    other side so much better.

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