When I was about 10 years old, I was shopping for clothing at the mall with my mom, and I saw a tshirt that said “Second place is the first loser.” This shirt was from a major brand that was always known for its be tough and win at all odds slogans. Even as a young child, I immediately understood what the shirt was trying to convey. Anything less that being the best was worthless.
As an adult, I realize that our society is pumped full of this type of attitude all the time. If you are not the best, you are nothing. If you are not beautiful, you are ugly. Only superlatives are valuable, and anything less is a waste. While this might help to motivate a lot of people, it actually falls short if helping a majority of people. If I am overweight or out of a job, a billboard telling me to be the best just might not do it for me. There are a lot of things I am really really bad at so telling me to be the best just doesn’t speak to me.
I think there is another narrative that can be much more impactful for your average person. Let’s begin to work on self-awareness. Once we realize there are many things we are terrible at, we can start to make some progress. When I realize that the skills that make you great do not apply to me, I can stop worrying about competing in your league. What I need to do is focus on those skills and talents that I have. What am I good at? In what areas do I excel? I might not be a good basketball player, but I know there are a couple of things that I do better than most people I know. When you find those areas, focus on that. Build that up. Work on taking that to the next level. Even if you can’t be the best at that in the world, but the best that YOU can be in that area. Once you are willing to accept your shortcoming you will grant yourself permission to be great. You can achieve greatness on your level.
We each have one life to live. We tend to get swept up trying to live the lives of those that the media tells us are great. Whatever they have going on has little relevance to your life, and who you are. If you can realize that you are awesome, you can take it to a new level.