Be Mostly Average

My son Josh ran his last cross country race last Thursday.  He was elated to be done.  Josh runs cross country mostly to stay in shape and to be with his buddies.  Truth be told, Josh is average at cross country.  But if you put him on a 400 meter track, he performs like you switched the afterburners on and he mostly dominates the track.  And he loves it.  He is passionate about track and the results show it.  He is built to run a powerful fast race instead of a longer endurance race. 

I think we should also concentrate mostly on being average in life and in business.  I am average looking, make an average income, drive average vehicles, and live an average life.  I'm no Bill Gates, or an NFL football star, or a movie star.  Nope.  I am none of that.  Just an average American trying to make an average living.

In the workplace I am mostly average too.  I am average with Excel and Powerpoint presentations, I am average at gettting reports done, and I am average when I have to sit in a cubicle and do quarterly reports for weeks on end.

But just like Josh, if you get me in the right scenario doing the thing that I am made to do, I can be exceptional.  And I am no different than anyone else.  Each and every person has that something special that they can do.  I can't play in the NFL or the NBA and I would not make a good trigonometry college professor.  But if you put me in front of a crowd to make a presentation or ask me to lead a team, I am probably your guy. 

And that is the way that business teams and families should operate.  I think it should be acceptable to be average at most things but exceptional and focus in the area that you are made to be exceptional at.  If we would put members of our teams in the areas that they are designed to excel in, production and results would skyrocket and families would learn to be functional instead of dysfunctional. 

That's my version of the story anyway.