Better Than Mediocre

A couple years ago, I came across an ad in a magazine that resonated with me.  The ad simply said, "Say No to Sweatpants", but it stuck with me so keenly that when I saw the ad again, I cut the words out and hung them over my desk.  Those words have now been there for a couple years, and I have ever intention of keeping them there for a long, long time.

 



 

Now I'm not pooh-poohing the actual wearing of sweatpants, although to be honest I barely ever wear them myself and prefer to relax in more structured attire (and if that doesn't speak volumes about my personality, I don't know what will).  Instead, when I look at those words, I see the idea of sweatpants as a metaphor for mediocrity, for not trying hard enough, for giving up.  I view it as a personal challenge for dealing with the everyday.

 

Everyone has their own goals - different things that we are all working toward or wishing we could accomplish.  All too often, we get bogged down or run out of steam.  We start concentrating on other things and make excuses as to why something is being put on the back burner.  We make plans to be one way and then let life pull us along in a different direction.

 

When it really comes down to it, we often make choices that take us in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go.  You decide to exercise in the morning, but then stay up late watching a tv show that you don't even really care about.  You want to clean out your house but keep adding to the mess that's already there.  You want to save for vacation or a new car, but you just keep buying insignificant immediate gratification purchases.

 

The good news about all of this is that at almost any moment you can turn around and start choosing to take the path that is headed in the direction you wanted to go.  You can assess where you want to be and what you are doing to get there.  Don't settle to drift along as if you have no say in what happens to you.  Choose to challenge yourself, and then choose to meet the challenge.