Breaking the Cycle of Mediocrity: How to Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary Leadership

There may be a silent danger lurking around. It causes us to be comfortable with average and just barely passing the grade. It drives us to justify being second best. It’s the enemy of excellence. That danger is called mediocrity, and it keeps leaders from being extraordinary.

Mediocrity is easy, but excellence demands effort. Breaking the cycle requires us to recognize and challenge our complacency if we want to become extraordinary leaders.

An apprentice was installing a horizontal support bar in the bathroom of a house. He was having problems. It was difficult to align the horizontal bar with the two end supports after they were anchored into the wall. The apprentice began trying to force the bar into the end supports, an approach that could bend the end supports, or at best, weaken the anchors.

“Remove it and reinstall the supports properly.” His coach sighed deeply.

“It’s OK. I can make it work. It’s good enough.” Was the confident response.

“What if two months from now, the homeowner tries to use this bar and it breaks, causing her to injure herself? Would that injury be good enough?” Wisdom sought to bring reason to the apprentice. The frustrated apprentice rolled his eyes and proceeded to take down the poor-quality installation.

The apprentice learned that settling for “good enough” often leads to poor outcomes and prevents true excellence.

Perfection is fleeting, but excellence is achievable.  We should always try to do our best by following the path to excellence. Mediocrity, on the other hand, is the act of doing the bare minimum. It’s a bad habit that we often don’t seek out, but it creeps up silently.

Mediocrity shows up in many subtle ways. It’s a choice someone makes to settle for less than excellence.

Warning Signs of Mediocrity

Complacency, a driver of mediocrity, often occurs when we become too comfortable. We stop trying to be the best or doing our best and settle for middle-of-the-road results. We may be entertaining the company of mediocrity without realizing it. Here are a few warning signs.

• Not willing to go the extra mile. For example, not taking the extra 5 minutes to review our work.  Also, while it’s OK to trust someone to represent us or do something for us, it’s prudent to take some time to verify it’s done as desired.

• Rushing to get things done by taking shortcuts. There’s nothing inherently wrong with taking shortcuts. There’s plenty wrong with delivering poor quality when quality really matters because there wasn’t enough time to get it done right.

• “MacGyvering” (improvising) quick fixes as a default.  We should first take the time to thoroughly investigate and solve a problem the right way, rather than resorting to patchwork as a first option. Lack of proper planning often leads to improvisation and results that fall short of the intended goal.

• Making excuses for poor quality. Excuses are the enemy of excellence. For example, saying “It did not require excellence this time.” Maybe so, but if we repeat that too often, it changes from an occasional situation to a chronic habit.

• Setting low standards and expectations. Fear of failure can cause someone to hedge to a lower quality or expectation. One example is when we face a challenge and instead of doing a proper assessment, we give up by saying, “Realistically, this cannot happen.” Actor Will Smith once said, “Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity.”

• Constantly devaluing oneself due to low self-esteem. This can be from deep internal beliefs that we are not good enough. Not only does this swirl in our minds, but it also manifests in our words. Words such as “I’ll never be good enough,” I’m not that good,” “I’ll never be able to do that,” “I’ll never be as good as….” Our words can hold us back from driving to excellence. Do you often put yourself down?

There are times when a lower quality is acceptable and meets the need. However, this is an intentional decision based on evaluating key factors such as cost, quality, and schedule versus the expected benefits.

Mediocrity, however, comes from some bad habits with which we have become comfortable. It becomes a default action without realizing that our actions will not breed excellence.

Escaping The Trap of Mediocrity

Some people are not even aware that they gravitate to mediocrity. It’s habitual to them. This can be driven by many factors. For example, some individuals are not used to having high standards or tangible examples of excellence. Also, some struggle mentally with self-esteem and do not expect much from themselves. These cultivate behaviors driven by bad habits.

Breaking the cycle of mediocrity means replacing some bad habits with positive ones. It requires a holistic approach, which starts with our beliefs. Our beliefs drive what we think. What we think and believe will dictate our actions. Added to changing our beliefs are mental and behavioral changes.

Internal/Spiritual Transformation: As Christ-centered leaders, breaking the cycle of mediocrity requires an internal or spiritual transformation of our beliefs.

We must move from believing and accepting a mundane and passive way of life to one driven by a passion to do what’s right. What we believe eventually drives our view of ourselves and our approach to life.

Prayer is a good place to start making the change in our belief system. Some chronic cycles are broken and changed by prayer.

We must believe that we were designed for a purpose and for excellence.

Mental Transformation: Mediocrity is a state of mind.

Escaping the cycle of settling for average requires a mind-shift from negative to positive thoughts and approaches.

Being intentional moves us from a passive approach that’s on autopilot to intentional action.

We can eliminate that negative mindset by leveraging the power of declaration. Words of affirmation will lead to the cultivation of positive beliefs, which become positive attitudes and behaviors, and eventually the desired outcome of being an extraordinary leader.

Behavioral Transformation: Escaping the cycle of mediocrity requires discipline and making changes to some habits that have become passive and comfortable.

We may need to change our circle of friends. We should be surrounded by those who can push us forward rather than settle for “less than.”

Enlarge our coastline by constantly learning and improving. Great leaders have high standards. Therefore, we must set high standards and refuse to settle for “good enough.”

Don’t settle for mediocrity in the name of efficiency – Kennedy Germain

Excellence does not happen by accident. It takes work. That attribute alone detracts many from seeking excellence. It also takes focus to deliver top quality, but focus is difficult in this world of constant distraction. There are many leaders who default to doing the minimum. It takes an extraordinary individual to consistently focus on excellence.

Do you want to be an extraordinary leader? Break from the cycle of mediocrity by transforming your beliefs, thoughts, and actions and deliver excellence – consistently.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Gal 6:9 (KJV)

Empowered Leader Reflection

How often do you settle for “good enough?”

If this resonates with you, please share your thoughts with us below.