I passed by a church the other day and their street-side marquee read: “Mediocrity is a well worn path.”

After reflecting on this offering, I was reminded of one of my favorite sayings: “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

The revelation was: if we’re always producing mediocrity, we’re on the wrong path.

If you bake, are the cakes you make mediocre or stellar? If you’re not being asked for the recipe quite frequently, your cake may as well be stale.

Mediocrity is a stale path. Our mediocre cake will be the last one sold at the bake sale, if at all.

Whatever you’re putting in the oven on a daily basis is either getting awards or it’s just doing the job. Mediocre is just doing the job. The results mediocre gets are neither nourishing nor tasty.

We’re probably all familiar with the computer phrase, “Garbage in, garbage out.” We may not be aware of this lesser known truth: “Mediocre in, mediocre out.”

The illusion we’re under is that marvelous results can come from mediocre efforts. It’s never been the case. Too often we experience disappointment with our efforts but, sadly, that doesn’t get us to up our game. We’re too busy complaining that our hard work isn’t getting us what we want.

The recipe for success is available; just find someone who’s getting the results you want and follow their lead. Reminds me of a story I’ve told before . . .

My neighbor, Barbara makes world-class brownies. I’ve never had better. Many people have attempted to make Barbara’s brownies, but they never come out like Barbara’s, even though she’s given them the recipe. No one ever went in the kitchen with Barbara and witnessed the process from start to finish. Had they done that, they would never make a mediocre brownie again.

If you want top-notch results, “get in the kitchen” with someone who’s top-notch and do precisely what they do. If you cut corners, you’ll find yourself back on the path to mediocrity in a hurry.

Mediocre is ladened with shortcuts. If you want much better results, you have to walk the more challenging, less traveled path. It’s the pathway out of mediocrity.

All the best,

John