Dare to be mediocre

Our greatest fear in creativity is not that we are crap but that we are mediocre - of moderate to low abilities. Crap is easier; you know you missed and should look elsewhere. Mediocre is far more challenging.

Yet mediocrity is something you need to come to terms with because much of your work will fall into this band. You need to dare to try something, and risk landing in the mediocre zone. Mediocrity is your basecamp on the way to a peak of excellence. It’s the mulch from which your best work grows.

If you’re blocked, you probably have a fear of creating mediocre work. Embrace the possibility. Dare to be mediocre.

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3 Responses to “Dare to be mediocre”

Pete Linforth
July 26th, 2009 at 5:56 PM

What do you think about Dennis Sherwoods work on creativity and innovation? Met him a couple of times and I like his systems thinking stuff but not really got into his other stuff so I;d be interestedd to here form anyone who has tried the Dennis Sherwood way…
R.Mutt
July 29th, 2009 at 4:13 PM

Interesting ideas, but is there any actual evidence for any of this?
John
July 29th, 2009 at 5:23 PM

While some of what I write here is based on research into creativity and happiness, this post is based solely on my own experience and witnessing the creative process of my clients.

about this blog

This is the personal blog of John Williams, author of "Screw work, let's play: How to do what you love & get paid for it" to be published by Pearson in June 2010.

Join my mission to play all day and get paid - to do whatever creative, fun stuff we feel like doing and make a good living out of it.