The Secrets to Becoming Average

If you want to reach the lofty goal of becoming average or even slightly above average in life, you've come to the right place.

Rather than give you a list of tips I am going to tell you a story about a man named Joethebro. Now you probably haven't heard of Joethebro, and that is okay. 

When Joethebro graduated from college he was very enthusiastic about entering the workplace. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was ready to go out and change the world! 

Since Joethebro was very diligent in his studies and did his fair share of internships to boost his resumé, he had a job in no time. It was an entry level position at a sales firm. When he started his job, everything was brand new and exciting. Management told him, "we like to get input from every one of our employees". Joethebro liked that, because he had all sorts of ideas from his experience in college and his internships. 

A couple months into his new job, Joethebro had an idea he thought could help his company out. He figured this was the type of place where his opinion would be valued, so he went to the General Manager and enthusiastically told him about his new idea. The Manager listened to what Joethebro had to say for a few minutes then, before Joethebro could finish he stopped him. He said "I really like your idea, Joethebro, but... you see, we have already thought of that, and it just wouldn't work. It is not in our budget and it would require a complete overhaul of our business structure." Joethebro went away from the conversation discouraged. He thought to himself, "I guess I just need to pay my dues before people will listen to my ideas".  

As time went by at Joethebro's job these type of encounters with management seemed to be pretty routine. It was always the same thing, he would come in with a new idea and management would shoot down his idea and give a list of logical reasons why it wouldn't work. Eventually Joethebro just stopped giving his opinion on things. He figured, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". He was making a decent living after all...

 Joethebro always worked hard and always came to work on time. After a few years management started to take notice so they gave him a promotion. Before long, Joethebro was a Sales Manager with several employees under him. He soon noticed how the young sales executives were very similar to himself a couple of years ago. They would always come to him with new ideas of how to grow the business or reach a new market, but Joethebro knew they were just young and enthusiastic and the ideas they had would never work. So he gently told them why their ideas would not work. He would think to himself, "they just don't understand how things work around here". 

Years came and years went by and Joethebro was very successful as a businessman. He was well respected among his co-workers. No one could really find any reason not to like Joethebro. He never argued with people and he was always polite. Joethebro had a motto he lived by. It was, "go with the flow, never challenge the status quo". This motto had served him well. 

Eventually Joethebro came to the age where it was time to retire. Joethebro had a great retirement savings to carry him through for the rest of his life. He had done it. He lived the American dream and now he was reaping the benefits of his labor. 

Joethebro realized later in life that life is a lot easier if you just go with the flow and don't challenge the status quo. He had everything he wanted in life. 

Or did he...? 

When Joethebro was young he wanted to change the world and he ended up just being part of the world. Sure he sold a few things and made some money, but in the end he was really just average. There was nothing special about Joethebro. Everybody liked Joethebro, but no one really knew Joethebro. He kept his ideas to himself to avoid conflict... and avoid conflict he did. What Joethebro didn't realize is that conflict is what changes the world! 

If you want to truly change the world it takes risk. Some people will not like you and you will hurt some people's feelings along the way, but the alternative is far worse. That is why I believe it is better to do the wrong thing than to do nothing at all.