12 things you can do to live a less mediocre life …

No one I know of started out with the intention of living a mediocre life.

But it is something many of us learn to do at a young age. Pastor Mark Batterson describes how from childhood we may learn to settle in for a mediocre life in his book, “In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day”:

For more than thirty years, Gordon MacKenzie worked at Hallmark. Along with challenging corporate normalcy at the card company, MacKenzie did a lot of creativity workshops for elementary schools. In those, MacKenzie would ask the kids up front: “How many artists are there in the room?”

The pattern of responses never varied. In the first grade, the entire class waved their arms like maniacs; every child was an artist. In the second grade, about half of the kids raised their hands. In the third grade, he’d get about ten out of thirty kids. And by the time he got to the sixth grade, only one or two kids would tentatively and self-consciously raise their hands.

All the schools he went to seemed to be involved in “the suppression of creative genius.” They weren’t doing it on purpose, but society’s goal is to make us less foolish. As MacKenzie says, “From the cradle to the grave, the pressure is on: Be normal.”

After his research, MacKenzie came to this conclusion: “There was a time — perhaps when you were very young — when you had at least a fleeting notion of your own genius and were just waiting for some authority figure to come along and validate it for you. But none ever came.”

And so off into a mediocre life we wander.

That really isn’t the kind of life Jesus wants for us: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life,” John 10:10.

So if you find yourself living a mediocre life, here’s some encouraging news: You can change that regardless of the circumstances of your life!

You can decide to make changes and course corrections that will result in your living a less mediocre life. However, a single blog post is really inadequate to speak to something as deep as this subject. But I can share with you a dozen different tidbits that could make your life a little more fruitful, or a little more productive, or a little more fulfilling … basically, less mediocre. Consider these dozen ideas:

Understanding — and caring about — life beyond your immediate bubble. Some years ago, while visiting someone in a different state, I listened as the person explained that they live a “a pretty simple life,” nothing much beyond their children, going to work, and going to church on Sundays.

There’s a big difference between “simple,” which can be uncomplicated and beautiful, and too narrow. When we make life revolve only around ourselves and those in our household, you’re walling out most of life! As fascinating as you and your family may be, and as fulfilling as life with immediate family can be, if you don’t make yourselves part of the much, much bigger world, you’re asking for a mediocre existence.

Making friends. As children and teens, there are few things more important to us than making friends, and maintaining our friendships. We allow that to change as adults. We allow many other things, like careers and events on a calendar to crowd out the lasting value of relationships. A popular meme these days states something like, “Don’t make life about accumulating things, make it about accumulating experiences.” Close, but not quite. Make it about relationships and real, rich connections with people and you’ll have a far less mediocre life.

Learn the skill of how to keep things fresh. Some tradition can be wise and beneficial for us; too much can be stagnating and stifling. When working with some churches that consider themselves to be creative and innovative, they were shocked to see how stuck in doing the same things they were when I showed them their annual calendars had the exact same things planned every year. The events may have had a different theme, but they were doing the exact same things year after year after decade after decade. We can learn to keep things fresh by simply mixing some truly new and different experiences or events in with traditions that are healthy and beneficial. Instead of driving to work the same route every day of every year, mix it up. Try a different restaurant. Go to a different vacation destination. Try a different fashion. It’s fine to have some of the same things in your life because you’re comfortable with them, but mix things up every now and then so that life doesn’t become an unyielding mold that unknowningly becomes a rut, or worse, a grave.

Be a lifelong learner. One of the best things you can do for your mental health — even more specifically, for your brain health — is to never stop learning. There are endless ways of doing this … read a book on a different subject, discover a new podcast, take a class, join a club, take up a new hobby, learn a new sport, take up gardening, and so on. The vastness of this world and life are such you could never “learn it all” in a thousand lifetimes. You’ll discover that if you foster curiosity and keep learning, life will be richer and much less mediocre.

Foster acquaintances into connections. We miss out on so many friendships we could have because we never do much with the acquaintances we make. At the least, it can be beneficial to you and to others if you learn to at least foster more of your acquaintances into “connections” — perhaps not full “friendships,” but you maintain a connection that is some degree beyond an initial acquaintance. If the vast majority of your acquaintances pass from your life after initial contact, you’re asking for a more mediocre life.

Nurturing connections. It doesn’t take much effort or energy to nurture an acquaintance into a connection. “Follow” or “friend” them on social media for a simple means of ongoing, albeit occasional, interaction. Take them out to lunch or dinner once or twice a year. Have an occasional cup of coffee with them over a year. Even an occasional phone call or Zoom meet up are easy ways to maintain a connection with someone of interest to you.

Seeing and taking advantage of opportunities. We tend to think “opportunity” are just these major, life-changing events that come only a few times in a lifetime. The fact is, life is riddled with more opportunities than we often take note of. Just an opportunity to say a kind word to someone, to say thank you, to encourage someone, to let the other car go first, to be considerate, to be kind, etc. Those opportunities abound daily. Teaching yourself to be more alert to opportunities, and then to take advantage of them, can make your life fuller and richer, and can bless others.

Creating opportunities when none seem to be presenting themselves. There are some people who lift their lives way above the mediocre, and even beyond the ordinary, by not settling only for opportunities that come their way but actively work at creating opportunities when none are immediately presenting themselves. A simple example of this is found in the Bible in 1 Samuel 14. Jonathan was the son of King Saul, who faced ongoing war with the Philistines. Jonathan was what some today would call a “mover and shaker,” someone who created opportunity when none were immediately forthcoming. For example:

“One day Jonathan said to his armor bearer, ‘Come on, let’s go over to where the Philistines have their outpost.’ But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing. Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron. Among Saul’s men was Ahijah the priest, who was wearing the ephod, the priestly vest. Ahijah was the son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord who had served at Shiloh. No one realized that Jonathan had left the Israelite camp. To reach the Philistine outpost, Jonathan had to go down between two rocky cliffs that were called Bozez and Seneh. The cliff on the north was in front of Micmash, and the one on the south was in front of Geba. ‘Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,’ Jonathan said to his armor bearer. ‘Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!’ “Do what you think is best,’ the armor bearer replied. ‘I’m with you completely, whatever you decide,'” 1 Samuel 14:1-7.

The Lord did help Jonathan, as he struck out to create an opportunity …

“‘All right, then,’ Jonathan told him. ‘We will cross over and let them see us. If they say to us, “Stay where you are or we’ll kill you,” then we will stop and not go up to them. But if they say, “Come on up and fight,” then we will go up. That will be the Lord’s sign that he will help us defeat them.’ When the Philistines saw them coming, they shouted, ‘Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of their holes!’ Then the men from the outpost shouted to Jonathan, ‘Come on up here, and we’ll teach you a lesson!’ ‘Come on, climb right behind me,’ Jonathan said to his armor bearer, ‘for the Lord will help us defeat them!’ So they climbed up using both hands and feet, and the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed those who came behind them. 14 They killed some twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over about half an acre.” 1 Samuel 14:8-14.

When you’re courageous enough to try creating opportunities when none seem apparent, you’ll have anything but a mediocre life!

Do what you say you will do (when and how you said you would do it). You might be surprised at just how many people say they will do something — even be specific about when and how they will do it — but never carry through with what they say. When life is more “talk” than “walk,” when you fail to do what you say you will do, plan on a mediocre life.

Respond, and in a timely manner. Unanswered questions. Unanswered, emails. Unanswered texts. Phone messages never responded to. Even vague mumblings to conversations. Many people so often fail to respond to many of the people attempting to communicate with them. Or, if they do respond, it’s so much later the moment has passed. Be fully present and fully engaged with other people so that you respond to them, and in a timely manner. That simple act can make your interactions fuller and more consequential, which can make them less mediocre.

Learn to live an uncluttered life. The less cluttered your life is, the more intentional you have to be with what you have. You’ll be amazed at how that heightened intentionality can make life less mediocre. As mentioned previously, simple can be beautiful.

Make the Bible the lens through which you look at and discern everything. The more you see and understand the world, especially the people in it, through the truth God provides, it actually becomes hard to make something mediocre of that!

You don’t have to have extraordinary life circumstances to have a rich, full life. Simple decisions, attitudes, and actions can make life far more than a mediocre experience. In fact, I’m sure you could add several ideas to this list. Go ahead and experiment for yourself, I think you’ll like the outcome.

Scotty