Well, you can be average.  Someone out there is.  But that person isn’t the top of their field.  They aren’t the one who gets interviewed or profiled or talked about.

Average is safe.  It’s boring.  There’s no interest in average.

And if you want to succeed in a creative field you need to be other than average.  You need to be different.  You need to produce a product that no one else can produce.  You need to share a unique vision on the world.

If you do that?  If you find a way to be unique?

Someone will hate what you do.  Someone will tell you that it’s too much.

You will make people uncomfortable.

They will criticize who you are based on what you do.  They will criticize your skill or ability.

Average is safe.  Average is avoidance of conflict.

But average will not let you succeed.

Being other than average may not let you succeed either.

There’s no guarantee that anyone else will like your unique view of the world.

But if you never try, you’ll never know.

Don’t be average.  You can’t afford to be if you want to succeed.

This post was inspired by a quote from Seth Godin’s blog the other day:

“Our best work can’t possibly appeal to the average masses, only our average work can.”

So true.