Success, Discipline, and You: The Key to Rising Above the Mediocre Middle

The nature of the world as it is, is that a few people control everything while an outstanding majority are left in the mediocre middle.

In All yardsticks of success, only a few individuals stand out.

If we talk about the richest people, we will think about the Bezos, the Elon, Bill and a few names. When we think of men who command the stage and a crowd, it will be Barack Obama, and who else? The debate will be about Messi and Chris when we think of great footballers. What about great schools? After quoting Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, and a few Ivy League schools, we will ignore the rest as if they don’t exist.

The crowd has not garnered enough respect on many occasions, and it seems when success is brought on board, the crowd is in trouble again.

Only a few individuals occupy positions in the coveted table of top achievers. At the same time, the overwhelming majority seems to be gathering in bundles ready to face the music of strife, want, and misery.

Why is it the way it is?

Here are some reasons why you, or many people are not as successful as they wish to be:

1. Most People Are Not disciplined

Success in every line takes discipline as a non-negotiable Ingredient. Discipline is simply doing what you are supposed to do at the right time, in the right way, and for the right reason.

Most people who show mediocrity in life are not so in their abilities. In reality, they have abilities above average. The missing piece is this rare spice called discipline. They are haphazard with everything except expectations. Were they as meticulous in performance as they are in expecting to reap where they have never sown, they could be way better.

Paul made it plain to the Galatians:

"Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else... Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant" (NLT Galatians 6:4,7).

You don’t have to be a genius to do well in class. You need discipline and diligence in your responsibility as a student.

In the face of a thousand options struggling to waste your time, you must focus on your goal and give it your very best. This does not mean you become an academic robot, you can have leisure when it is possible.

But you will find out that most academic dwarfs spend most of their energy and time on sidewalk issues. They are in the swimming pool when their schedules read Library, and without a scruple, they choose sabbatical over duty.

In fact, if you find your unorthodox means to success, chances are high that you will lose it sooner or later! It takes discipline to gain success, and it takes discipline to handle success.

2. Using the Wrong Formula

Formula is catching up with us again. How important is formula in getting to the coveted spot?

Imagine as a mathematician you decide to ignore BODMAS and Pythagoras’ theorem. What is the probability that you will fall headlong into trouble?

There are principles which guide all business transactions, ventures and pursuits. Wrong formulas will also give an answer, but we call that a wrong answer.

Well, you could say a wrong answer is an answer too, but remember no one spends resources to get a wrong answer.

For instance, in the game of soccer, the rule is that you gain a point by a score in the opponent’s goalpost. But what if a defender decides to score in the nearest goal (their own goal), what do we call that? An own goal right?

If you do that, you may end up doing a hat-trick on your own goal. Guess what will happen? The chances are so high that fans can storm the arena and reduce you to bits and pieces of mincemeat. You must not forget the formula of success in your field.

To learn more about discipline and success, read The Cleaver’s Let’s Respect Formulars

3. Divided attention

One common trait of average people is being jacks of all trades.

They want to be the best singer, the best preacher, and the best tutor all at the same time. While there are a few possibilities in such attempts, the majority are more often than not, overwhelmed.

This happens mostly in the dating scene. I once saw a meme suggesting that what most people want can’t be found in an individual. You are in a serious relationship, but you keep on throwing your eyes elsewhere and so you compare your partner with others.

It is only in the dating scene where presumption works. Just assume that the person you are dating is the most beautiful in the universe and give them all the attention and you will realize that it is not a presumption anymore. You will discover a lot of intriguing things about them you did not know before.

When you have divided attention, you end in the dilemma of serving God and mammon. And in most cases, you end up losing God and dying in the pursuit of mammon. Choose one person, declare them the Queen or King, and build an empire that will withstand the test of time.

Now let’s get back to business. You can never be the best by being everything. Find your purpose and pursue it relentlessly. Better fail a thousand times attempting to succeed in the right assignment rather than succeeding in the wrong assignments.

One of America’s most translated authors wrote this about purpose:

“To every man is given “his work” (Mark 13:34), the work for which his capabilities adapt him, the work which will result in greatest good to himself and to his fellow men, and in greatest honor to God.”

White, E. G. (1903). Education. Pacific Press Publishing Company. p. 138

4. Presumptive Sufficiency

I would define presumptive sufficiency as a feeling confidence without evidence or assurance of being in the right direction.

Most people have a problem overfidence in situations they shouldn’t be confident in in the first place.

Is it not a wonder that you wil find people evidently less judicious wondering why people are not quoting them in speeches or not giving them opportunities to do keynote addresses? Are there situations worse than when boring speakers don’t understand why people doze off on them?

We are so kind to ourselves that we sometimes do so little to become better. At some point we are all guilty of being satisfied with what we are and have and don’t feel the need to be better.

We are so comfortable and complacent in the status quo that we are not moved to improve anything. We define the ability to swim by our comfort in the shallow end, and we enlist ourselves in the imaginary hall of fame of the greatest swimmers of all time.

Don’t face life with Presumptive Sufficiency, you will always need to improve, till death interposes or The Kingdom of Grace is Established.

5. Disobedience to the Principle of Delayed Gratification.

“I want it now”, is a refrain of most average people.

One get’s into a relationship, and they want to be a husband before they are a boyfriend and vice versa. You will see the madness in this when you look at it in the academic world, where a first-year student requests to graduate.

Success demands that you court and marry before you consummate. Success demands that you study, and write your dissertation before you graduate. Success demands that a seed be buried in the loam, and the necessary duties be performed between planting and Harvesting.

If you plant corn, you must wait for three months. If you plant mango trees, you must wait for a few years to start making mango juice. Go ask all those great preachers you admire, the business moguls, the great leaders and scholars, and you will realize that they had to endure the discomfort of waiting.

So, Are You Ready to Break Lose from the Mediocre Middle?

While there are inexplicable outliers in the issue of success and failure, for many it has do with comlacency. Whereas a few people can rightly blame the system and fate, majority are guilt of neglect and slothfulness.

If you can reorganize yourself based on the above Penta Nuggets, you will be surprised by how far you can go in a few years. I wish you all the best as you go through the new phace.