Mediocre.

You have to come first.

You need to win this tournament.

You need to top the class this time.

We’ve all heard these sentences sometime in our lives. The push, the inspiration, the challenge everybody gives us to succeed, become No. 1. That’s the goal, isn’t it? To come out on top, to be better than everybody. That is what everyone around us and we ourselves aspire to be. The first place is where all of us want to be.

But some of us are born different. We never top. But we always run the race.

Some of us our good at drawing but never win that art competition. Some of us can sing well but never get a chance to be the lead singer. Some of us can dance well, yet never catch everybody’s attention in a club. Some write well but never get published. Some of us are always two steps away from that No. 1 position.

In the rat race of achieving success, we often forget what matters. We give up if we fail to achieve that no. 1 criteria. We lose all hope. We lose our will, our interest in a particular talent we possess just because someone else is better at it. While striving for being the best is never a negative trait, losing all hope after not being in the first place, is one. Everybody will tell you how great and important it is to be the best, nobody tells you that it is okay to not be one.

Remember, there’s only ‘one’ first place. Not everybody in the world is going to earn that first place. As demotivating as it seems, it’s okay to not be the no. 1 at what you do.

All you need to do is be the best version of yourself. A version that is better than your last. You are all the competition you need. Not Sharma ji ka beta. If today, you did better than your yesterday’s self, you have succeeded. You have won at life. The constant assurance we need to be better than everybody else will be our downfall. The unhealthy competition that festers in each one of us, is fed to us since our birth is a curse that we willingly continue to cast upon ourselves. I want to be better than everybody. Instead, I want to better than I am. That’s it. That’s the mantra you need to keep your head clear and focused on your goals. While competition can help us push ourselves, it is not the only way.

Remove the sapling from the constraints of the tiny pot, plant it in the soil, and see it blossom into a mighty tree. It is only when you remove the constraints of unhealthy competition can you flourish in your zone. Notice it yourselves: you do better when you are alone, in the absence of watchful, judgemental eyes of the society. You dance more freely, you draw your feelings, you sing your heart out. You reach your true potential. And then, the No. 1 Medal stops seeming so important, so crucial. It becomes mundane compared to your own reality.

It is only then, that being ordinary, mediocre, not being the best becomes obsolete. It loses meaning. No. 3 or 5 or 100 doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that your ordinary, is the best version of your ordinary.

After all, there is something extraordinary about being ordinary, isn’t it?