Rant: Being Average Isn’t Good Enough

I have big news.  Arnold Schwarzenegger did steroids.  Oh wait, that’s right.  No one cares.  But have you ever wondered why?

It’s because his physique and accomplishments are, what we believe to be, unobtainable.  We can admire him, just like we can admire Olympians. But the thought of them popping performance enhancing substances akin to your grandma tossing Jelly Bellies into her mouth wouldn’t be surprising.

Do grandma's really eat jelly beans, or am I just making it up?

But what if – say – John Berardi, Nate Green, John Romaniello, and Martin Berkhan used steroids?

Shocked?  Yes.  Betrayed?  Hell yes.

That’s because we believe in them.  Or at the very least, we want to believe that what they do and preach is obtainable – even by our measly selves.  We like them because we think they are average.

Yet them, and their accomplishments, are outliers.  Put Romaniello next to a bodybuilder and he turns into a child.  But he’s still one jacked dude compared to normal folk.  Berkhan is a ways away from a professional bodybuilder.  But his body fat level is still astonishing.

In every way, those guys are above average.  Yet we refuse to think of them in that way, because we believe that one day we can stand beside them.  We want to do what they have done.

Even more interesting?  They are average.  Green loves beer.  Romaniello enjoys peanut butter and jelly.  Berkhan downs cheesecake like a champ.  This just fuels our average desires.

But realize that what they have done takes hard work, motivation, and dedication.  You know those two things I’ve been preaching?  Showing up and doing work?  Yeah, kind of like that.

It’s easy to slack off and drink the sixth beer, make the extra sandwich, or eat the last slice of cake.  Your average idols do it all the time, right?

But, really, they aren’t average.  You are.  And to become an above average, yet average, idol, you’re going to have to put your head down and do some unaverage things.