I was talking to a friend the other day about my automobiles and some upcoming maintenance to keep them running when Phil changed the subject and asked about November’s election.
Who do you like in the Presidential race? I declined a specific answer but said I would be voting for a Constitutionalist.
Phil continued on his rant, saying “I just someone who’s going to be reasonable. A middle-of-the-road guy…”
Isn’t that what most people want? Someone in the middle of the road. But, in reality, you cannot afford to be middle of the road.
If you are middle of the road, you’ll get hit from cars driving on the same road as you as well as the opposing traffic.
If you are middle of the road, you never have the drive to accomplish big things in life, accepting average as acceptable.
If you are middle of the road, you’ll never have life-long health.
Individuals who have lived the most as well as lived successfully have a drive to be the best, or as close to the best they can achieve. There are no middle-of-the-roaders playing in the Olympic games this week. There are no mid-roaders building the best aircraft or houses or cars.
Steve Jobs was anything but a mid-roader. Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton won’t welcome tenth (in a field of 20) with anything but distain. Jack Lalanne didn’t exercise only when he felt like it. Nor did he watch what he fed his body only even days of the month.
Personally, I dislike mid-roaders. I don’t have a problem with those who end up as mid-roaders as we all have our faults, errors and mishaps throughout life. But those who accept to not be extremely driven are like the dreamers who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of the mind.
T.E. Lawrence said it best. “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the day to find it vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
Don’t be a mid-roader in anything you do. Embrace it or not. But never ‘a little bit of this, a little bit of that…’
If you liked my post, go to https://TedLeithart.com to receive more thoughts like this.
