I write in the personal development/productivity/inspiration space. That’s where I feel I can contribute, but more importantly, it’s what attracts and keeps my attention. But it’s riddled with writing that is both technically bad, and also just wrong-headed and harmful. I was bombarded by two examples of this yesterday. Both articles in The Mission, both with a large quantity of recommends. Both with a despicable underlying premise:
Almost everyone is hopelessly mediocre, and the author of this piece has secrets to help you be one of the awesome few.
Check them out, if you have the time, but my critiques below should provide you with the important points:
Exhibit A:
The middle-ground has all but dissolved, leaving you in one of two positions: among the leading few or mediocre many.
Wow. Thanks for creating a totally false sense of urgency based on utterly not data other than something you briefly felt as you read an interview with Elon Musk. How utterly inspiring!
Success has never been so attainable, thus making many of us spoiled and lazy. But the following eight strategies are intended to shake up your approach, challenging you to work and live at a higher and more conscious level.
There we go, not only are you either one of the few winners or a total loser, but also it’s easy to be a winner — you’re just spoiled and lazy! In what way is this helpful? What is this drivel?! I just can’t imagine how this makes people with real struggles feel as they read this. Blech.
But wait, the very same author who claims that it’s so damned easy and simple to succeed then says the following:
However, life (and chess) is messy and complex, and every situation calls for a more contextual analysis.
Oh, okay. So let me get this straight: If I’m not a billionaire, I’m one of the unwashed masses who will amount to nothing. Also, because it’s easier to succeed than ever, the fact that I’m not a success is due to my being spoiled and lazy. But also, life is messy and complex. Every situation calls for more contextual analysis. However, that won’t stop the author from totally not performing that contextual analysis, and claiming to know that you’re mediocre, and that it’s really easy for you not to be. How transcendent!
And because yesterday must have been Treat Your Readers Like Vermin Day, a similar article that contributes very little to the discussion begins in much the same way.
Exhibit B:
We have so much potential to design the life we deserve. So much potential when we spread our wings. So why are we so mediocre?
Really?! I love this assessment — especially because it has no supporting data, and is also so utterly universal in its claim about everyone. I don’t know about you, but being called mediocre by the author at the beginning of an article makes me not want to give him or her my time. Apparently, over 600 people disagree. I guess I’m just wired differently.
You will never regret any important decision you make if you don’t let fear drive your actions. Every important step of your personal growth and path to personal freedom was built by risk-taking actions. Fear is death.
This is a bold claim, and worrisome. Plenty of people act not out of fear, but out of hunger, ambition, and drive. They take risks — big ones, and end up hurting others. I would hope that these people regretted those actions, and the damage they caused. The author would have you believe otherwise.
I know that the author probably just didn’t think through this very general proclamation, and that’s fine — so long as a bunch of people don’t read it and take it to heart. But I can see that many people did read it, and many of them probably took it to heart. When they do that, they can tend to forget that life is about more than just taking a bunch of risks and clawing your way to the top. Life involves things like caring for others, avoiding being self-centered, and cultivating satisfying personal relationships that aren’t based merely on business pursuits.
I am all for writers pushing and motivating people to reach their full potential, but the writers who wish to do that must remember two things:
- Don’t paint humanity with such a broad brush that you make everyone who’s not “crushing” it look like they’re failures. There are billions of people who are doing their best. Calling them mediocre is insulting, rude, and makes you look like a jackass.
- Life is about more than reaching your own personal business goals. Being a kind, generous, and thoughtful person is a very large part of what life is about.
Whenever I write, I try to keep those things at the front of my mind. Maybe that’s why I’m “mediocre”, right?
Thanks for reading! Please consider subscribing to my once-weekly newsletter — Woolgathering. No spamming, no promotional emails. Just one email per week with a few interesting things to think about.