Why are we talking about leading an average life? Don’t we all want to be successful and come in the top 1 percentile? Well, that is true. This is going to sound pretty harsh, but the possibilty of you making it and becoming crazy rich is quite low (not zero though!). This article is for those who are struggling to achieve average success and barely living an average life!
In the past few years, I have realized that the best way to lead an average, and slighlty better, life is to do the approximately right thing at the approximately right time. What are “right things” and how do you figure them out? That’s easy. Wherever you are in your life right now, there are some things that you ought to do, some bare minimum things that are expected of you. If you are college, it’s making sure you finish your assignments on time and get good grades. If you are in a job, it’s making sufficient progress and delivering outputs. If you are a PhD, it’s doing research and getting published! I believe as long as you satisify even the bare minimum, you would already be ahead of the crowd.
Slow and steady wins the race. By doing the bare minimum (and some more) everyday and leading an average life everyday, you will eventually be much ahead as compared to others. This is because most people fail to do even the bare minimum everyday. You need to be consistent, that’s the key. It’s fine if you miss on some days, or are late, or don’t do exactly the right thing. That’s why the heading says to do “approximate right thing at approximate right time”. Approximation is better than perfection!