Posts tagged Fool
Does Too Much Self-Esteem Create Mediocrity?
Oct 9th
Do we hand out praise to readily and is it causing an inflated sense of self-esteem within our society making being mediocre, or worse the norm.
I recently looked up the definition self-esteem on the internet and the general consensus of opinion was that it means; self-esteem reflects a person’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. The reason I looked it up was because I was wondering if it was possible to have a high level of self-esteem but in reality you were only mediocre.
Let me explain what I mean; we are bombarded with talent and celebrity (so called) ‘look at me I can make myself look a complete fool and still get paid for it’ shows on our televisions. Obviously the participants must think that they have at least some sort of chance of winning, so they must have a high level of self-esteem. But after watching some of these shows I get the impression that a very high percentage of the participants have little to no talent at all, but if you told them that, they would look at you as if you were a lunatic.
My theory about this is that we heap praise upon people far too easily these days, giving them the impression that they are the bee’s knees, and upping their levels of self-esteem. In schools these days you get a certificate for turning up on most days, so what happens, the child is pleased with themselves, thinks that turning up most days is a high level of achievement and their self-esteem thermostat soars. This is only one example of praising mediocrity, and I don’t want you to get the idea that I think that mediocrity should be punished because I don’t. Give it some compassion, but don’t hand out certificates and cups for it.
Thankfully my television has an off button so I don’t have to watch mediocre celebrities and acts, but it does concern me that we have produced a generation, and seem determined to continue produce future generations, who think that nearly being good at something is all that is necessary to achieve success.
The self-esteem thermostat of the nation is stuck on mediocre and for that to rise even as high as good we have to raise the bar before handing out trophies and certificates to the wannabes and ‘think they cans.’
The end of busy
Jul 15th
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” ~Lao Tzu
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.
Stop being busy and your job is half done.
Think about how busy we are, and how it has become a way of bragging: I’m so busy, I must be important.
“I have a million things to do! I never have time for anything! I can’t slow down — I’m too busy.” This is thought to be a good thing in a society where we must be productive, active, occupied.
But it’s a fool’s game. Busy is simply noise, action without meaning, lots of little unimportant things rather than a few important ones.
Stop being busy. Just decide to stop, today.
Now you’re halfway done. You’ve decided to slow down, and to focus on what’s important. All of a sudden, your schedule clears up, and your to-to list shrinks down to almost nothing.
Now you just have one or two things to do, instead of a million. You clear distractions, and focus.
But how can you stop being busy? It’s a simple change of mindset: you say, I’m not going to be busy anymore. Even if you have little control over your schedule, you can decide that you’ll slow down, and pick the important things to work on, and if necessary, talk to your boss about doing this. If you control your schedule, you can drop all the busywork, and just pick the high-impact tasks.
It might seem impossible, but once you decide to put an End to Busy, you have taken the biggest step.
You can now make time for work you’re passionate about, for work that matters. You can make time for solitude, for creating. You can make time for contemplation, for yourself.
Stop being busy, and your job is half done.
“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.” ~Jane Austen
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