The world's most Okay-est expert!

If there is one thing I've learned as a professional musician and entertainer, it would be this one thought:  For everyone at your level of expertise, there are 150 people better than you.

This can be quite the depressing statistic. It kind of is, actually (made up, too). I would be amiss if I didn't tell you that I've experienced this truth firsthand.

One of my band's sit-in bass players came to visit with us the other day.  He is a very nice gentleman and we had a wonderful afternoon reminiscing and picking some bluegrass together in our front room.  As he was leaving he turned to my sister and said "You deserve the best!" He turned to my older brother and said "You have the best!" He turned to my younger brother and said "You ARE the best!" Finally, he turned to me and said "Great sideburns." As another example, I was fortunate enough to play some music in Nashville, Tennessee this past summer and I had the honor of meeting some of my top favorite pickers in the industry while I was there.  While they sat in the audience, I played with every ounce of gusto I had.  Still, something in the back of my mind saw them sitting and staring at me. Judging every stinking note I played.  They heard every mistake.  I'm sure they laughed at my playing when they got home.

None of this bothers me that much, however.  I find that if there are people better than me, I find something that I'm better at than them.  Sounds kind of spiteful, I know.  Here's how it works:

Friend: I won 1st place in international guitar contests 82 times in a row.
Me: I could probably do that too, but I chose to get my second degree black belt instead.
Friend: My voice range spans 5 octaves and I'm a champion yodeler. 
Me: I had an Associate Degree when I graduated high school.
Friend: I had all of my wisdom teeth pulled without anesthesia and I was eating a caramel apple by that afternoon.
Me: I took care of my wisdom teeth and still have them.

Let me just say that the above conversation is completely fictional; none of my friends would listen to insufferable bragging like that.  I guess the message (yes, there is one, so stop laughing) would be to remember that if you are the best you can be, it doesn't matter that somebody's better than you.

So here's the remedy: Think about it as excelling in mediocrity!  You're much better at being "sort of good" than your friend!  You are the greatest mediocre person you know!  Isn't that great? Now you have something to brag about!