welcome to the series of thoughts where i go exploring why people struggle with competence and self-growth, we'll start by looking at whats wrong (subjectively) and then look at how it can be fixed. maybe 5 years down the line i am going to read this series and cringe, but for now, this is what i see happening so let that sink in.
the epidemic of mediocrity
people are paranoid by the notion of progress. hard work, rote learning and all the fancy buzzwords are mistaken for actual growth.
classical example is students taking notes in class, nothing wrong - even i do at times, but imagine noting down every ppt slide knowing that it’ll be shared with you later? why ask for question bank before exams then? and why use chatgpt for assignments, prelims and practicals?
while you do reap the benefits by scoring sky-high grades, but given the time you invested, it was the obvious thing to happen, thus creating a paranoia of "fake progress". only to realise some time later that maybe along with the efforts you put in, you could have invested time somewhere better.
as someone who actually scores above par marks in most of the exam (no brag), my notion is to study the fundamentals not just the question bank. think of it as a long term investment the initial stage of investment is like hell, but knowledge compounds over time. i still remember some of the lessons from my english and hindi textbooks in 10th grade, its because in subjects like these you are supposed to answer based on a personal response, which requires thinking. and it'd be no wonder if majority of the people just learnt the answer from reference books without really analysing it.
the "good enough" mindset
the "over-emphasis on results" is what can be used to define a "good enough" mindset. if "good enough" gets the job done, why go further?
- you get a degree - thats good enough for you to sit for placements
- you can sit back and and have fun in life - thats good enough for the moment
that one professor in college told you that java is the booming language in job market, but did he ever tell you that the job market is f*cked as hell and the concept of "proof of work" is whats booming more than his java knowledge? or tell you that you'd be writing code in notepad on the first day of your job? yeah because mastery is when you put yourself into unfair disadvantages while others move ahead of you right?
the world has had drastic changes ever since your professors graduated, where we as students learn a new language every semester the teachers teaching us have somewhere been left out on the advancements. and its not their fault - they're doing what they are supposed to i.e. complete the prescribed syllabus. the 'prescribed syllabus' doesn't allow them to go out of scope and maybe thats why the lack of open mindedness and a little bit of ego exists, which in turn disables students to explore that particular subject.
This mindset carries over to everything—jobs, relationships and even self-growth. If you’ve ever given up on learning something because it was 'too hard', you've already taken the first step towards becoming stagnant.
people compel themselves to stay happy with what they have in life and thats a great thing But if you stop striving to improve, you’ll eventually envy those who do - even if they’re your own friends or family.
its kind of like the quote that we all heard in 1st grade
"An empty mind is devil's workshop".
cultural flaw
i hate how much the "motivational speakers" on the internet are celebrated by giving them clout and attention, to anyone feeling motivated by these gimmicks should know that this motivational feeling is superficial, you are just scrolling through reels for that pinch of encouragement. let these motivational speakers stay in the game for some time and they'll launch bullsh*t courses to monetise their audience.
imagine naval ravikant or nikhil kamath selling a course to build your first online ecommerce business or give guidance for JEE preparation, thats simply never happening. Real thinkers don’t sell gimmicks. They understand what actual value creation looks like.
people complain about social media but never explore its bright side because they are the one's making it a bad place.
final thoughts
the world doesn’t reward effort alone—it rewards what you truly know and can do. next up, i'll go over why so many people operate like NPCs - reaction without thoughts and desperation for attention. stay tuned!