# Would you rather be happy and mediocre or achieve greatness while miserable?



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Would you rather live have a mediocre, undistinguished career forgotten by history but have a happy life, or achieve greatness in history but be miserable for all it?


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

NO! I MUST BE ORIGINAL!!! (this is the Dostoevsky antagonist complex)

Actually, being happy isn't such a mediocre consequence of life. If I will be a mediocre flutist who will fade in history because I don't get anywhere, not even a job, so be it. I am happy. As in right now, not in the future.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

happy and mediocre, which is probably my current life


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Happy and mediocre, it doesn't seem bad at all from my perspective of being miserable and mediocre. 

Just kidding, I write this post while standing on stormy sea shore, the wild waves crush under my feet as I gaze into the distance, thinking that some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them and that I belong to the last ones, then I frown mysteriously and turn my back the the raging element, cover myself with cloak and continue to follow the path of my dismal destiny.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

I equate "greatness" in the eyes of your contemporaries with celebrity, and that can be painful for some, if not everybody. However, I don't think there is any reason to say that being good at what you do and being miserable always come together.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Can't speak to the stated options, being happy and superior - long as I don't think about politics, or plutocrats, or, or, p-p-p-p-p


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## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

I don't have any desire to be remembered. Being mediocre would be a step up for me, so I'd take that in a heartbeat. Happy would be nice.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Happy and mediocre definitely. I don't need too much to be happy. I just like food, learning things, looking at animals, music and being with my girlfriend and my family. 

Oh and youtube.

Yup, don't need too much more than that.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I caught the wrong option on my touch screen phone - d'oh. I meant to say happy and mediocre but my fingers betrayed me :lol:

To preserve the integrity of the poll, I suppose I could make it work at a push if it were a positive kind of greatness of some kind.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I've already acheived the first option, so why shoot for option number two?


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

I'd rather be miserable!


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Happy with greatness.


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

"Greatness" is ill-defined in this context...cannot choose without additional clarification!


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

The problem for me is that if I perceive I'm mediocre, then probably I would feel unhappy.
But, if I perceive I'm great, probably I would think that I'm missing something; that I think everything is ok because I'm not aware of some crucial detail. So, at the end, I would think I perceive I'm great because I'm a mediocre, incapable of seeing what's wrong. Finally, I would be unhappy then because I perceive I'm mediocre.
So, both options lead to unhappiness in my case.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Couchie said:


> Would you rather live have a mediocre, undistinguished career forgotten by history but have a happy life, or achieve greatness in history but be miserable for all it?


None of us here have mentioned being currently the second...? Looks like a happy group on TC.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

mstar said:


> None of us here have mentioned being currently the second...? Looks like a happy group on TC.


Well, I fulfil the second part of the second option. I'm one step of greatness, then!.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

For me there's no question - happy and mediocre. I suspect that even if others viewed me as great, I would not view myself that way.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Obviously we'd all like to be happy and not mediocre, but that wasn't the choice given.

So, *happy & mediocre*, which I mostly am anyway. 
I remember asking myself this same question when I was twenty & revising for my university finals. I'd been reading the tortured, jealous letters of Keats and up to then had quite fancied making my way as a poet. Suddenly, the stakes seemed too high...
:lol:


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Greatness to _me_ would mean that I would always be one to think of others and go out of my way to the benefit of others and be remembered for it. I would rather other people have a happy life if it meant I do not.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Does achieving greatness but being miserable come with a hefty cash incentive?


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Couac Addict said:


> Does achieving greatness but being miserable come with a hefty cash incentive?


Yes, but all that hefty cash is spent on honouring you by concerts, festivals and other actions taking place just after you die miserably and in poverty, without any honours.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Never aim for the mediocre,because you're bound to attain it then.
Aim for greatness altho' you might end up mediocre---but at least you tried.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

If I were confident already during my lifetime, like Wagner, that my life's work, whatever it is, will live through the centuries and inspire countless other people, maybe I would go with the second. But most great (truly great, as opposed to mere celebrities) people, at least when it comes to composers, did not have such assurance. Therefor I would go with the first.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Those who voted for the second option have clearly never been miserable....


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Klavierspieler said:


> Those who voted for the second option have clearly never been miserable....


I think they did that because everybody had chosen to be merrily mediocre, so they thought they'd nick the greatness from below our noses.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Where is the "None Of The Above" third choice?

Personally, I like / feel compelled to do things really well [whatever it is I choose / sign up to do] or do not do them at all. Happiness does not enter into that formula; if one is readily and fully engaged in the doing (of just about anything), that is a kind of "happy."


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

moody said:


> Never aim for the mediocre,because you're bound to attain it then.
> Aim for greatness altho' you might end up mediocre---but at least you tried.


Aim for the highest -- even the greats did that, and many would tell you they did not fully get there.

Aim lower, end up lower still.

That is the nature of this particular beast.


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## Alydon (May 16, 2012)

Happy and mediocre suits me - let people like Beethoven achieve greatness whose downside is their lives weren't for the most part happy - but at least we can enjoy the fruits of their labours!


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Klavierspieler said:


> Those who voted for the second option have clearly never been miserable....


Hopefully that is true, though being mediocre and happy is a paradox to my nature. So naturally, I am pleasantly miserable when it comes to work - I don't often go to sleep, and I am at school until 21:00. I don't really know what else to do, and after all the work that I do, I don't even have the highest average in my world civ class. Why? Because one quiz below 100% brought my average down to a 100.2. Highest is 100.3. I HAD 101.2 AVERAGE. WE ARE SIMPLY NOT ALLOWED TO MESS UP! Not once! Not even on a bad day, not a single 90%, even if we write 13 pages for 5 questions, know all the material, and are working ourselves so that we go to sleep in the morning!! This makes no sense. I have that class next (right now in study), and oh.... And yes, it's misery when you know what derealization symptoms and migraines are. I can't help it.

Anyway I vote the second option. Being mediocre is simply not for me.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

mstar said:


> Hopefully that is true, though being mediocre and happy is a paradox to my nature. So naturally, I am pleasantly miserable when it comes to work - I don't often go to sleep, and I am at school until 21:00. I don't really know what else to do, and after all the work that I do, I don't even have the highest average in my world civ class. Why? Because one quiz below 100% brought my average down to a 100.2. Highest is 100.3. I HAD 101.2 AVERAGE. WE ARE SIMPLY NOT ALLOWED TO MESS UP! Not once! Not even on a bad day, not a single 90%, even if we write 13 pages for 5 questions, know all the material, and are working ourselves so that we go to sleep in the morning!! This makes no sense. I have that class next (right now in study), and oh.... And yes, it's misery when you know what derealization symptoms and migraines are. I can't help it.
> 
> Anyway I vote the second option. Being mediocre is simply not for me.


But getting great grades isn't necessarily greatness, isn't it? There are probably 'greater' things you could be working on. I'd say, relax a little. As you've figured out yourself, this isn't good for you.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Yes, mstar, do take care now. It's good that you are motivated to do well, but you should be in it for the long haul, and that means building in a bit of relaxation, just as Cheyenne says. 

I say this from my experience as a student - when I always took a walk outside on days when I was otherwise busy doing essays & exam preparation - and as a teacher, where I saw some sad examples of students who did too much and fell ill or had crises of nerves. In the end, they didn't do themselves justice. 

It is so important to 'pace yourself' and get enough rest and diversion. The mind learns more efficiently in that way, so it's 'enlightened self-interest'. 

Best wishes & Qapla, as the Klingons say.
-------------(success!)


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

mstar said:


> Hopefully that is true, though being mediocre and happy is a paradox to my nature. So naturally, I am pleasantly miserable when it comes to work - I don't often go to sleep, and I am at school until 21:00. I don't really know what else to do, and after all the work that I do, I don't even have the highest average in my world civ class. Why? Because one quiz below 100% brought my average down to a 100.2. Highest is 100.3. I HAD 101.2 AVERAGE. WE ARE SIMPLY NOT ALLOWED TO MESS UP! Not once! Not even on a bad day, not a single 90%, even if we write 13 pages for 5 questions, know all the material, and are working ourselves so that we go to sleep in the morning!! This makes no sense. I have that class next (right now in study), and oh.... And yes, it's misery when you know what derealization symptoms and migraines are. I can't help it.
> 
> Anyway I vote the second option. Being mediocre is simply not for me.


I think you are doing a great job. Just don't kill yourself in the process. We need more people like that: hard-working and purpose-driven (I wish I had more of those qualities in me too). It is after all, those qualities that have brought our civilization so far forward, not "relaxing".

What do you study, by the way?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Yes, as I said, it *is* good to want to do well, and to do that, one must work hard. But one does well *over time* by overseeing one's journey and resting where it will make one more efficient.
If you carry on *obsessively*, that is less efficient and you will not do as well. 
Exercise and fresh air help the effort. Cheyenne and I aren't advocating laziness.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

When 'relaxing' includes a basic necessity such as sleep, it's hardly opposed to progress.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Cheyenne said:


> When 'relaxing' includes a basic necessity such as sleep, it's hardly opposed to progress.


Newton worked weeks barely eating and sleeping only the minimum amount.
Some people (like mstar, and I would include myself) actually feel happy working in that way. It's a dangerous game, but it can be incredibly rewarding. At least in my case, it was incredibly rewarding.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

aleazk said:


> Newton worked weeks barely eating and sleeping only the minimum amount.
> Some people (like mstar, and I would include myself) actually feel happy working in that way. It's a dangerous game, but it can be incredibly rewarding. At least in my case, it was incredibly rewarding.


Yes, but mstar apparently _doesn't_ feel happy working in that way - she's been complaining of health problems in other threads, and here she is anguished about going down very slightly in her marks.
Maybe this should all go on the 'how hard do you work' thread? It seems a bit 'off topic' here.


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

It is hard to see how one can rationally choose to be miserable, unless like COAG they are sacrificing their own happiness for the greater good.

Have people who voted to be great & miserable really meant they wish to be great despite being poor & unrecognised, because the happiness gained from being great overcomes the attendant poverty?


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Wood said:


> It is hard to see how one can rationally choose to be miserable, unless like COAG they are sacrificing their own happiness for the greater good.
> 
> Have people who voted to be great & miserable really meant they wish to be great despite being poor & unrecognised, because the happiness gained from being great overcomes the attendant poverty?


The options are ridiculously dichotomic, a caricature of the actual topic in debate. Knowing the sense of humor of the OP, certainly it was intended in that way. I'm only following the joke by voting one of those options. Of course, I don't want misery. But, nevertheless, it's indeed true that I'm willing to sacrifice personal comfort in the short/medium term in order to achieve something more interesting than mediocrity.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Ingélou said:


> Yes, but mstar apparently _doesn't_ feel happy working in that way - she's been complaining of health problems in other threads, and here she is anguished about going down very slightly in her marks.
> Maybe this should all go on the 'how hard do you work' thread? It seems a bit 'off topic' here.


Well, it's certainly not the most pleasant process in terms of mundane comfort. Only mstar can say if she's happy or not. Despite all of her complains, she seems quite focused and full of enthusiasm to me.
I know you probably think I'm being irresponsible for giving this kind of advice; but if mstar is like me (and I think she probably is), then giving this kind of advice is the most recommended thing in my experience.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

How about mediocre _and_ miserable? I've been owning this turf for going on 24 years, baby!


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Please read my signature
A quote from a person that has left a great legacy
She had some happy moments, in her short life, but also great misery

Strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Cheyenne said:


> But getting great grades isn't necessarily greatness, isn't it? There are probably 'greater' things you could be working on. I'd say, relax a little. As you've figured out yourself, this isn't good for you.


I want to have power and a say in the world. This is my job now, so I'm working on it as hard. Doing all I can do now and more is all that I literally can do. I agree, though, I am hindered....


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Wood said:


> It is hard to see how one can rationally choose to be miserable, unless like COAG they are sacrificing their own happiness for the greater good.
> 
> Have people who voted to be great & miserable really meant they wish to be great despite being poor & unrecognised, because the happiness gained from being great overcomes the attendant poverty?


I find that attaining greatness does not nearly always reap the seemingly beneficial "happiness." Rather, being great in itself _is_ working and perhaps sacrificing for the greater good. I am not poor, nor do I plan to be, though there are certainly more ways of being "poor" - as in with happiness. I often ask myself what I want besides greatness (and faith/God), and there is nothing. That is pain enough, so much so that I cannot truly say that I am happy more than once a fortnight.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

I stand in awe of your determination :tiphat:


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