Straight from the Narwhal's Mouth - June

The Expected Narwhal

--- Steven Albers 

     

     Everybody expects so much these days. Especially now that the world is more connected and interlinked than it ever has been, only the best is acceptable; whether it be in the music industry, the sports industry, or even the toothpick city building industry (You can’t hold a candle to this guy... Seriously though, a candle would burn that sublime masterpiece to the ground). But I digress.

     Technology – not just the internet, but everything electronic – bridges the gap from city to city; society to society, and now it’s simply not good enough to be "okay" at something. In most cases, it’s not even good enough to be "great" at that something. Think you sang a fantastic cover of "Hey, Soul Sister"? Tough, 1,500 people have done it better. Think your 110 MPH tennis serve is fast enough? Don’t look now, but even a lot of high school players can do that.

     There are billions of people vying for a very selective elite group atop each thing in life worth competing for. Some believe that this raises expectations because of the sweet, sweet sensation of being the very best; however one might also argue that these colossally high standards really lower peoples’ expectation of you. If little Milos is only okay at Improv, why challenge him to be better? You know he’s never going to be as good as Colin Mochrie, so you might as well funnel him into something more boring and mainstream where being "only okay" is expected.

     Raising the bar certainly improves quality; however it also drastically decreases a person’s chance of success in that respective field. And as time goes on things only get tougher. So what do you do?

     The answer is simple, but the application is what stumps a vast majority of the world: get better. It’s possible to mimic, and even surpass, the silky smooth vocal prowess of J Biebs, it just takes time and determination – a topic to be discussed on a later date. Life’s expectations of you are getting increasingly higher, but that doesn’t mean you can’t size up to them.