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Fitness column: Don’t accept average

Sandro Torres

Have you ever gone to the car wash and gotten an average job where you can still find dirty spots? Or have you gone to a fancy, nice-looking restaurant where the service and the food are average as well? What about going to the doctor and getting mediocre service?

While it’s true that I have found many amazing doctors that exceed my expectations and visit many restaurants that wow me, and have met professionals who pay attention to the smallest details, I also have found many of the average type.

Average has become standard. Many people are fine with average. They don’t ask for more. They have become comfortable. Their lives become a reflection. It is like an epidemic. Since average is the baseline, most people do average in their lives as well.



We have become a society of average. We want the best, but we deliver average. We want quality, but we settle for mediocracy. We aim for high expectations and goals, but we become less ambitious, and as everything gets harder, we start aiming lower.

We make excuses not to become excellent, deliver quality and achieve high goals. We let our dreams die because we don’t want to get out of our comfort zone.



Average is good, I guess, for those who want average. If you want to have an average life, you have that right, and I think you should continue to do average in your life. However, don’t expect extraordinary in your life if you don’t do extraordinary. Extraordinary is only for those who do extraordinary.

You want a nice body? How about good health? A united family? How about a better career? Or better friends? Pay the price. Become extraordinary.

My job is to do extraordinary. I love getting out of my comfort zone. I like to be challenged and continue progressing because I know average will deliver only average. I want more than what I expect, and I want to deliver more than people expect from me. Not because I want to be liked but because it is my duty. It makes me happy, and I make a change.

My life is not ordinary. Every day I do something different. I do something that scares me. I overload myself. I get in trouble to get problems to fix so I can progress and improve and be able to help. I have goals, and I aim high, and I don’t stop until I get there. Aiming lower is not an option. Why I should live an average life when that does not bring excitement? Why do I have the possibility to dream when I can’t make those dreams come true?

I once was average, and it was not fulfilling. Now I’ll die pursuing my dream instead of settling for average. And the reason is I have fun getting stressed enough to fight for my goal, to learn more, to help more, to create more, to be in shape, to change lives, to make a positive impact, to be extraordinary. I will spend energy learning rather than being ignorant, exercising rather than developing a disease or becoming dependent, losing weight rather than carrying extra weight, helping rather than standing by watching, just doing it rather than complaining.

The truth is that I’m afraid just like everyone else. I have fears, but I’m more afraid of dying wanting than just making it happen. I’m more afraid of being dependent, out of shape or sick than of eating healthy and exercising. I’m more afraid to stop being me than to be criticized. I’m more afraid to stay on the couch watching TV than to get my work done. I’m more afraid to live an average life than to live an extraordinary one. I’m probably more afraid than most people. What are you afraid of?

I take imperfect actions and fix them as I go along. I deliver quality and extraordinary because that is my goal. I prefer to be proactive and do something about my life than hope destiny will change my life. I create my destiny.

If you are tired of getting average from others, become extraordinary. It is a lot easier to change yourself than change everyone else. Maybe you have had many pleasures in life. Now experience the pleasure of extraordinary, and you will see how the world will start to claim you as an essential human being. You will spend the same energy anyways.

Sandro Torres is owner of Custom Body Fitness in Carbondale, author of the book “Lose Weight Permanently” and a Watch Fit columnist. His column appears on the second Tuesday of the month in Body & More.


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