Step into Your “Ordinary”
“I’m just ordinary.”That was the response I got when I asked a client to tell me about herself.
I smiled and said, “Tell me more about your uniquely ordinary life.”
As we talked, I quickly learned she wasn’t ordinary at all. She had incredible experiences, quirky traits she thought were flaws, and passions she had buried deep inside. It reminded me how often we underestimate ourselves. We look at the world around us—at the bold, the accomplished, the ones in the spotlight—and we start to believe that if we don’t fit that mold, we must be…ordinary.
From a young age, we’re conditioned to believe that significance comes from standing out. In school, attention goes to the popular kids, the star athletes, and the valedictorians. In the workplace, resources are poured into the “high potentials” and rising stars. And in society, we celebrate those who triumph over adversity, those with power, and those who make headlines.
Where does that leave the rest of us?
The truth is, ordinary is pretty remarkable.
As a coach, I’ve had the privilege of meeting some extraordinarily “ordinary” people. People who show up for their families, who make a difference in quiet ways, who bring kindness and consistency to their communities. People who have beautiful quirks, unique perspectives, and passions that don’t always make the front page—but matter deeply.
I’ve also seen how hard we can be on ourselves when we don’t feel extraordinary enough. How we judge our ordinary lives as “not quite good enough.” But what if we flipped that script?
What if we embraced our ordinariness as something valuable, something essential?
Marcus Buckingham, a leadership expert, talks about the power of individualization—seeing and appreciating people for their unique qualities, not wishing they were all the same. What if we applied that to ourselves? What if we recognized our own uniqueness, even in the parts that seem small or unnoticed?
I believe that when we are truly authentic, we are all a bit quirky. We are all individually unique. And thank goodness, we are all a bit ordinary. Because ordinary isn’t less than.
Ordinary is human.
Ordinary is real.
And ordinary is exactly what makes you, you.
So here’s the challenge: Moving forward, what action will you take to embrace your uniquely ordinary life?
