I got in the elevator with a stranger the other day. Quite a harrowing experience in itself, to be sure. He looked a little bummed out, for reasons unknown. He opened with the standard “how’s it goin’?”, but with such a dejected tone that I was caught off guard.

“Not bad, yourself?” I replied.

He hemmed and hawed a moment, then said something so significant that I tweeted it as soon as I could so I wouldn’t forget.

“Some people aspire to be average.”

Perhaps it was just the mutterings of an odd guy with a few life problems. But at that moment, it struck me as one of the most kick-in-the-pants inspirational statements I’ve ever heard. Sort of a “don’t end up middle aged and mediocre like me”.

I’m trying to aspire to something above average.