The vast majority of us go through life doing only what we have to in order to maintain a status quo; i.e., we do just enough to hold on to what we feel we need in order to get by. Our preferred path is the one that provides the greatest pleasure while offering us the least resistance. The unseen "reward" for identifying with this unconscious inclination -- the result of our refusal to struggle with the will of this lower nature -- is what most of us have become, most of the time: mediocre.