Caution is the path to mediocrity

What American author Frank Herbert had to say about a cautious life.

Frank Herbert was a noted American science fiction author. His most famous work, Dune, has sold millions of copies.

The book and its sequels contained many pithy quotes. These reflected Herbert’s own outlook on life as well as those of the characters in the books.

The quote below is of relevance to those familiar with Dune as it sums up the attitude of the main character and his drive. It also has implications for the rest of us.

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Caution is the path to mediocrity. Gliding, passionless mediocrity is all that most people think they can achieve.

—Frank Herbert

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What Frank Herbert meant

Caution is normal. In some circumstances it may be sensible and advisable. But as a life strategy it fails us. It is the path to decline and stagnation. A cautious life leads to a mediocre existence.

Caution may have a place in our lives, but as a guiding mechanism it leads to failure. It cannot be used to navigate life.

We must be wary of hiding behind caution or being overly cautious. It feels good in some circumstances. It is easy to fall back on. That way nothing changes and risk is avoided.

For anything that triggers anxiety this may be appealing. We can find our lives dominated by this passionless void of emotion or feeling, where the waters are kept calm by avoidance.

A lifetime avoiding risk is a lifetime of unproductive behaviours. These habits inculcate a sense of powerlessness which can be fatal.

We all need battles to fight and win. Finding ways to avoid the fight deprives us of these opportunities and the growth that accompanies them.

A sense of caution is natural. Because of this many feel the mediocre life it creates is all that is possible. The comfort and naturalness of this means it can elude scrutiny so the resulting mediocrity it produces is all the harder to diagnose.

The need for carefulness seems to come from nowhere or perhaps everywhere. The economy, recent history, yesterday’s war. When in fact it may simply be us and our inaction, all of it feeling natural and comforting because of an excess of caution in our lives.

We can summarize Herbert’s view as follows:

1. Do not let caution guide our choices — we must not be overly cautious in life. Be aware safety now may extract a price later.

2. The alternative to caution is boldness — to avoid mediocrity takes boldness. The safe life is the mediocre life. The bold life is the more exciting and the more meaningful.

3. We should fear mediocrity — Herbert reminds us to fear mediocrity rather than fear being bold. Be wary of what you will miss or fail to accomplish. Convert this fear into motivation.

What are we to make of this?

The Stoics had a similar philosophy to Herbert. They understood caution often manifested as over-planning. The appeal of planning is the allure of perfection.

A plan is always fiction, it only exists in our head. It can therefore be perfect. Even if understood as imperfect it always holds the promise of being perfectible, which is worse.

The appeal of perfection means one more iteration, one more attempt for something that can never exist. A utopian mindset that delays action to chase a falsehood, the fiction of making something flawless.

Action always takes place in our imperfect world. Caution inhibits this mentality and encourages inaction. Inaction in turn leads to stagnation and regret.

This excess of caution can be fatal. There is always more information we can gather, more planning to do, more we could understand before we act. But it is only in action we accomplish anything.

The Stoics understood the purpose of life was always action, not more planning, not caution, not delaying.

Translated we can understand action is a useful way to overcome the caution Herbert warns us of, and the corresponding mediocrity it produces.

Frank Herbert’s quote reminds us of the dangers of a cautious life. Stagnation results and this leads to mediocrity. The mediocre life is a waste, our potential is not realized as it should be.

We avoid this partly by being aware of the role caution may be playing in our lives. Are we too careful? Are we too timid? Are we subconsciously pushing away challenges that help us grow?

It all starts with this awareness of the role fear and anxiety may play in our lives. Building on this awareness to develop a healthier attitude towards caution and risk, then experimenting to see what works.

We get one life. It is too short to accept second best if it is avoidable. Our time is too fleeting to be cautious. The good life must embrace a degree of boldness to really flourish, and this boldness must be cultivated. That cultivation begins with Frank Herbert’s reminder that caution leads to mediocrity.

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