Being average at job

I'm very much afraid there will be no Place for mediocrity after AI.Heard from Senior Management basics that only Profits matter to company and they won't think twice before laying off

Average results in an average life. Ofc, there's no downside to it if you are happy with it! But do understand that people don't want average employees in their org. They want people who give more ROI on the salary they are paying.
The way you create impact is all corporate is all about.
I suggest being self employed. Have something of your own. As in, I am not saying focus on being average, I am saying, instead focus on doing something that creates an impact. And do that while being self employed. It gives you much more control over your life

Let me share something. I work in a great distributed computing system. Made some good designs to solve painful bottlenecks. Designed some reusable components as well. However, I am quite average performer getting a meets expectations since 3 years. At rimes make mistakes or suggest designs which are not optimum. My manager now has decided that I should be moved out into project which is like an intern project as the last guy was laid Off last week. I am no longer of value in my current project. I feel bad and lost purpose. It feels bad when the solution you wrote a huge teams message about recieves no ack.

Why? Because I dress and speak like an average person without any prejudice. I know I might be canned in the next round and there is absolutely no reason for that except, I speak like an average person.

Such a great question! Would love to hear othe people's experiences. What i feel from a little of my experience is that being average at a job will be enough but it won't give you crazy money or growth in a role. Being average is good enough to have a chill life.

My current role is like that only but I know that growth is limited and salary jumps will be hard to get.

I’m assuming you introspect a lot. And I’m sure you have your own measure to conclude yourself ‘average at work’.

Here’s my take on this. Try to be different & smarter at work. Don’t do same things that others do. Get into a state where you are not there to prove anything. Set your own goals at work to solve problems at work. That doesn’t mean you can skip doing hard work, but this will make hard-work fun.

Work life might seem like a rat race when you subscribe to it. The real winner is not even running this race, yet working hard at their own will.