You're absolutely right.  As I see it, the complacency you describe is the number one reason why many people in modern societies never emerge beyond being "average".  They lose the drive to learn new things, challenge themselves, and continuously improve.  Once becoming established it's very easy to sit back, relax, and coast along through life.<p>A motto I try to live by is this:  If you have a choice between doing an easy thing and a hard thing, do the hard thing if you want to be great.