Day 215 of 365 - Good Enough or Great?
In high school, I was on a few sports teams. I ran middle distance in cross country racing and track and field, and I joined the volleyball team. I did not have the natural athletic talent of the star players, but I enjoyed participating. The highest compliment that the track and field coach could think to pay me was, that at least I was consistent. My time in the one mile distance never improved much, but it never got worse either.
It turns out that consistency has been one of my lifelong characteristics. Because of it, I am responsible and for the most part, do what I commit to doing. Would I have liked to come first in a race, or score the winning point in a volleyball game? Of course, I would have. But, I seemed to understand that was not too likely, even if I trained harder and harder. I was satisfied with being good enough to participate. My areas of excellence were more academic, and I came to realize that I could strive harder for success in that field.
Once I got into the working world, although I consistently did a good job in my roles, I sometimes lost perspective and took on too much. For a number of years, I bounced back and forth between working too hard and needing to take breaks. I kidded myself into thinking that I would do better working part-time, so that I would have more down time from pressures of work. This was only partially true, because I was pretty much doing a full time work load in three days a week. I was defining my work success through the number of responsibilities I could take on.
In retrospect, I would have been better off mentally, emotionally and financially, by continuing to work full time, and being satisfied with a good enough performance. Striving to be great is just not sustainable. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :)
A piece of advice I read in an article this morning, is one which would have served me well in my younger years. It is, that true success is feeling content with how life is unfolding. Instead of always striving for the next level of reward, we would be happier focusing on where we are, starting with what we have, and doing our best with that on any given day.
I was glad at least, that I learned in my youth, via sports teams, to just be myself, and accept where I was. It would have saved me a lot of distress to have carried that lesson over more into my working world. Maybe I would have stopped trying to juggle so many balls, and been content with a consistently good performance in manageable roles.
Deciding to be satisfied with being good enough, rather than great, is not a cop out. Nor is it resignation, or giving up on challenging oneself. It's simply being realistic. Now, in my senior years, it means I pay more attention to only taking on activities that I can reasonably manage. I'm still learning where the line of decision lies on that, but am more mindful of it.
Although I do a variety of fitness activities, I focus on managing my own performance, rather than trying to keep up with anyone else. Being consistent with that has meant that I remain active, strong and flexible, without injuring myself.
Being a lifelong learner remains important to me, but it happens mainly through independent study, where I control the pace. If I participate in a structured course, I give myself permission to let some things go to accommodate it reasonably.
Finally, after all these years, that concept of being content with the unfolding of life is sinking in. Hopefully, I'll have a number of years left to practice it, for which I'll be grateful.
It turns out that consistency has been one of my lifelong characteristics. Because of it, I am responsible and for the most part, do what I commit to doing. Would I have liked to come first in a race, or score the winning point in a volleyball game? Of course, I would have. But, I seemed to understand that was not too likely, even if I trained harder and harder. I was satisfied with being good enough to participate. My areas of excellence were more academic, and I came to realize that I could strive harder for success in that field.
Once I got into the working world, although I consistently did a good job in my roles, I sometimes lost perspective and took on too much. For a number of years, I bounced back and forth between working too hard and needing to take breaks. I kidded myself into thinking that I would do better working part-time, so that I would have more down time from pressures of work. This was only partially true, because I was pretty much doing a full time work load in three days a week. I was defining my work success through the number of responsibilities I could take on.
In retrospect, I would have been better off mentally, emotionally and financially, by continuing to work full time, and being satisfied with a good enough performance. Striving to be great is just not sustainable. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :)
A piece of advice I read in an article this morning, is one which would have served me well in my younger years. It is, that true success is feeling content with how life is unfolding. Instead of always striving for the next level of reward, we would be happier focusing on where we are, starting with what we have, and doing our best with that on any given day.
I was glad at least, that I learned in my youth, via sports teams, to just be myself, and accept where I was. It would have saved me a lot of distress to have carried that lesson over more into my working world. Maybe I would have stopped trying to juggle so many balls, and been content with a consistently good performance in manageable roles.
Deciding to be satisfied with being good enough, rather than great, is not a cop out. Nor is it resignation, or giving up on challenging oneself. It's simply being realistic. Now, in my senior years, it means I pay more attention to only taking on activities that I can reasonably manage. I'm still learning where the line of decision lies on that, but am more mindful of it.
Although I do a variety of fitness activities, I focus on managing my own performance, rather than trying to keep up with anyone else. Being consistent with that has meant that I remain active, strong and flexible, without injuring myself.
Being a lifelong learner remains important to me, but it happens mainly through independent study, where I control the pace. If I participate in a structured course, I give myself permission to let some things go to accommodate it reasonably.
Finally, after all these years, that concept of being content with the unfolding of life is sinking in. Hopefully, I'll have a number of years left to practice it, for which I'll be grateful.
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