While a fixation on
results is certainly unhealthy, short-term goals can be useful developmental
tools if they are balanced within a nurturing long-term philosophy.
There is nothing
like a worthy opponent to show us our weaknesses and push us to our limit.
Disappointment is a
part of the road to greatness.
Growth comes at the
point of resistance. We learn by pushing
ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.
The nature of our
state of concentration will determine the first phase of your reaction.
In all disciplines,
there are times when a performer is ready for action, and times when he or she
is soft, in flux, broken-down or in a period of growth. Learners in this phase are inevitably
vulnerable. It is important to have
perspective on this and allow yourself protected periods for cultivation.
The fact is that
when there is intense competition, those who succeed have slightly more honed
skills than the rest. It is rarely a
mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery
of what may well be a basic skill set.
Depth beats breadth any day of the week, because it opens a channel for
the intangible, unconscious, creative components of our hidden potential.
There are clear
distinctions between what it takes to be decent, what it takes to be good, what
it takes to be great, and what it takes to be among the best. If your goal is to be mediocre, then you have
a considerable margin for error. You can
get depressed when fired and mope around waiting for someone to call.
In the absence of
continual external reinforcement, we must be our own monitor, and quality of
presence is often the best gauge. We
cannot expect to touch excellence if "going through the motions" is
the norm of our lives.
Regardless of the
discipline, the better we are at recovering, the greater potential we have to
endure and perform under stress.
Not only do we have
to be good at waiting, we have to love it.
Because waiting is not waiting, it is life.
Once we build our
tolerance for turbulence and are no longer upended by the swells of our
emotional life, we can ride them and even pick up speed with their slopes.
