|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
deeper sense of right livelihood, or doing work that one enjoys that is consistent with one's morals, temperament, and personal beliefs and takes cares of one's personal needs; transcending short-term interest based on fad and fashion. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Satisfaction and Excellence. From momentary relief based on temporarily fending off anxiety and the fear of failure to deeper satisfaction and contentment based on a sense of pride of accomplishment and enjoyment of the process of reaching it; from focus only on the goal to focus on enjoyment of the incremental steps toward the goal; from frustration and fragmentation to a sense of wholeness and completeness. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Are you willing to make these changes and to address the elements of excellence that may be lacking? If you are, you will be in a strong position to transform the "good enough is never enough" stance into, as Lao Tze put it, the wisdom of "he who knows when enough is enough will always have enough." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More Tools Toward Excellence |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We will conclude this chapter with additional selected tools and ideas which may be helpful in striving for excellence: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Restrict the amount of time you engage in perfectionistically driven activities. Purposefully cut back in those areas that you know you devote large amounts of time to but where your performance does not seem to improve. There is a delicate balance between the commitment of time and energy needed to excel versus being compulsively overcommitted. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At a certain point, striving becomes self-defeating because it is possible to try too hard. You may spend too much time doing and redoing to get things perfect. Research on leadership suggests that a moderate amount of motivation (leading to moderate time investment) tends to be related to best performance. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Always break large goals down into smaller subgoals. As with end goals, try and put subgoals into objective, measurable terms. In this way, you can give yourself nourishment along the way toward your end goal. Breaking end goals into subgoals will also tend to reinforce enjoying the process of reaching your end goal. |
|
|
|
|
|