What If You're Not The Best?

Here's another guest entry from my good friend and fraternity brother David Spiegel. He's knows I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan, so it won't surprise him that his fine email today caught my attention.

Oh yeah, and the message is a winner, too!

" A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be"

- Bruce Springsteen

I was asked "do you regret giving up on music?" The question momentarily caught me off guard. Regrets? Unlike in the song, I really don't know that I have any. I try to never live in the woulda coulda shoulda world that comes when I buy into regrets. When I snapped back to the question my answer was a resounding no, not at all. I shared with my friend my thoughts and feelings and then we moved on.

Since then I have revisited the question. Why didn't I regret it? I was a good musician. No I was a very good musician. I was accomplished,dynamic and one might even say passionate about it. What I wasn't was great.And no matter how much I practiced and how much I wanted it , I knew I had reached the limits of my talent level. Yes with effort I could have become better. How much better? I am not sure. I just knew that no matter how much work I would put in,"great" was not in me. I have been around great musicians. They all had that something that makes them special. I no longer felt that burning inside of me.

The same can be said about athletes. Great High School ball players who just never get past their Glory Days. You find them, the really good ones, kicking around minor league or semi- pro ball fields for years, hoping for a shot. At some point they too realize it's time to move on.

There was no disappointment in it for me. I knew I had done unbelievable things in my musical career. I also knew it was time for me to seek out great. Remaining a good, even a very good musician would have been settling for less. Excellence is what I craved. Phenomenal. Unbelievable. Untouchable. For me it was about the wow factor.It's the difference between oooh and aaahhh!

I know what good is. I feel what great is.

As I write this I must point out that there were times during my "glory days" that there was greatness in my music. There was greatness in my performance. That was in my fish pond. In the big blue sea, it would not be the same. And I just was not willing to settle for being good.

I've felt that way about everything I entertain in my life. The passion is rooted in great, not in good. When the best I can muster is good, and when good is good enough, it's time to move on.

I suppose that is why I am enjoying life so much lately. I have found that fire once again.The challenge to be great is growing inside of me daily. The desire to be great, to be the best, to be outstanding, to be unbelievable, untouchable, unparalleled, phenomenal.

I get giddy just thinking about being the best David I can be.! And all without any regrets.

Off to another awesome start of the day!

David Spiegel

PS from Doug -- While I greatly enjoyed this piece from Dave, I would like to point out that we can still enjoy being musicians without being the best at it. I've been playing music for my whole life and couldn't ever imagine stopping -- even though I'll never be the Boss, I can still play some of his songs and write some pretty good ones myself. There's joy in music unmatched anywhere else. And the joy in doing anything is in the doing and growing -- whether or not I'm the best at it.

Thanks, Dave!

Comments

Win The Game

It would be nice to win the game. But, do you ever feel like you're in a game that keeps shifting the rules and making it easy to make progress but impossible to win? You've probably noticed lots of game elements creeping into service. Points, incentives, expiring coupons followed by new expiring coupons, leader-boards...on an on a relentless attack on service comes from playing a game designed -- you guessed it -- to maximize profit. If the customer is happy, fine, but the point is to make money. Not to put too fine a point on it but that's a lousy point. What if there could be something better? What if customer service excellence became playing a game where the customer always wins and that makes you happy? You don't have to. "give away the store" to achieve a winning game for all of the players. Just stop stacking the rules against customers and watch how much more they will want to do business with you. -- doug smith

Strategic and Communication Skills

Supervisors often bring strong technical skills to the job. When they have worked in technical jobs prior to becoming a supervisor, they were often the best at what they do. They know the ground level part of their business well enough to solve problems and deal with day to day issues. Leading is all that and more. High performance leadership requires attention to detail AND a constant view of the big picture: where is your team, your market, and your customer base headed? What does the future hold? Strong supervisors learn to add strategic and communication skills to their technical ability. What are you doing today to develop your sense of the big picture? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Letting Go of Perfect

My former acting coach, Brian McCulley once said that "done is better than perfect." I don't think he meant to minimize quality, because that is also important. But sometimes urgency is more important than perfection, considering that we'll never achieve perfect. There are no perfect people. There are no perfect products. There are no perfect processes. We may travel John Wesley's road to perfection without ever getting there. That is completely fine. I've learned to seek wisdom rather than perfection since discovering the endless amount of personal flaws has destroyed any illusion of perfect. Still, I travel that road, whether it's driving or as a passenger. It's a good road, even when it never ends. I've also learned not to let it grieve me. We are all here to improve. Let's keep improving. When we look into the mirror, let's not expect perfection. Let's not let disappointment cloud our days. Expecting perfection is not a...

Art Belongs Everywhere

What does it take to be creative? What place does art have in your business? People are naturally creative. As a leader you can put that creativity to good use, or you can hold it back. If you want innovation, new ideas, better ways of serving your customers, and happier team members you probably already know that it pays to keep your environment conducive to creativity. Art helps. Whether it is in the form of fascinating photos, interesting prints, provocative sculpture, or occasional performances by that local string quartet or improv troupe, people benefit from an environment that celebrates creativity. Creativity helps to bridge the previously unseen connections. Creativity helps to spark new ideas. Creativity puts smiles on people's faces. Where does art belong? Art belongs everywhere. What can you do today to add a touch more of creativity to your environment? Curious about creativity? Creativity May Play A Role in Healthy Aging The Power of Ordinary Prac...

No Hiding The Truth

What happens when someone tries to hide the truth? It pops up, unexpected, full-blown and often unforgiving. There is no hiding the truth. The truth always bubbles to the top. Pushing down what we regard as worth hiding, even when it's clearly true, simply delays the inevitable. The truth comes out, and then whoever attempted to hide it looks doubly suspicious and unreliable. Also, when we try to hide the truth we suddenly limit our possibilities. What can we say? What should we suppress? Where are we headed? Who can know and who cannot know? Did we tell the wrong person already? Maybe we should just keep quiet... Truth we try to hide becomes our tallest wall. It's a weight we carry around wondering when we can let it go. It's a wall that prevents us from seeing the beauty that belongs in all truth, even the truth that troubles us. What secret truth are you carrying around? Isn't it time to let that go? -- Douglas Brent Smith Front Range Leadership: ...

Make the Hard Choices

Are you faced with a hard choice? A hard choice is one we don't want to make, and yet realize that sooner or later we need to. It could be making that big career change. It could be ending a destructive relationship. It could be selling that car that costs too much to keep repairing. Make the choice. Moving on is the direction of growth. Gathering the facts, discovering the reality of the situation, and making the choice is the way to go. We might need to get creative to do it. It may take all of our creative juice just to figure out a better way, but there is always a better way. A creative act may close a door or two but it will soon open thousands of possibilities. And possibilities are what we want. Positive, energized, growing possibilities. This all becomes easier when our goals are clear. When we know where we're headed -- and we're willing to do the hard work it takes to get there -- any distraction is more easily exposed. Choices become more clear. Make...

What You Do

Do your team members know what you do as a leader? It's a serious question. I've known leaders who seem to nearly never venture outside of their office, and others who are seldom there. What is it that you do? Answer customer questions? Resolve team conflicts? Make your own boss happy? Develop new ideas? Fill out reports? Answer emails? It's risky to take for granted that your team members know what you do. But, they sure want to! I'd encourage you to conduct daily individual conversations so that no matter what else you do, much of what you do is communicate with the team. Will that take time? Sure. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Are you giving your team members enough of your time? Is what you do vital to your team's success? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Tell the Truth

There's no such thing as a little white lie when you're a leader. I'm not talking about being blunt if someone asks "does this dress make my butt look big?" because we all pretty much know how that goes. What I'm talking about is telling your team members the truth in connection with your mission, your values, your goals. When it comes to what keeps a person on the team and what gets them an invitation to find a new direction. F ar more opportunities are lost by hiding the truth then from telling it. Your competition is searching for the truth. Your team is searching for the truth. Your inner self really wants to know and share the truth, doesn't it? It always comes out anyway. Why not get to the truth faster? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Every Answer Raises Two More Questions

Have you ever wondered when exactly you'll have this leadership job figured out? You're in good company. The longer that I serve as a leader, the more questions arise. People challenging questions, character challenging questions, process challenging questions. It's all a mix of constant learning. Things that worked with one team seem ineffective with another. That's no reason to stop asking the questions, though. So what if every answer raises two more questions? It's in the questions that we move forward. -- Douglas Brent Smith

Expect the Best

People sometimes disappoint. Whether it is intentional, accidental, or something in between, it happens. People also intend to do their best. Our expectations influence our team members one way or another -- positive intentions and expectations are a better match than negative expectations and whatever happens next. Expect the best from people and let them know: nothing less will do. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

Search This Blog