The Art of Success
Perfectionists are often accused of being too anal, so immersed in details they fail to see the big picture. There’s truth in that if you’re more interested in process than performance. It’s the perfection of performance that gives you success; process is one of the ways you get there.
Anyone who grinds away at something is seeking perfection, seeking to replicate those ‘in the zone’ moments as much as possible. But there needs to be method to the madness. There needs to be a process to go along with the commitment.
Come on – most people don’t see the point. What’s the difference if weights in the weight room don’t get re-racked or they’re not in order? What’s the difference if I don’t have a detailed workout schedule, or a regimen that I keep to and study for results?
For starters, doing these things preserves the efficiency of time, for you and for others. Being organized is a discipline, a commitment to maximizing the time allotted to mastering anything. The best college coaches are supremely organized. They maximize their time with players down to the minute. And they stay on that schedule; no excuses. No one waits for anyone. Being late is a disservice to everyone. Requiring someone else to waste their time waiting for you or picking up after you is disrespectful. No matter what you think, your actions are saying your time is more valuable than theirs. I never want to be around someone like that.
It’s a lot like what I explained to some high school athletes a few years ago:
“When you commit to something it should be to excellence. If you think the only thing that matters in life is getting good grades, I’ve got news for you – you’re wrong. What matters is commitment and courage. When one day you are lucky enough and have a son or daughter, what do you think they are going to want from you? Commitment and courage. To them; to something other bigger than yourself. When I hire someone, what do you think I’m looking for? Commitment and passion.
Commitment to a cause, to a goal, to working with others to achieve greatness. A commitment to anything less guarantees mediocrity. Committing to others, to teammates, means giving everything you have. If you don’t have the wherewithal to do that then don’t set your teammates up for failure by giving them less than your best, your best effort. It’s both painful and disturbing for others to witness and, worst of all, you will begin to think it’s okay. Giving less than your best is NEVER okay. Without passion courage is misplaced, and without courage passion goes unfulfilled.”
You can take that quote and substitute passion for courage, or process for commitment, or persistence, or determination, or other attributes for others. You can jumble the words around and cover most of what spells the path to being on the success road. These are the parts of success you can’t fake. You can’t fake process because it requires commitment. You can’t fake courage because it requires real passion. All that needs a dream, then a vision to plan that dream, a determination to act, and a process to maximize the power of those actions.
Whether we realize it or not we end up with mentors, heroes, coaches and teachers who help us form that vision and focus our actions. We rarely do anything on our own. If nothing else, we use our powers of observation to shape what it is we do and what we become. Knowingly or not, we are all a product of a process. Why not make the most of it?
