Growing up in the nineties, you may have heard of a guy named Michael Jordan. You know, the basketball player who made long shorts, a bald head, and Nikes must-haves for every basketball toting kid in the world.
While millions of people spent their childhoods aspiring to be like Mike because of the Gatorade commercials, the Air Jordans, or the hangtime, I have a different reason for being envious of the iconic athlete.
I wanna be like Mike (I would also settle for being like Serena or Tom or Tiger – I am not picky) because he made his living in a line of work (i.e., sports) in which goals and measures of success are everywhere.
A basket is made or missed, a serve is in or out, a pass is caught or dropped, a putt is long or short - the goal is clear, the result is immediate, and success or failure is easily determined.
Yesterday I set out for a three mile run. In an amount of time I will not share with this audience (more than 15 minutes and less than an hour), I finished my run and felt good about meeting my goal. I had done something productive and I had bettered myself - in no time at all (well, if I am to be honest, it was a moderate amount of time).
I have left the office after more than one eight hour day only sure of the fact that I had successfully jammed the photocopy machine yet again. A game winning jumper or a 125 mph ace a jammed photocopy machine is not.
If I stand to be corrected and there are those of you who have created short-term goals that have helped you to be successful at your jobs, please pass along some tips. I clearly need the help.
Until then, I will continue to want to be like Mike. Why? In sports, games are played every week, if not everyday, and they are won or lost. I am a few years into my professional career and still have no sense of how to gauge my success. Am I winning? I would like to say yes, but the truth is I am not even sure how to determine the score.
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Success is a choice. You get the instant gratification of scoring a goal or winning a point or sinking a putt in sports, real-life however does not work in the same way. Sure there is instant gratification of closing a deal or getting the "atta-boy" from your boss, but its more about longevity and measuring success over time. I guess the best way to measure your success is by asking yourself one simple question. Did you make a difference and was the reward greater than the struggle? Ok that’s two questions but both speak true to the meaning of personal success.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thanks for your comment. I would say two things in response. First, I agree that real life success does often need to be measured over time. Perhaps I am over simplifying the issue in hoping for a daily measure of success. That said, in my previous work, I came across many organizations that were at a loss as to how to motivate employees (especially younger employees)to do their best work. It always seemed to me that part of the problem was that short term goals were not in place. Athletes do well because of these short term goals and I still believe these types of goals (proven in research to be the most beneficial to any performance outcome) can be better implemented in the business setting.
ReplyDeleteHeadshot. Let's talk :-) And damn you for having that song stuck in my head now.
ReplyDeleteI am talking. Are you offering your photography services?
ReplyDeleteI promise the next post (due out tomorrow) will not not include annoyingly catchy music. Please continue to read.