30 April 2013

Little by little, great things are achieved

"Excellence, not perfection.
Rest, not laziness.
Love, not obsession.
Confidence, not blind faith.

In each of these instances a sense of having balance versus going beyond the point of productivity is conveyed.
So often in life we hear advice about doing our best which incorrectly gets interpreted into having to be perfect at all costs, or we are told to believe in ourselves in order to have confidence, but without doing the work, without preparing ourselves we are walking into a mine field that we won't be prepared for.
In all things in life, balance must be struck. In order to have the energy we desire to be at our peak ability, we must first wake from a deep, restful slumber. In order to be able to relax at the end of the day, we must give our best at work. In order to be involved in a healthy relationship, we must be able to love, but also let go and let those we love be what we love most about them and stop trying to control.
Having balance is a constant exercise that never ceases because life is always changing, circumstances and people are always changing, and we must adapt - sometimes by the seat of our pants. The one thing that does stay constant, however, is that we are forever in control of how we respond, how we handle the response we send out into the world, and how we treat ourselves when we haven't achieved what we want exactly the way we wanted to.
I want to come back to the difference between excellence and perfection. So many of us are so self-critical that we tend to be our own worst support group. What I mean by this is after a frustrating situation has occurred where we have given our all without seeing successful results, we too often beat ourselves up incessantly. This is where a balance must be struck if we want to see positive results down the road.
While being self-motivated and driven to do better is an amazing quality, we must be able to determine when we truly did give our best, pat ourselves on the back and then move forward and try again, but this time with the experience we gained from the previous attempt. So while the initial results may not have been perfect, this very same event quite possibly could have contained excellence. Being able to know the difference will either hold you back or drive you forward." 

"Little by little, great things are achieved"


Photo: Oscar Falk

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