Good to Great

My favorite article that we read this week was on the book, Good to Great. It said that good is the enemy to great. I think this is true in a lot of areas. I was just talking to my son about this last week. He mentioned a friend of his that was trying out for the school soccer team. I was surprised because last time I saw this kid play he wasn't very good. When my son first started playing soccer, he was one of the best players on his team. He was fast, aggressive, and had incredible stamina. When he was younger, it didn't matter that he didn't have the best ball handling skills. He never wanted to practice at home and didn't see the need for it because he usually scored more goals than anyone. As he got older though, he couldn't rely only on his speed. Kids who had spent time perfecting their dribbling skills could keep the ball from him. Because he was a good player, he never bothered to become a great player. Now there is no way he could compete with those who have put the time and effort into becoming great players.

I also liked the idea of a stop-doing list. Things get added to my to-do list faster than I can cross them off. No matter how much I've accomplished, I still feel like a failure. There are so many things that I could like to put on my stop-doing list; stop playing with my hair when I'm bored, stop looking at social media when I have a break, stop staying up past midnight, stop buying sugary treats, etc.

The other piece of advice that stuck out to me was, under promise, over deliver. Sometimes I do this when we have family dinners. I commit to bringing a dish but then if I have extra time, I'll make something extra as well. When I don't have time, I don't feel guilty for not getting everything done. My mom used to be a wedding planner. She would always include something extra that the bride had admired or the mother had mentioned wanting. She said that her clients always felt special when she went above and beyond.