The Art of Improvement
Something's been bugging me lately. All day long, everywhere I go, I hear my acquaintances make elegant and proud speeches about some amazing thing they did that morning. "I can't believe I woke up at three in morning to finish this!" "It's a long drive to get to work, and sometimes I don't want to take it, but I take it anyway, because I'm dedicated." "Man, I did a full eight-hour shift today, and I'm only part-time!"
It's great to be proud of your accomplishments from day to day, but I've always felt these constant pats on the back are what make seemingly ambitious people see mediocrity as a good thing.
Hey, I can do it too. Every morning I wake up at 5. Yeah, even Saturdays, though sometimes I push them to 7. I always attend my classes, I never miss work, I have a freelance job to supplement my part-time, I do this, I do that, I'm awesome as hell. Good for me. So you woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover from last night's partying and finished a paper that's due on Monday. Good job! Now you're going to spend the rest of your Saturday celebrating your "achievement" by partying even harder, for ever longer, because damn, what you did was almost TOO awesome. Even though it's not in your nature to do what you're supposed to, you did it, and that's called an achievement?
Why do people expect a reward for doing what they're supposed to do? Shouldn't that be reserved for the greater things in our lives? Like earning the first $100 from your own business, or earning your Bachelor's/Associate's/diploma, or something like that? Maybe it's just me who thinks this, but I always thought doing what you're supposed to do and doing what pushes you forward into a more challenging point are two completely different things.
Maybe I missed the memo or something. Are we really only working as hard as we need to, now?
It's great to be proud of your accomplishments from day to day, but I've always felt these constant pats on the back are what make seemingly ambitious people see mediocrity as a good thing.
Hey, I can do it too. Every morning I wake up at 5. Yeah, even Saturdays, though sometimes I push them to 7. I always attend my classes, I never miss work, I have a freelance job to supplement my part-time, I do this, I do that, I'm awesome as hell. Good for me. So you woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover from last night's partying and finished a paper that's due on Monday. Good job! Now you're going to spend the rest of your Saturday celebrating your "achievement" by partying even harder, for ever longer, because damn, what you did was almost TOO awesome. Even though it's not in your nature to do what you're supposed to, you did it, and that's called an achievement?
Why do people expect a reward for doing what they're supposed to do? Shouldn't that be reserved for the greater things in our lives? Like earning the first $100 from your own business, or earning your Bachelor's/Associate's/diploma, or something like that? Maybe it's just me who thinks this, but I always thought doing what you're supposed to do and doing what pushes you forward into a more challenging point are two completely different things.
Maybe I missed the memo or something. Are we really only working as hard as we need to, now?