9/15/14

Know that no matter how hard we try and what is gained or left unachieved in our efforts each day, appreciate this. We learn so much about ourselves and that we can achieve exponentially more during the days ahead by applying that discovery towards our future endeavors.

I came up with this thought while at the beach the other day and it kind of encapsulated a great deal of my transformation. Walk through this with me if you can see my logic. I don’t like using the term “failure” because by making the initial effort, you have only been “unsuccessful” so far in your initial attempt(s) and only by learning through those attempts can you see how close you are to success. Hopefully you wisely use that experience and knowledge to recalculate the next attempts to quicken our approach to our objectives or expansion beyond them.

I do understand the concept of “underachievement” to the extent that one chooses, for whatever reason, not to apply their known ability to a situation that demands it. More disappointing than the outcome is the knowledge that the preparation was so insufficient that the ability could not be called upon because the resources for its application were unavailable. Either way, responsibility boils down to personal ownership of all related causes.

With respect to the over applied term “overachievement”, I’ll put it out there that it does not exist and is primarily used for dramatic effect. It’s certainly debatable but in my opinion, “overachievement” is really a matter of “under-discovery”. We learn almost every new day that we are capable of more than we expected of ourselves by embracing our existing and newly encountered challenges. Prime example: last season Redondo High baseball team. Casual observers would dismiss the success of the team reaching CIF semi-finals as just a result of “overachievement”. Maybe there was a lack of appreciation by the coaches and team of the hurdles that needed to be conquered a month before the Bay League season started and ended (remember the no-hitter against you in Irvine).

As an observer, I saw two simple adjustments made by the coaches (finally) that changed the tempo of the Seahawks and not because one involved my son. Jason was moved to the second spot in the batting order to compliment Duncan when he got on base and serve as a secondary leadoff hitter when he didn’t. Cassius was moved into the batting order when he was pitching and to the outfield when he wasn’t to add more athleticism and to upgrade the offense. Those minor adjustments led to more scoring opportunities which accentuated an already sound pitching and defensive core. It’s no accident that the changes resulted in a winning streak that culminated just 3 runs from Dodger stadium. Confidence led to performance leading to a growing awareness of the attainable.

I’ll finally leave you with this challenge. I know it’s fairly impossible to bring your “A” game to every encounter. However when presented with the greatest obstacles in the path of your most sought after goals, apply and exhaust the best part of you to overcome it. Do not allow the term “underachievement” to be used to explain the outcome. You’ll see what you thought was the best you could achieve, regardless of the result, is only a precursor to what is available to you in the future given the proper outer effort and inner discovery. Then history of YOUR world can be rewritten everyday as a consequence.