Content & Happy

Won a Championship last year. I want another one. ASAP

It's been a loooooong while since I wrote.  So today I started writing and I came up with this post. Come to find out I had already started writing about this topic before but never quite finished it.  So I combined key points from both writing sessions and here we are.

For those out there that may think otherwise I'm here to finally confirm it.  Yes it is possible, very possible to be happy yet not content with what it is you have. It may be a situation, job, goal, aspiration, or whatever it is on this here place we call earth.  The bottom line is you can be happy yet not content.

A good analogy to use here is the great John Wooden's description of what excellence is.  This is the coach that led a team through a 'perfect' season. They didn't lose a single game from beginning to the last buzzer in the championship game. Yet he still thinks that team wasn't perfect. Why you ask? Because there isn't such a thing as perfect. Wooden believed that true perfection is going out everyday and giving everything you had to achieve this said perfection and even when it seems like it's perfect, you come back the next day and try to outdo yourself because surely you can do better. 

Now back to happiness and contentment and how it relates. You can be happy with your job and still want a promotion. You can pitch a no hitter but you can do it better with more strike outs. In Jordan's case (another basketball example) you can win a championship and want to come back and do it again but with a better run.  You can be happy as a parent but that doesn't mean you can't do better. 

At the end of the day you can always do better because there no such thing as perfect. 

Final basketball analogy and I'm done. In a basketball game Jordan dunked on a guard on the opposing team. One of the fans was mad and tried heckling Jordan saying "why don't you pick on someone your own size?" A couple of possessions later Jordan proceeds to dunk on the center on the opposing team who was about seven feet tall. On his trot back he tells the heckling fan "was that big enough for you?"...how does this relate you ask? I think it epitomizes this drive to outdo yourself when you're happy. Jordan was great, he knew he was great and showed it once more with that dunk. The fan challenged him to do better and he did.  

As an individual, as good as it may be to have someone in your corner pushing you, you also have to have that personal drive to outdo yourself and be better even if you're happy and appreciative of the current situation you find yourself in.

I am currently reading the book Relentless by Tim Grover. One of the key messages that I've gotten from the book so far is that Cleaners (the best of the best at what they do) compete with THEMSELVES. They are constantly trying to outdo THEMSELVES. Not any one else, not the competition, but themselves.  Why? Because they are their own competition.  In competing with themselves they reach new heights.  When they get there, they celebrate, enjoy the moment and then it's back to work to outdo themselves one more time.

So I conclude with...be happy, be content, but always strive to outdo yourself.

Magnificent Su

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