Why do we business owners torture ourselves? Because we often measure our results against perfection. With that measuring stick, there can be nothing but disappointment. Are we crazy?
Here's a perfect analogy. Matthew, my 9-year old son, pitched two very good innings of baseball a few weeks ago. He faced eight batters, struck out 6, walked no one and gave up zero runs. Our other pitchers performed well and we won the game. I told little Murph after the game how proud I was of him. His first comment back was, "Thanks Dad, but a few of my pitches were a bit crazy." What???? Was he at the same game? How could his perspective be so different than mine and the other coaches'. Was he trying to drive me or himself crazy? He did not even pitch last year. Over the first five games of the season, he has improved dramatically. Why could he not see his tremendous progress in such a short time?
Then it hit me, he was judging his performance against perfection. He could never be satisfied if that was his measuring base. Then it hit me again, most business owners do the very same thing. They judge their performance against perfection or an ideal state that can not be attained. How sad. With that metric, we will always fall short, feel disappointed, fail to enjoy the journey, and probably burn out early.
Why do many entrepreneurs measure forward against perfection? Because many are Type A, driven, goal-oriented and demanding. While it may drive us to achieve incredible heights, it will drive us nuts and leave us feeling empty, frustrated, and unhappy. We believe we must achieve to be happy. But since we can never reach perfection we fall short of our unrealistic goals and can feel miserable.
Let's stop the insanity now! Instead, why don't we learn to measure backward instead of forward? Let's all commit to look at our performance against last quarter's or last year's performance. Or let's look at how far we've come. Let's learn to see and appreciate our progress. We will all be much happier and we will enjoy the business ownership journey.
I had a wonderful coaching moment with my son. I got him to see the incredible progress he made since the start of the season. I asked him to strive to be "very good", not "perfect." You can bet I will be coaching him to look backward at his progress, not forward against perfection.
Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System