"Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not."

Neil deGrasse Tyson

In today’s world we too often focus completely on the outcome, and miss the journey, the process, the effort and the struggle that led to that outcome. We celebrate the “overnight success”, who took 20 years to achieve that success. We celebrate “natural talent” and miss all the years of practice, study and struggle that went in to making it look “natural”. As a result we often fail to encourage the people who have not succeeded, or not yet succeeded. 

“No matter how much you have achieved, you will always be merely good relative to what you can become. Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide toward mediocrity will have already begun.”

Jim Collins, Good to Great and the Social Sectors

When we do succeed and others celebrate that success, it is easy to stop there, soak in the celebration and settle, thinking that we have arrived, and that we are great. When we do that our slide to mediocrity will begin. Why? Because we will stop doing the work, doing the things that got us there.  

“The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.”

Jim Rohn

The key is to focus on effort and process. Celebrate the effort, the journey, the friction, the struggles, the process, the learning and the growth, not just the outcome.

“Don’t let your now become your ceiling. Becoming is better than being.”
Ryan Hawk, Welcome to Management: How to Grow From Top Performer to Excellent Leader

What’s Important Now? Focus on becoming. Show up. Do the work. Assess, learn, grow, and repeat. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?

www.daretobegreatleadership.com  Use the code WINSubscriber to get 10% off the online workshop Dare to Be Great: Strategies for Creating a Culture of Leading. 

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