The Tension of Where You Are and Where You Want to Be


Only a mediocre person is always at his best. W. Somerset Maugham

You are always better than you were before and you will never be as good as you will be in the future.  We all get comfortable in our lives and our position and never push forward.

I'm a gamer. I've spent a lot of time playing a lot of different games for most of my life.  When I was in college my friends and I got really good at a popular game called Halo.  We thought we were the best players, and no one could possibly beat us.  There was just one problem.  We only ever played with each other.  We were good, but only at beating each other.  When playing online with millions of other people,  I was shocked to find out that I wasn't as good as I thought.  In fact, I was horrible.

This happens in our lives all the time.  We think we have something handled.  We think we have mastered something.  Then we are pushed into a bigger pond and realize that we still have a whole lot to learn.

The question I had to ask myself and that we must ask ourselves in these situations is, "Am I going to do what it takes to get to where I want to be?"

In order to go to the next level, we are forced to stretch.  We have to learn new skills and abilities in order to adapt.  Think of yourself like a rubberband.  When it is loose, it's useless.  In order for the band to work properly, we have to stretch it.  Our lives are a special super rubberband.  It stretches to encompass everything in our lives, but one it has stretched, if done properly, it can be stretched again to be even bigger than before.

We've been talking about goals this month. You can read more about them here and here.  If we want to get ahead in life we have to set goals. Real, life-giving, goals force us to stretch to meet them.  However, just like with a rubber band, if we stretch too far we will snap.  It has to be gradual and intentional.  We can't leave our goals too easy or we'll relax and become useless.  We also can't make them impossible, or we'll break and become useless as well.  We must maintain a tension.

By maintaining this tension, we will,
  • stand out from others
  • accomplish more in life
  • be more open to changes
  • achieve a level of significance in our communities.
Finding the right tension is more of an art than a science.  When you're first starting out, setting any goal is better than not trying at all.  If you fail, you probably learned something along the way.  Use that knowledge to set better goals and get to where you want to be.

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