Talk Is Cheap

On this blog, I write a lot about doing great work. You can find numerous other blogs and books that also talk about the importance of doing great work. We can talk about taking chances and not fearing failure and not caring what other people think until we are blue in the face, but talk really gets us nowhere. Once we are done talking, it is difficult to actually make changes to who we are and what we do. Without making changes, the only thing we will be able to do is continue to talk about doing great things.

I know it is hard to change the way you do things and how you think. I have the same difficulties myself. I'm not as productive as I would like to be. I don't always do the things I want to do. There are times I let fear control me. I don't take risks as much as I should. I don't speak up. Sometimes, I just try blend in with everyone else. I don't always volunteer for the tough projects. I don't stick my neck out enough.

In all honesty, this frustrates the hell out of me. I urge others to do all of the things I don't do as much as I would like. This makes me feel like a hypocrite, but I know these feelings of frustration and disappointment are not productive. Instead of these feelings, I need to use this as motivation for living the life I talk about. If I want to do more, then I need to make sure I am doing more. I am the only one responsible for my actions, just as you are the only one responsible for yours.

You see, no matter what, life isn't about perfection. We are going to have our ups and downs and we are always going to strive to be or do something more than we are right now. We all have room to grow and we all have the ability to improve. Feeling down about the things we aren't doing isn't the way to grow. Instead, celebrate the things you are doing well and learn from the things you are not doing as well as you would like. Make changes to try to improve the areas where you think you need improvement, but don't beat yourself up over what you view as shortcomings. Just keep working towards doing better.

You are not perfect. You are not going to do everything exactly like you think you should every time. You are not always going to take the right risks or do as well as you would like. You can learn to do more of the things you want to do. You just have to be conscious of the things you need to do and force yourself to do them. Force yourself to speak up in a meeting and share your idea. Volunteer for the next project offered. When you feel fear holding you back, do exactly what you are scared of.

Be cognizant of what you aren't doing as well as you would like. Don't let this frustrate you, but recognize what you need to do, acknowledge the things holding you back, then overcome them. As I said earlier, you are the one in control of your actions. If you don't want anything to hold you back, then don't let anything hold you back. You can accomplish anything you want to accomplish. It's going to take work. You have to hold yourself accountable. You know what you must do to overcome whatever has stopped you in the past.

I know I will never be perfect, but I can be better than the person I was yesterday. I will continue to work on the things I want to do better. I will be more productive. I will not let fear stop me. I will take more risks. I will speak up more often. I will volunteer for the tough projects. I will stick my neck out. I will do more than I ever have. Will you?

Find What You Are Looking For

I have been writing a lot about dreams lately and here is another post for your reading pleasure. Next week, I will move on to more topics, but I think this is important. The biggest mistake we can make in life is to start chasing things that aren't our dreams. Instead of doing what we know we should be doing, we go after the money, the fame, the prestige, the American Dream. You can have all the money and toys in the world, but unless you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, you aren't going to find what you are looking for.

This is a hard lesson to learn, because it isn't what we are taught. When we are children and asked what we want to be when we grow up, no one ever says they want to be a struggling artist. No one says they want to struggle at all. There are a lot of answers of doctor, lawyer, princess, cowboy, etc. None of the answers are bad, if this is what you are supposed to be doing. We need doctors and lawyers and princesses and cowboys, but not everyone can be one or is driven to be one. We have to get better at teaching children to listen to that little voice, the one we have learned to silence for so long, and to do what is going to make them happy, not just wealthy. The struggle is what makes us great.

We tell the children they can do anything they put their mind to, but we then make them behave and sit in nice straight rows and speak softly and not daydream and conform and stop being so imaginative. We drill them with facts and numbers but continue to take away time and money from the arts. We get them on a schedule and convince them getting A's in every subject is more important than doing anything else because they have to get into a great college to be anything. Unless they are prodigious from an early age, we push them away from the arts, because there isn't any money in it anyway, and convince them to become doctors or lawyers or bankers because they can make money and live a nice life.

Why? Are you happy doing what you are doing? If so, is it because someone forced you to to conform and stop dreaming and buckle down to do the work you are doing? Or did you find your passion? If you are unhappy, is it because you let them force you to conform and stop dreaming and buckle down to do the work you are doing? The people who are doing great work today are usually doing it in spite of what others tried to force them to do. They dreamed their own dreams and blazed their own paths. They didn't believe the BS being force fed to them. Shouldn't we be training the children to do this? Shouldn't we want more for them? Shouldn't we be teaching them to think for themselves and to chase their dreams?

Mediocrity

I had written another post about stress and didn't like what it was becoming, so I deleted it. Truth be known, it was mediocre and I couldn't stand the way it bounced around without a real theme and didn't really say anything. You, dear reader, deserve better than that. 

We often push out mediocre work because it is just easier to do. We go to work and just do the minimum needing to be done to get through the day, allowing us to collect a paycheck and come back to keep producing the minimum. We don't take pride in what we do and greatness isn't expected. As long as we show up to work on time (which is a whole other issue) and are present more than we are absent, many of us are considered good employees. What does this say about our society?

This mentality starts in school and continues on into the workforce. We aren't ever expected to be great, so very few of us ever do anything great. We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and we spend most of our time dwelling in mediocrity. Those who produce great work often do it in spite of their environment or what is expected of them. They are the outliers and instead of looking to them for guidance on how to be better, we label them as anomalies. 

What if we went to work each day and actually tried to produce the best things we could? How would the world be different if we strive to produce the best products, offer the best customer service and dream of things better than before? Where would we be if we just held everyone (and everyone held themselves) to higher standards? Imagine a world where labels like overachiever had positive connotations, instead of negative ones. How about one where quality mattered more than quantity? 

What do we have to do to produce our best work on a daily basis? How much better would life be if we were energized to show up to work instead of counting the hours until it ended? The change has to start in each and every one of us. We have to find passion in what we do, even if it is just the passion of doing the best work possible. Mediocrity should no longer be acceptable. Once we change our mentality, we can start changing the environment at work.

Stop settling and instead start creating something great. Hold yourself to a higher standard than you are being held to. Come to work and produce the best products and offer the best service you can. Just produce exceptional work every chance you get. Be an anomaly and do more than is expected. Encourage everyone around you to do the same. The world doesn't need more mediocrity. The world needs greatness. 

Believe in Yourself

Believe in yourself. This is an easy concept, but for many of us, this is a very difficult thing to do. We are our own harshest critics. We have self-doubt. We struggle wondering if we are good enough. We constantly wonder if we are doing the right thing.

Give yourself credit. If we want others to believe in us, we have to believe in ourselves. For most, the doubt we feel is an offshoot of our fear of failing. Guess what, we are all going to fail at some point. It's not nearly as bad as we think it will be. This doesn't mean we should go in to anything thinking we are going to fail. We just need to be comfortable knowing if we do fail, in the vast majority of situations, it isn't the end of the world. By eliminating this fear, we open ourselves up to having more belief in ourselves. It isn't if you fail, it's all about how you handle the failure when it happens.

If you want to create your art in the best possible ways, you have to believe in yourself. Be honest about your intentions and do the best work you are capable of doing. Ignore the fear and self-doubt. They have no place in our work. Once you start doing this, you will see believing in yourself isn't that difficult. Once you start believing in yourself, others will really start believing in you. The beliefs start feeding off each other. When others believe in you, you will start believing in yourself more. All you have to do is take the first step and give yourself some credit. After that, it will become easier and easier. We all have something special to offer...isn't about time we offer it to the world?