Always Demand Your Personal Best

Some people approach life, simply trying to get along and getting away with a marginal at best approach and attitude. They sem contented exerting the minimal effort, and settle for okay rather than striving for excellence and superiority. When mediocrity becomes the norm or standard, motivation and effort are reduced to a bare minimum, and people settle or whatever is easy to do. They never challenge themselves, because they fear being disappointed, frustrated, embarrassed, etc. Settling for the mediocre often results in personal stinking thinking, where the individual let's his hopes and aspirations lay dormant, and his life becomes mundane and routine. There is a strong corollary between a mediocre thinker and a losing attitude, while a winning attitude always demands effort and a positive can - do philosophy. Who would you rather hang around?

1. The choice is always up to each of us. You can either choose to demand more of yourself and never settle for anything less than your personal best effort. While that does not mean that you will automatically succeed, when one settles, you can be quite certain that the end result will be far less than optimal. While some individuals seem to publicly take pride kin being, performing and acting marginally, it is my belief that their behavior is little more than a combination of a defense mechanism, lack of self confidence, and little personal pride.

2. The strongest and most successful individuals are generally those who demand more from themselves, in terms of effort, effectiveness, and results. These people are not necessarily competitive versus other people, but rather their competitive spirit is their personal approach, to push themselves to try harder, and strive for superior results. In the vast majority of circumstances, this results in far more self pride and personal satisfaction, because one knows that, regardless of the eventual outcome, they have done the best that they can do. These people never make excuses, and certainly never blame others or circumstances, for their lot in life.

Every truly great leader went to great lengths to ensure that whatever he did, he always do to the best of his abilities. These individuals had the courage and inner fortitude to make decisions, and trust their judgment. They understood that procrastination served no purpose, and was the antithesis and enemy of quality and achievement. Like most aspects of life, in the final analysis, the decision is always up to each of us as to what we expect from ourselves and what we are satisfied with. What do you expect from yourself?