My Two Cents: The Ultimate Opportunity

Whether you choose to accept complacency once you've attained success or whether you continue to explore ways to surpass your personal abilities and pursue winning outside your familiar boundaries, might ultimately be your real test.

I was having lunch with a friend the other day. When the subject turned to the topic of Tiger Woods, I all of a sudden tuned in.

Tiger Woods, in spite of all the admiration and rewards that he has received at any given point in his career, refuses to rest on his laurels. Unwilling to settle for what he has already accomplished or for what he doesn't have to really work hard to pursue, Tiger Woods is relentless in his pursuit of excellence and committed to raising the bar.

While I was listening to my friend share about how impressed he is at the fact that Tiger Woods never seems to hesitate at the risk of losing a tournament or two while he works on improving his game, I concluded to myself that Tiger has created himself as his own ultimate competition. In other words, regardless of what anyone else may or may not achieve, whenever or if ever they achieve it, is not what he is concerned about at all. He is only concerned about whether or not he is doing the very best that he can do rather than whether or not he is better than the guy who he just beat.

Consider that it is possible to be better than everyone else within the boundaries of the game that you're playing and yet still be mediocre if you're not intent on achieving your own personal best. If you are not trying to do better than what you think you can do, working out what you suspect you can accomplish, content to do a little bit better than the guy you have to beat to win, then consider yourself -

in decline.

That's my two cent's (for whatever it's worth).

Auguste Roc
auguste@danaroc.com