Excellence and the Plans of Others

"The failure to commit to excellence, to victory, leads by default to the subconscious acceptance of mediocrity and eventual defeat." - Brian Tracy, Victory

Reviews are always one of the least appealing parts of any work year. Couched in the context of improvement, it is always a roll of the dice as to what you will get: serious feedback, vendettas from outside sources, or just a list of personal peeves.

Another interesting thing about reviews (besides what is in them) is how they contrast with the 364.9 days of the year. If someone says they want you to exercise initiative but always undercut your initiatives, the chances you'll take the review seriously and act accordingly are fairly slim. Contrariwise, if someone recognizes and applauds (without temporizing) your activities, your incentive to achieve is more.

However, I had something happen new this year that I had not in previous years: someone else's vision of me.

It happened quite accidentally: my proposal of what I wanted to accomplish in the coming year, and then the comparison for what the reviewer wanted accomplished in the coming year. As the discussion continued, suddenly it was not what I wanted, but what the reviewer wanted from me and how I fit into their plans that became the issue.

As this panoramic view of my position was laid out in front of my eyes, what I saw was not the possibilities that were intended (although possibilities were there) but the commitment of myself to the plans and goals of another. I was not a game piece in my own right but rather a cog in the machine of someone else. My success was not to be defined by my achievements, but by mine in their plans.

My initial reaction: defeat. I came home mentally exhausted and battered by the dichotomy of having one thing said and experiencing another, of having a glorious vision of my role in someone else's life told to me. There is nothing less encouraging, more demotivating, than the hear of expectations without authority, achievements without resources, proposed leadership in the face of overpowering resistance.

This thought followed me throughout the night and into the morning until, in a fit of early morning activity, I picked up Victory and read the above quote.

Does a quote magically change my world? Not the last time I checked. Does the quote apply to my situation as it is? Not necessarily - but neither can the commitment to excellence and victory be confined simply to the situation in which one finds one's self. But there is no reason to say the two cannot walk hand in hand, the current and the future. The opportunity to rise above current circumstances comes to all, but not all accomplish it. And certainly the commitment to excellence and victory is a self definition, not limited or bounded by the definition of others in their plans - in fact, perhaps opposite to them.

So the question hangs as I prepare for the first day of the next 11 months: Excellence and victory, or mediocrity and defeat? One leads to my dreams, the other leads me to toiling in the dream fields of others.