How to Ensure Dissatisfaction is a Key to Success

striving. Constant striving on everything just leads to never doing anything very well.

– Realize and accept that “good enough” ain’t bad – almost all of the time.

– Create SMART goals – for only the few important things and be satisfied with meeting the goals and then celebrate meeting them. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, Time framed.

– Create goals that align with the goals of others who have influence over what you consider important – like your job.

– Continue to resist the very human impulse to add goals – keep the truly important to 3 to 5 goals – no more.

– Understand and accept that “meeting goals” for SMART goals is excellent performance.

– Beware of goal creep – that self inflicted monster that keeps moving the bar higher and higher – even when it makes little if any sense.

– Accept that there are areas in your life where performance is not what it is in the core areas – that doesn’t mean failure – it means being human.

– Be as focused as that fabled fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. In one scene he tells his assistant, Dr Watson, that he doesn’t care if the moon goes around the sun or the earth goes around the sun. It makes no difference to him – all that knowledge could do to him would be to divert him from his truly important work. That work – in his case – is being the best detective he can be. Focus works to brush aside dissatisfaction with the trivial many.

Then keep striving – on the few things where striving will make a difference. Watch that Addiction To Dissatisfaction disappear, and be replaced by effective, focused accomplishment.

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