When am I at my best? When am I most focused? A friend's words cause me to ponder these questions. I suppose it's informative to look back upon my greatest personal successes.
I was a mediocre basketball player in my freshman year of high school. That summer my parents gave me the option to spend the time playing ball, or working. By senior year I was a tri-captain, which no doubt was a factor in my current coaching position. So the desire to play rather than to work has been a source of motivation for me.
I was a mediocre student in my sophomore year of high school. Then I came to admire a person who had a perfect grade point average. I started chasing my naive version of an all-American boy to become better. By senior year I was fifth in my class. So the urge to impress has been a productive one.
When I got to college I was driven to see if I was capable of perfection if I gave it my all. Besides the effort of studying more than ever before, I had to visit with several teachers to overcome weak starts in some classes.
In one European geography class where I was one of two freshmen, the teacher declared on the first day that "this isn't a class for freshmen." My guess is that she would also have said it's not a class for math majors. By the middle of the semester she was quoting my test essay answers to the rest of the class as if it were poetry.
At another point I realized at 1:00 in the morning that I needed to completely re-work an economics assignment that was due at 8:00. I was pulling a low B in the class at the time. I trudged back down to the computer lab for another hour.
Yes, the compulsion to remain perfect has also shaped who I am in certain facets of my life.
More recently, the quest for inner peace has been a guiding light for my path. I've stepped into plenty of potholes along the way, but have also built habits to steer clear of them.
In all I'd say that in the long run I tend to be at my best, certainly my most focused, when I'm chasing a dream.
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