Where’s the bar?

May 31, 2011 //

No, I’m not talking about where to go for drinks tonight. :)   I’m taking about the notion of setting the bar. You always hear allusions to the notion that we don’t “set the bar” high enough, whether it be at where we work, our relationships, personal and professional goals, our government officials, and so on and so forth.  Some of the main problems I have with his idea, is the bar itself:  who set’s the bar?  What is it and how is it defined?  Why do we feel we are consistently not reaching, lowering or even knowing what the bar is?

Marketing guru and best selling “post-industrial” writer and blogger Seth Godin, writes that this leads us to engage in “Bar gymnastics”:

Some people I know work hard to lower the bar at work.

That was my strategy at gym class in high school. Not only did I do the minimum amount permitted, I worked hard to do just a little bit less than that. By the time the semester was over, the teacher was relieved if I even bothered to show up at all.

Most people seek to meet the bar. They figure out what’s expected, and do that.

A few people, very few, work to relentlessly raise the bar. She’s the one who overdelivers on projects, shows up ahead of schedule, instigates, suggests and pushes.

Raising the bar is exhausting, no doubt about it. I’m not sure the people who engage in this apparently reckless behavior would have it any other way, though. They get to experience a fundamentally different day, a different journey and a different reputation than everyone else.

His idea is that it is the few individual top achievers who raise the bar irrespective of the environment that surrounds them nor the resistance of those around them who want to set the bar back down, that bull their way through and set the standard for the higher bar.  As he writes, “success is not about speeding up the assembly line as much as it relies on individuals able to create leaps forward. The person capable of doing that sort of work is in far higher demand than ever before”.  In other words, it’s that nerdy kid in class who gets the top test score and throws off the grading curve for the rest of the class and does this, irrespective of the bulling and name calling he/she will get for setting the higher bar.

This isn’t a bad way to define it.  Your either going to lower the bar, get by and meet the bar or be the few that will raise the bar and set the standard.  Ironically, when you think about it, about as much effort is expended lowering the bar or just getting by to meet it as it would to work to raise it.  Given this, it’s probably best to strive to be the few raising the bar and setting the standards.

A word of warning though:  those who consistently work to lower or just get by are majority and should you be the one who challenges their status quo, will be met with much resistance and risk the threat of retaliation.  In our past, these individuals were imprisoned and in the extreme, put to death.  Something to keep in mind…

Categories Innovation, Productivity

Follow your passions

April 26, 2011 //

The notion to “follow your passions” is an often quoted notion advocated by self-help pundits and business start-up gurus that success in life only comes about through doing what you love and are passionate about, so it was nice to run into a couple posts that seem to fly in the face of this sentiment.  I often believe that it is important to be passionate about what you do, since  the persistence and endurance required for success can only come about if you truly like what you do.  But is this enough?

A post by self-help guru Steve Pavlina titled “Are You Faking Progress?” discussed the notion that one can spend a lot of time following your hobbies, research and passions under the assumption that you are doing something highly productive, only to find in hindsight that you’ve really only expended a lot of time and effort for not much in return.  Unlike other commodities, time wasted cannot be regained, so if obtaining tangible progress and return on your time and efforts is important, then you must be mindful of what you spend your time in.  Sounds very simple and like common sense.

On the other hand, I don’t think it’s that simple either.  There are lots of stories of geniuses and business tycoons who were criticized for indulging in a hobby, only for them to create some great invention that makes them wealthy or famous.  I’m sure many “normal” people would have thought Steve Wozniak toling away in his garage trying to make a home computer back in the 70s to be “wasting” his time, with no idea that he would be creating the foundations for the computer revolution and home based computers, aka Apple.  Or Einstein who’s teachers thought was lazy and inattentive due to his “day dreaming” in class, not realizing that these day dreams would become the genesis for the theory of relativity and change the world.  In these examples, these individuals are at the level of great artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs who are so passionate and involved in their ideas that it was of no consequence whether there was a practical return on their indulgences.

But what about us normal people who aspire to reach our less than great potential and make tangible progress and success?

A post in Harvard Business Review by Dorie Clark, maintains that it can actually be bad to follow you passions and that it would be best to don’t do what you love.  She provides 4 reasons to now follow your passions:

  1. You love it — but you’re not great at it
  2. You’re skilled at your passion — but hate the work that surrounds it
  3. You’re too emotionally attached
  4. No one will pay for it

I thought this post outlined a good checklist to think about when you’re very involved with some side hobby, research or business and wondering if you are investing your time wisely.  You may really love doing something, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your great at it or even good enough at it that you’ll achieve a modicum of success.  Just watch an episode of  American Idol to see this sentiment in action.  I think the 2nd and 3d items can be worked around with sustained effort, but the last one is vital if you’re trying turn your hobby or passion into a profitable venture.  If no one will pay for it, then you need to look into something else period.

Though I think the above are great reality checks, I really enjoyed this response from a reader named Athomas Goldberg, that sums up my overall view on this topic:

I guess in all of this, I’m not trying to argue that you’re points are invalid – only that they seem to apply to people who “don’t have what it takes” to be truly successful at their passions, because they’re not truly passionate about their craft, and with that I would agree, and would sum it up by with a single piece of advice for those who would pursue their passions:

If you’re prepared to assume that pursuing your passion will be the most difficult thing you will ever do, and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve success, while never being completely satisfied with wherever you currently stand in pursuit of your passion, than you have a chance of becoming, not just successful, but hugely successful at it. If not, than you should find a way to love what you do and embrace whatever brings you happiness beyond your career.

I think if you live under this precept, and are honest and practical about the limitations of your abilities and the time and effort it will take to achieve your true passions, then you will be successful and possibly greatly successful!

Categories Productivity