Don’t lower your expectations … lower the rim!
Yes, there is a story behind the message. I grew up in a basketball crazy area of Kansas City, Kansas and attended Wyandotte High School. During the glory days Wyandotte was State Champions in basketball ten out of fourteen years. And I had the real pleasure of playing on the school grounds with many outstanding players including Lucius Allen and Pierre Russell, who went on to have great college and professional basketball careers.
Although I didn’t play in high school, I absolutely loved the sport and always dreamed of growing up to be 6’2” or taller so I could dunk a basketball. Well, I didn’t quite get there. I’m barely 5’8” in shoes, on a good day, with a mediocre vertical leap no less. However, I have dunked a basketball roughly 100-150 times in my lifetime.
How was I able to overcome these physical limitations and achieve my goal of dunking a basketball?
I purchased a basketball hoop with a height adjustable backboard and lowered the rim. A simple solution to the problem, right? So why not apply this same logic to other important areas of our lives when it comes to achieving our goals? Far too often when things are difficult we tend to either duck and run, and consequently missed the target, or lower our expectations and settle for less.
Does this sound like you? If so, let’s try a different approach in the upcoming New Year to see if it improves our ability to meet or exceed our goals and achieve greater success.
- Step 1 … Set reasonable goals.
- Step 2 … Get to work.
- Step 3 … Make course corrections, where needed.
- Step 4 … Improvise, employ the “lower the rim” strategy if you get stuck.
- Step 5 … Celebrate your success!
An oversimplification, I know, but you get the point here. The aim should be to reach our goals without lowering our expectations, giving up and settling for less. I read a great quote recently that said, “97% of the people who quit too soon are employed by the 3% that never gave up”.
In 2022, be a part of the 3%. Play Above the Rim … Keep your expectations high and be creative in your approach to accomplishing your goals.
Enjoy the journey!
John
COPYRIGHT © 2017-22 John Carroll