Smooth rough edges

How rough are your edges? What aspects of your professional life need to be polished, honed, developed or refined? Do you understand what it takes to bridge the gap between success and true greatness for you? We’ve all met truly talented executives and entrepreneurs who, while successful, still have a huge barrier preventing them from reaching their full potential … themselves. In today’s post I will discuss how to overcome the last hurdle between success and greatness, which is usually the barrier of self.

Over the years, I have come to believe that the professional talent curve is made up of a range consisting of the lower, middle, upper levels, and various points in between. Violators are those professionals whose talent and ability far exceed their level of performance. Achievers are those who perform at the height of their ability, and achievers are the few whose performance consistently overshadows their natural ability. Professionals at the upper end of the talent curve have learned to grow beyond self-imposed limits and have developed their skills and competencies to levels they never thought they were capable of.

I cannot tell you how many successful professionals I have met who have lost key employees, failed to close substantial deals or missed important opportunities, have had clients who consciously made the decision to work with other less talented professionals or companies simply because they were tired of attitude / ego / arrogance, their company had stalled, or any number of other tragic and avoidable circumstances simply because they were unwilling or unable to acknowledge their own shortcomings and do whatever it takes to brush up on the rough edges and take their game to the next level.

Okay, so you own your own business or run someone else’s, you’ve received your fair share of media attention and industry praise, you’ve accomplished many of your goals, and you make a living better than most. .. The most important questions are:

1. Is it successful or is it truly successful? Do you know the difference?

2. Are you happy and really successful or frustrated that you haven’t reached your full potential?

3. Have you really maximized your potential, or even recognize what it is?

4. Are you making others successful and others seeing you as true success?

5. How do you know what you don’t know?

The difference between being successful and being truly successful is bridging the gap between being good and being great. I think it was Shakespeare who said, “Don’t fear greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness above them.” Whether greatness is inherited, earned, or stumbled upon, it cannot be sustained without constant effort to refine and develop your abilities and skills. An arrogant confidence in what has worked in the past will only get you so far. It is very common to see professionals harness intellect, aggressiveness, creativity, innate leadership ability, charisma, or other positive traits to be successful. However, it is rare to see professionals take those same characteristics and actually develop them to the point of greatness.

If you are not constantly working to improve yourself, you will eventually hit a plateau and the only way to break the plateaus that will inevitably arise is to continually improve your skills and further develop your talents. Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you are indeed the best at what you do. Does this mean that there is no room for improvement and that you should not seek the help and advice of others?

Let’s use Tiger Woods as an example … At the time of writing, he has won 7 of his last 14 starts and is arguably the most dominant golfer on the PGA Tour. However, he still has a coach, practices frequently improving his game, and has a team of professionals around him with the goal of increasing his level of performance. You are already considered great, but you are constantly working to improve your competitiveness in order to build on what you have accomplished and maintain greatness instead of falling from greatness.

My recommendation for those at the higher end of the talent curve who want to make the transition from being successful to becoming truly successful is to come out of your bubble and be honest with yourself. You don’t need to succumb to self-bondage … Find a mentor who can credibly assess your strengths and weaknesses, understand your goals, and help you see the things you can’t see for yourself, that others won’t tell you, or even if they tell you that you refuse to acknowledge. Get out of yourself and start the journey from good to great.

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