Good days, bad days and in between days, you need them all to grow! Embrace them all; they’re all a part of the journey.
In my last blog, Life Is A Series of Calibrations, I talked about calibrating my golf swing, personal life and professional life and how to adjust to stay on track. When you’re growing, learning and trying to get better, you will have good days. Things will all come together easily, and you’ll feel on top of it. You’ll also have bad days when everything feels like it’s going in the wrong direction, you won’t know what to do, and you’ll end the day feeling uncomfortable or unhappy.
In a past blog, This Too Shall Pass, I shared Tom Hank’s advice for when you’re feeling down, defeated or bad about yourself, to remember that “this too shall pass.” Whether you have a good day or a bad day, it will pass. Sometimes it’s not that dramatic, and you’re more in between. Some things aren’t great, while others aren’t that bad. You maybe see some progress, but not as much as you’d like. The key is to stick with it. It’s all part of the process.
I’ve not come across a successful person or organization that was a straight line of all good days and no bad or in between days. It just doesn’t happen that way. I challenge you to find me an organization or a person that’s done nothing but grow and have good times without any bad times. We have to embrace the process.
As leaders, we have to embrace the good, bad and in between times, and coach, encourage and lead our teams through it. You can coach them through it as long as you have the right people who are learning, trying, growing and giving it everything they have. Ultimately, like anything in life, you might not get there. Failure is an option. If that happens, you have to come to that conclusion and move on as gracefully as possible. Oftentimes, you can break through the barriers. If you embrace the challenges and have the right people doing the same, you’ll move to a level you never knew you could get to. Stick with it and embrace the challenge.
When I started my golf lessons, I was committed to it. I told myself that I’d stay committed to the process even if my golf game got worse (which it did for a while). You have to stick to it and embrace the good, bad and in between days. Better days are ahead as long as you’re failing forward, learning and growing!
