....from time to time. It's called progress. Nothing around them stays the same. EVER.

Everyone needs to feel the heat of change and progress from time to time in order that they don't get lapped by the competition. It keeps them sharp and operating at their very best. Years ago my best friend was participating with a couple other guys in a triathlon. He was doing the swimming leg (he wasn't an accomplished swimmer by any means). He said he was hanging in there through the mid way point of the swim but felt he was running out of gas and was thinking of dropping out as more and more swimmers passed him. He noticed a little girl coming up alongside him and she seemed to be swimming effortlessly. He picked up his pace a little to keep her from passing him and to put some distance between them, but after a bit he started to feel really fatigued again and slowed down. Again the little girl calmly pulled up alongside him and looked to pass him causing his pride to kick in and he dug deeper still.

This pattern continued until he finall finished the swim and could barely crawl out of the lake but just ahead of the little girl. It was funny to see him like a beached whale (my friend wrestled heavyweight in college) while the little girl hopped out of the water into the waiting arms of her mother and seemingly unfazed ask, "How'd I do mommy?"

My friend admitted he was going to quit more than once but every time he thought about it that little girls would enter his view and he dug deeper for his very best effort to stay ahead.

We all need to be pushed and motivated from time to time to do our very best, and when you have a job that pays 7 figures, there's no room for any less than your very best.