Reach For The Stars, But Keep Your Balance

The Kid strikes again!

A walking contradiction, our socially precocious 10-year old grandson is an erratic and unpredictable picky eater.  For the few foods making up his personal nutritional pyramid, he has become an adventurous cook.  In the category of things he will brave eating, he has two favorites - more and all you've got.

A few days ago, he was inspecting the just cleaned contents of the dishwasher.  Picking a soup ladle from the upper rack, he exclaimed, "Now, there's a tasting spoon!"  Go big or go home, I suppose.

He was serious; he thought it was a tasting spoon, one just for his personal use.  I can only applaud the ambition.  He wanted, was in his own mind entitled to, the biggest and best, and was claiming it for his own.

We all ought to be thinking about the biggest, the best, the brightest for ourselves and for our own careers.  We ought to be working at being good enough that the pinnacle is, by rights, ours to claim.  And, if falling short, or experiencing disappointment, we ought to rededicate our efforts, master the skills, and build a track record that makes our case clear.

Reality will intrude, though.  Perhaps we just don't have the horsepower to be as good as we would like to be.  Maybe our employer does not value - or reward - superlative and exemplary professional accomplishment.

That's no time to turn to a bag of chips and a tall boy of IPA with which to enjoy the latest rerun of Game of Thrones.  It is time to stay the course of being as good as you can be, and/or finding an environment in which reaching for the brass ring is tolerated, or even encouraged.

We all have limitations, ceilings.  But, you don't know where yours is unless you reach for it.  Stretch as far as you can; teeter a bit; but, don't fall off the ladder.