MY LIFE LESSON FROM A 'TEXAS RANGER'

Whilst I was deployed with the AFP in Los Angeles one of the regular deals was to attend retirement functions. One of the best was a retirement dinner for John Hensley, who was retiring as the US Customs Service, Special Agent in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office. Apart from being a great law enforcement officer and terrific friend of Australia, John was a brilliant bloke and respected martial artist. I had just returned from competing at the World Strongest Man event in Europe and was somewhat jet lagged and still sore. I was impressed at the number of people attending, which was a testament to John’s nature and the respect people held for him. As I was shown to my seat at the large round table I nearly fell over. Seated to my left was Chuck Norris – of Texas Walker Ranger fame. In the US, law enforcement agents can work on the side, and while he was the bodyguard for a number of celebrities, Norris was one of his best mates. Chuck was extremely humble and chatting with him was like having a yearn with a bloke at the local back in Australia. I wanted to know everything about his life and the show as I was a huge fan, but he was more interested in the strongman having told me he was fascinated with the feats of strength and was an avid watcher of the event. It was an incredible experience, and my heart skipped a beat when Chuck called out to his producer, seated opposite him and asked if they’d ever “kicked the crap out of an Aussie” on their show. They hadn’t, and when he asked if I wanted to be the first, I stammered with excitement! However, he did laugh when I asked whether I’d be hurt . . . I don’t know why I asked that . . . but he assured me I’d be trained about how to fall and to take a shot. I said I’d love to do it but I made the mistake of asking Canberra for permission to play the role of an extra, because they knocked it back.

I always like to ‘get inside the head’ of successful people and we were speaking about retirement and the like and Chuck said to me you know Grant ‘there is no finish line in life… when you reach one goal you just move to another..’.

Over time I’ve thought about that quote and what become evident to me is that it is about EXCELLENCE......and that life is a marathon - in which if you set goals and follow your heart, you will live your best life.

It’s about learning, testing yourself and expanding your area of comfortability. It’s hard work that never stops. Life is much more about the journey - how you run life's marathon - not the finish line and/or destination and there are no shortcuts. Chuck’s comments to me meant that the ability to improve and to continue to improve has no limits of time or a finish line. That one should continue to improve in all things and at all times. That one should never stop trying to be a better person, and that there is always room for improvement in all things and times. This can apply to all parts of life and at all time periods.

Where I personally struggled though was the notion of achieving perfection. I’d often been told that I should aim for perfection and not accept excellence. That didn’t compute well for me and I needed to look more deeply into the difference between both.

Whilst doing so I came across a quote reform Dr Harriet Braiker social and clinical Ph.D. psychologist who said;

“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.”

Perfectionism is focused on “doing the thing ‘right’”, how things appear, and if others think it’s done right.

Excellence on the other hand is about “doing the right thing”. It is focused on the reason for a task, and the results for it to be a success.

Perfectionism is a thief of time, draining your energy like a blood-sucking vampire. It bullies and you and demands unachievable outcomes – since whatever you do is never good enough. It makes you try to live up to some illusion that doesn’t exist. Perfection is always out of reach.

Excellence is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards. In contrast to perfectionism, excellence is measured by standards. Thus, excellence is objective. You know which standards you need to meet to achieve excellence and it is measurable. Perfectionism is not the key to success. In fact, research shows that perfectionism hampers achievement and that Perfectionism is correlated with depression, anxiety, addiction, and life paralysis, or missed opportunities.

1. Know yourself, your strengths, and your weaknesses.

“Know yourself, know your enemy, and you shall win a hundred battles without loss,” the proverb made famous by Sun Tzu in the ‘Art of War’, speaks to this. Yes, you can follow in the footsteps of others. There will be plenty of lessons and experiences you can borrow from other people to help you along the way. But you are an individual. And only you can make the right decisions for your life, your projects, and whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish. To make the best use of who you are as a person, you must understand yourself. What are your strengths? How can they help you succeed? What gives you a unique edge to do something different? Do you have some special knowledge or experience that can help you succeed? What are your weaknesses? How can they disrupt your plans? How can they prevent you from accomplishing your goals? What kind of support or resources do you need to bolster these weaknesses? Or better yet, turn them into strengths?

2. Set realistic goals to strive for.

Goals are of great help in pursuing excellence. You can have multiple goals at any one-time, long term, short term, immediate. They help you create a pathway to your success. The SMART goal-setting system is a common, effective method for creating and evaluating goals- SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-Bound.

The goal should be specific. For example, “I want to work out for an hour each day.” not “I want to be fit.”

The goal should be measurable. It should have a point where you can say, “Yes, I accomplished this.” In this instance, either you work out an hour a day, or you don’t.

The goal should be actionable. Can you realistically work out for an hour a day? Do you have the time? Can you make the time? Are you physically capable?

The goal should be relevant. Do you really care about working out that much to dedicate the necessary time to it? Is this the thing you want to be doing with your free time?

The goal should be time-bound. An hour a day, every day.

3. You need to do the work.

Grand plans and goals are fine and all, but there is no replacement for doing the hard yards, ‘putting in the work’. You have to actually do the work. There is no excellence or success without work, whatever your goal is.

And don’t make the mistake of thinking that pursuing excellence, or your passion will be “fun.” There’s a pretty good chance it won’t be.

It takes real work to even be average at something. There aren’t any shortcuts that will get you around the work. Don’t procrastinate, don’t waste your time looking for shortcuts, don’t sit around daydreaming about when you’ll be successful. Do the work.

4. Take pride in your work.

Make excellence a habit. If you are going to spend your time doing something, do it to the best of your ability. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to write a story or sweeping a floor, by making excellence a habit, you are training yourself and your brain to reach a particular level of success.

Do the best you can, and you can always be satisfied, even if things don’t work out in the end.

5. Take care of your mental and physical health.

It’s hard to strive for excellence when constantly beating your body and mind down with unhealthy habits. Instead, aim for a healthier lifestyle, better nutrition, drink more water, greater sleep hygiene, regular exercise, reducing stress and taking time to calm your mind. Your body is a machine that is meant to move. We spend so much time sitting in front of screens in sedentary lifestyles that it can drastically impact our well-being – sitting is the new smoking.

Self-care will help you keep your body and mind healthy, making it easier to think creatively and do the work. Striving for excellence will seem impossible if you’re feeling tired and lethargic all the time.

6. Continue to build your knowledge.

There’s always something new to learn. And while it is important to bring your own personal touch and flair to whatever you do, there is a world of knowledge and experience out there that you can draw from.

You don’t have to personally blaze all of your own trails. Instead, you can follow in the footsteps of other people who have come before you through knowledge. Often, that can get you much closer to excellence than trying to go it alone. There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel when the wheel is already a perfect invention. Instead, build your knowledge, look for other perspectives, take what works for you and discard the rest.

7. Evaluate yourself and your work.

Are you regularly checking in on yourself and your work? Are you satisfied with the progress of your goal? Are you putting in enough work? What is lacking currently? What can I do better? Am I on my projected track?

8. Make adjustments to bring yourself closer to your goal.

What adjustments can be made? We often see Tennis players needing to readjust their game plan to overcome their opponent. Life is the same, if things aren’t going to your plan, then look at other options.

You will inevitably pick up on things that are working and not working for you as you sail toward your goal. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments along the way. You don’t have to stick to the original plan or goal if you find it’s not working for you.

9. Seek feedback from a trustworthy source.

Feedback from a trustworthy source can be so helpful in reaching excellence. For example, an experienced mentor can provide guidance and feedback that you wouldn’t typically get from a fan or someone close to you.

Do yourself a huge favour, and don’t seek critical feedback from friends and family. You’re putting them in a crappy position where they may decide to lie to you to save your feelings because you put in all this work on this thing, and they don’t want to discourage you. You’re really hopeful that it’s good, but it still needs work. And they don’t want to tell you that because they don’t want to bring you down. That won’t help you succeed.

Instead, hook up with internet communities involved in the thing that you are trying to accomplish. Seek feedback there if you don’t have anyone in your life that you feel you can get real feedback from.

But do remember to take all opinions and advice with a heavy dose of salt and scepticism. Not all advice is good.

10 Decide when to end the goal.

Decide a definitive end to the goal. Don’t use obscure things like your feelings to dictate when it’s done. Your feelings may never give you the approval that you’re looking for, particularly if you are someone who struggles with your own self-esteem or self-worth.

Give yourself permission to be human. You’re allowed to not be perfect. Do the best you can. You won’t always succeed, and that’s okay.

Don’t be perfect, aim to do the best you can and if that leads to excellence, then you’ve done very well.

Thank you Chuck for piquing my interest.