In order to be great, you need to be great. 

That sounds simple enough, and it is, but it’s more than that.  There’s a lot to unpack in those words.

***

When you achieve your goals, you need to be satisfied.  But, you should never be satisfied being satisfied.  

Yeah, there’s a lot to unpack there as well.  

***

I’ve shared this big idea before, but in everything I do, I try to be the best.  I wanted to be the best teacher.  I wanted to be the best principal.  I want to be the best dad and the best husband.  I want to be the best runner.  I want to be the best author.  

I want to be the best baseball player…

On and on.

I want to be the best at everything I do.  All of that – and so much more.

But you can’t simply want to be the best.  You have to be willing to work hard to achieve your goals.

In order to be great, you need to be great.

***

People tell me I’m pretty good at a lot of things.  

But (and forgive this statement of the obvious)… I’m not great.  At all.  I’m flawed in so many ways.  

Currently, I’m in a running slump.  I can’t seem to sustain any run lately longer than three miles.  For me, that’s just not good enough.  EAch time I get on the treadmill I tell myself it’s going to be different, but it isn’t. 

We all have our talents, and I have mine, but even what I’m good at, I’m not so great.  

I might only be great at one thing… trying to be great.

And I’m somewhat satisfied with that.  We have to appreciate who we are, faults and all.  And I think I have a pretty realistic sense of myself.  So in a sense I am satisfied, but I’m not completely satisfied.  No way, not at all. Because I have to strive and work to be better.

In order to be great, you need to be great.

I want to be great, so I need to work hard to be great.  Greatness comes through hard work, through focus, through dedication, and through positive energy.  

***

I want to be a great baseball player.

I’m never going to pitch in the Major Leagues.  Or the Minor Leagues.  I’m 55-years-old.  I’m too old for any of that.  And I don’t nearly have the talent.

But I still want to be great. 

And I’ve had some success, but I’m not satisfied.

In 2019, I was asked to join a baseball team – as a pitcher.  It was a silly request.  I’m not a pitcher.  Or I wasn’t.  And I didn’t play baseball.  I last played competitive baseball in 1986.  I pitched JV for Midland Park High School.  I wasn’t even good enough to make the varsity team.  After that season, my baseball career came to a close.  That was it.  I was 16-years-old and I was done.  A dream ended.

That is until 2019.  

In my first game that year, I pitched four innings.  I allowed 11 runs.  It wasn’t the most amazing debut ever. 

I kept pitching.  I also kept losing.  In my last start of the season, I pitched a nine-inning complete game.  We lost, but I had done something that a few months earlier didn’t seem possible. I was satisfied, but it wasn’t good enough.  I still had more to try to achieve.  

The next year, in 2020, I won my first game.  I was satisfied, but it still wasn’t good enough.  

In 2021, I started pitching for a second team.  I won a few games.  Better yet, I even won the semi-final game in Cooperstown, New York on the legendary Doubleday Field.  I was satisfied, but it wasn’t good enough.  

WE need to appreciate the successes we have along the way. These successes can give satisfaction, but we can’t be satisfied. Being satisified means we’re content with what we’ve accomplished . It means, “Good Enough.”

I can’t be satisfied with “Good Enough.”

Last year, I helped pitch my team in Ridgewood, New Jersey to the league championship.  We won it all! 

That was great, but another season is looming and I want to do even better!

***

I just finished a baseball workout.  I stretched.  I ran.  And I completed the third day of my at-home winter training session to prepare for the baseball season coming months from now. 

In order to be great in April, I need to prepare now. 

Yeah, I’ve found a fountain of youth of sorts by playing baseball.  I’ve had more success these last few years playing a game I love (and one that I thought was lost to me forever) than I ever thought possible.  It’s been greater than my wildest hopes.  

And I am, in that sense, very satisfied.  I have had so many memories of wonderful moments, wonderful games, and fantastic teammates.  It’s the best.  

But I’m not satisfied enough to say, “That’s that.”  No, no, no.

It’s not over yet.  I’m not done.  

In order to be great, you need to be great.  And I’m gpoing to continue being great at working hard and trying hard to be great. 

I might never be great, but I’m going to try greatly to get there.

Yeah, I’m satisfied, but I’m still not satisfied…