Recently, though, I decided to try an experiment based on
everything I've been reading and learning about life over the last
few years as I've actively researched the topic. I raised the
limit: now I can't go into the house until I get fifteen in a
row.
In theory, it should take me longer to get fifteen in a row
than it did to get ten in a row; after all, I have to get ten in a
row first, and then make another five without a single miss.
Fifteen is harder because they all have to be in a row--my overall
percentage probably won't change, but the distribution of the shots
will have to. No matter what, I can't go inside now until I
make fifteen shots in a row.
My Findings
Sub-headings make my findings seem more scientific, don't
they?
In any case, one of the most important things that I've
learned is that ten shots in a row is now a piece of cake. I
have no problems at all reaching ten--my first miss now usually
comes after 12 or 13 shots. When I used to reach 8 or 9,
something happened in my mind that made those shots more difficult,
that made my concentration less effective. Now that 8 or 9
shots are much further away from the final goal, they no longer have
the urgency associated with them that they used to have.
Plus, I have to concentrate harder now, knowing that my goal
is much more difficult to achieve. This higher level of
concentration actually makes shooting baskets easier, and I find
that once I hit the fifteen, it's very easy for me to go on to
twenty or even thirty nowadays--before, I'd usually get to 16 or 17
before I'd miss.
What This
Means to Me
"Big deal," you say, and I have to agree to a
certain extent--after all, we're talking shooting baskets in a driveway
here. But to me the most important part isn't in the baskets,
it's in what happens to us when we raise our standards. We've
all heard many variations of the saying that tells us to aim for the
stars, for even if we don't reach them, we'll still get higher than
we would have otherwise. But actually seeing that put into
practice in my life is very important to me, as I can see some of
the principles of getting more out of life unfolding for me.
When we set our goals or standards higher, we force ourselves
to perform at a higher level, and we give ourselves the opportunity
to accomplish something that we wouldn't have otherwise
accomplished. When I was running track in high school, my goal
for the mile was five minutes; I never made it, but I did make it to
5:15, a time that I was very happy with. If I had set my goal
at six minutes, though, the chances are that I never would have
reached 5:15.
Of course, there's the problem of setting unrealistic goals
and the resulting disappointment of not reaching them. The
problem there, though, is with the disappointment, not with the
goals. What's the big deal if we only read forty books this
year instead of the fifty we had wanted to read? That's still
better than the twenty or so we probably would have read if we
hadn't set a goal, or if we had set a lower goal.
Every time I reach ten baskets now, I'm reminded of something
very important--I set my standards, and it's up to me to raise them
if I want to continue to accomplish things and to make more out of
my life. The old goal, which used to take a long time to
reach, is now relatively simple. The new goal has made me a
better free-throw shooter, at least as far as getting them in
consecutively.
And I'm asking myself now what other aspects of my life may
benefit if I were to re-visit my goals and standards and maybe raise
them a bit? Ten is now easy--what else can I make easier to
accomplish in my life?
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