Are You a High Bar Setter?
When my daughter was in high school I was one of the coaches for her track team. My coaching area was the sprint and relay teams; however I was always intrigued but the coaching methods of the high jump and pole vaulting coach. At the beginning of each season he would ask the high jumpers and pole vaulters what they felt their height goal was for the season. Then he would set the bar 5 inches over that mark and that is where the athletes would start their practice. When I asked him why he did that he told me that most of the athletes aim lower than what their potential is and if that is the mark they will always be aiming too low. But by setting the mark higher than what they thought they could achieve, it gave them something to strive for. That track coach understood the words of Michelangelo. He knew that it was better to set the bar high and have his athletes miss it, than set the bar too low and have them achieve less than their potential. Are you a high bar setter for you and those around you or do you play it safe? As a leader do you inspire others to aim high or do you encourage those you are leading to play it safe and set the mark when it can be achieved without a lot of effort? Think of all the times in you life that you set a goal that was a little bit out of reach. Even if you didn’t reach the mark, didn’t the effort make you better? You see, that is what Michelangelo meant when he wrote those words so many years ago. It is not reaching the mark that is most important, it is the effort that truly changes and improves us. Become a high bar setter today!“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark”.
-Michelangelo
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