Dare to impress . . .

I remember when my dad would come home from work and when my mom would ask how his day went, he would say (sometimes a little sarcastically), “Well, I got an ‘atta boy!”

That “atta boy” was code for “great work” or “good job” or any other generic “way to go” phrase that you can insert. Even as a kid, I know that even if he was being sarcastic in how he would mimic the way in which it was said to him, my dad secretly liked knowing that what he was doing was good.

When is the last time that you decided to impress someone with your work?

I can hear (even from myself) the reasons why it’s pretty hard to do these days:

• they expect so much from me, in such a short amount of time
• well, if I only had the resources . . . 
• pretty tough to “impress” when I’m barely getting what I need to do finished, completely

And then there’s the:

• the last time I impressed someone, I ended up when many more “initiatives” assigned to me
• impressing is tough to do when the end goal keeps changing
• how do you impress people who don’t really know what they want?

Well . . . 

The number one person that you need to strive to impress is - yourself!

We’re our own worst critics. You (and I) KNOW when we’ve done a really good job with something, and when we’ve just basically mailed it in.

When you strive to impress yourself, then ultimately, you’ll find more happiness in what you are doing - because doing great work makes us feel So Much Better about what we do. You’ll gain knowledge and confidence by actually pushing yourself to be better at what you’re doing. You’ll actually CARE MORE.

When you mail it in, it’s kinda like how you feel when you cheat on your diet All The Time. There’s no commitment there and you ultimately don’t have your heart in your efforts. How can you possibly expect that half-hearted work to impress anyone? You’ve been given talents and specific skills - and deep down, you know when you are wasting your time and your talents.

So - beat the odds. Do the great work, despite the reasons why you shouldn’t be able to. Impress yourself. Get all of the extra initiatives that you can possibly handle - VOLUNTEER    for them even!!

Make your work be heard - most importantly, by you.

And then, give yourself an “atta boy.” Make yourself proud.

(p.s. This is dedicated to anyone who needed a boost in their spirit today.)