What is it that makes us push, makes us strive for more & to never be satisfied. Ever since I was a in high school, I would go through training partners all the time. No one would train as hard as I did and they would quit. No one wanted to spend the time I did and they quit.
It wasn't until I got to Westside Barbell that I found a group of people that had the same passion for training and their was no quit, there was lack of work ethic. It really opened my eyes to the power of passion. More than that though it opened my eyes to a type of personality that is never satisfied.
I'm that way with my business as well. Dave has referred to it as blast or dust, but whatever you call it, it isn't something that many people have. It is something that all great business people have though and the truly successful business people are like the lifters I trained with at Westside, only they are chasing success on the business platform instead of the lifting platform.
For as long as I can remember nothing was good enough. Even winning a world championship just means that I could have done more weight. No total & no accomplishment has ever been good enough for me to say "I'm happy with where I am." I've never been strong enough, big enough or had my business where I want.
This mentality of never being satisfied pushes me to do things that not many other humans can do, but it also puts me in a bad position. It means that no matter where my life is, I am always pushing at break neck speeds to make it better. I never stop to "smell the roses", cause the minute I do that, I feel like I'll get run over by those who are pushing to be better.
I understand the irony in this situation. I will never be satisfied but that also means I will always continue to push to get better. I guess at one point in my life maybe I will be satisfied, but honestly if the day comes when I don't want to push to be better, push to be more, then I don't really want to live.
To me, life is about the pursuit of greatness, not being "good". If there comes a point when I no longer want to push to be greater, then my life will lose it's meaning and I will have lost my passion.
Of coarse at different points in my life, different things have lead the way in what I am killing myself to achieve. Right now it is building a business that can whether the test of time. Elitefts.com has been around for over 15 years, it is in the minority of businesses that make it. For me, I want to see The Spot Athletics have this kind of longevity and more. This means I cannot stay satisfied with where we are.
I believe that if you are satisfied with where you are and what you have done, you aren't living anymore. We can always be more, greater, stronger and push the limits until we get there. If you aren't pushing the limits, you don't know what living is.