Expect More

“Hold your­self to a higher stan­dard than any­one else expects of you. Never excuse your­self.”

This is among the few quotes which I try to adhere to in my life. I expect myself to per­form bet­ter, act bet­ter, be bet­ter. Bet­ter than I always am.This is a con­tin­ual drive to improve.Last night’s improv show is a good exam­ple of it. After the show a lot of peo­ple came by, shook my hand, told me they had a good time. I’m glad they enjoyed the show. But I wasn’t sat­is­fied. There were numer­ous times dur­ing the show when I was off. I missed a beat, or I locked up, or I stut­tered through some setup.

I always thought there was, or would be, some­thing I was nat­u­rally good at. As a child I believed peo­ple were born with innate skills and child prodi­gies existed with­out lots of work or prac­tice. Even­tu­ally I came to real­ize how wrong I was and that the only way was to improve on the skills I have. And so I drive myself.

I know I’m not unique in this desire. But to me this is part of my guid­ing prin­ci­ples: I expect myself to get better.

Of course some­times I slack. Some­times I don’t work. Some­times I can’t get moti­vated. And those are times I’m even more frus­trated. The work piles up and makes it even more intim­i­dat­ing to get it done. But when I do get off my ass and work, I feel the eupho­ria of suc­cess. That eupho­ria is amazing.

To stand on stage, have come up in that instant with a funny one-liner, said it with per­fect tim­ing, and the audi­ence laugh­ter fills my ears. Those are the moments I live for. But I will always hold myself to these higher standards.