Woody Allen is considered one of the greatest directors of all time. But if you ask Woody about his success, he may beg to differ,
“I think I’ve made some decent movies and a larger number of okay movies, but I’ve never made a great movie."
The standard Woody holds himself to is one of excellence. When he sets out to write a script and put a film together, he expects the movie to be flawless. The standard of perfection, one that is unattainable, leads to the common theme of the ambitious: discontent. The standards are too high and out of grasp, that the desired result will never be met.
Woody has received praise for many of his movies, Annie Hall and Manhattan to name a few, but that praise is met with his dissatisfaction.
As Woody explains,
"The vision of the audience is never as deep as the vision of the artist involved. They are always willing to settle for less than you want for yourself."
Others will set expectations for you, but those expectations will always, or should always, be less than what you expect from yourself because you know what you're capable of. Others set expectations based on what you've done. You can set expectations based on what you can see yourself doing. The former is based on the past and is limited. The latter is rooted in the future and what's possible.
Make sure the standards you set are from you because when you succumb to the expectations of others, you lower the goalpost.
Kobe Bryant shared the same thing as Woody Allen.
"The expectations I placed on myself were higher than what anyone expected from me."
If you’re meeting your standards, that’s a bad thing. Change the goalpost. Expand your expectations. Demand more out of yourself. When you set the bar low, one that you can reach, you’re disrespecting yourself, your abilities, and who you could become. Set standards that are mocked, ridiculed, and laughed at. Ones that seem impractical. Not so that you can meet them or even get close, but so you get another gear you wouldn't have otherwise
Discontentment with yourself, because you're falling short of your standards, is better than satisfaction that you're meeting others' standards.
Make sure the standards you set are set by you, not the world. And don't forget that missing the goalpost and not coming close to those expectations is a blessing, not a curse. It fuels you. It drives you. It evolves you.
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