Posts Tagged ‘police adademy’
Should You Stop At “Good Enough?”
If you have read this blog before, you know that I like to tell stories. At my advancing age there are so many of them, and social media connections help me remember and revisit them to see if I learned anything at the time, or can still learn now.
So when a Facebook friend posted this comment (about a picture of an alligator), it reminded me of my own time at the police academy.
When I attended the academy, candidates were required to meet certain standards in the following areas – academic, physical agility, and marksmenship. Each area had a minimum score that the candidate had to reach during a final test in order to pass and become certified. If you weren’t certified, you could not work as a police officer.
The physical agility test was a series of tasks, like running a mile in a certain time, and doing a minimum number of push-ups and sit-ups. When it was my turn, I did whatever minimum number it was to pass, and then stopped.
“Hey!” yelled one of my instructors as I was getting up after doing my minimum sit-ups. “I know you can do more!”
“Sure, ” I replied, “but what for? I’m not going to win any agility award, and I passed. I don’t see the point in doing any additional.”
Then I walked away, leaving the instructor scowling.
HR pundits and bloggers often discuss how important it is to try, and how people shouldn’t stop themselves from achieving more. But I’m not sure if it’s necessary to always try to be on top. It may be just as important to minimize your effort in some area in order to shine brighter in another (I did win the academic award with the highest score in my academy class).
Sometimes, I think, good enough really is just that.
Do you?
