Words of Liberation

I've been taking the last two years to try and better myself personally. I've read and studied and learned quite a bit about who I am, why I am, and how I can improve some of my shortcomings. The first thing I did was lengthen my fuse. I'm quite a bit more patient now than I used to be. Of course I still have my moments, but it is still a work in process.

My next step was to become a better people person. This seems to be taking much much longer as I'm having to "re-write my code" so to speak. I'm getting there. But my next task was to learn how to reduce stress. Well, friends, I've learned the secret.

I've seen people say and do many things that are intended to reduce our levels of stress such as "Don't sweat the little things...and by the way, everything is a little thing", "Let go and let God", and words like that. We all know that the key is to just relax and chill out. But never before had I heard these exact words. They made perfect sense to me, and hopefully, they will you as well.

It all happened during a judges meeting at a First Lego League State Tournament. The scoring is done on a 4 point scale. The points are, Needs Improvement, Fair, Good, Excellent. One of the judges said that he frequently held back a score of 4 in any category unless the team performed that metric perfectly. And this is it....are you ready? The lead judge said these words, and instantly changed our mindsets:

"They don't have to be perfect, they just have to be excellent."

That's all it takes, friends! You don't have to be perfect...Being excellent is good enough! Once that sank in, it all got better...now if I can just learn how to mingle.
.