What is the one thing that nearly every person tries to accomplish with their life? If you were to ask 100 Americans what their ultimate goal in life was, a very high number of them would likely say that they wanted to be successful. Success is measured in many different ways for many different people. Some people measure success by money made, while others judge it by other means. One thing I have noticed among many Americans today is the acceptance of someones "best". What the hell does that mean? "I tried my hardest", or "I did my best", are phrases that are all too common in today's society. They inspire our youth to do "their best" instead of allowing them to achieve their goals. Instead of a person striving to get a house, they do "their best" and can only rent a condominium. Instead of a child working until they get a 4.0 GPA, they "do their best" and pull off a 3.6. The total encompassment and acceptance of failure is intended to serve one purpose, and that is to not make anybody feel inferior to anyone else. We work so hard at trying to make everyone feel welcome in every situation, that many people forget what their true goals are. Goals are no longer we strive for until we accomplish, but are now something we "shoot" for and hope to get close to. If one does not reach their goal, they do not continue trying until they do reach the goal, but are just proud of how close they got to it.
Americans were once the country that did not take no for an answer, and did not accept any less than their goal. This attention to detail and desire for perfection led to some of the most successful and happy years of our country. The attention to detail also led to us being and industrial and manufacturing superpower for decades on end. Now we have to outsource jobs, because to have any attention to perfection costs money, because Americans forgot how to do things correctly. If we continue to allow ourselves to fall further into this black hole of acceptance, we will continue on our downward spiral into mediocrity. The question everyone of us should ask ourselves is do we stop when we think we have achieved our goal, or do we stop when we have "tried our hardest"?
Success
By duffmann808 - Posted on November 20th, 2006
But is it really their best that they have acheived? If it were their best, they'd be able to acheive the house rather than the condo (and I know that some people might not want a house, so this is more of a metaphor). It's my opinion that people use that as an excuse. A cop-out. I'm not saying that no one who says they did their best ever does their best, but I know that sometimes I say I did my best, when I know that I really didn't. The best by definition, is unbeatable. If it were the best, would it be possible to do better? No. They might be doing better than their neighbor, but it's not their best. I will say that I think goals encourage people to work harder towards some kind of success. But that's just my opinion; feel free to disagree.
That was my point. Merely settling for your "best" is selling yourself short, and is a big problem in today's society.
I don't think we outsource because we lack attention to detail. We outsource because we can get the same level of quality for cheaper rates. Take for example the freelance design fields. If you go to any job search site you'll find talented Americans being outbid by foreign counterparts since they are more than happy to work for $6/hour (while we want anywhere from $30/hour and upwards).
I see no problem with it. Also, if you look at the car industry, for decades foreign cars have been more reliable and all-around better, so that is where we spend our money.
For some reason this specific blog post strikes me as painting the country's population with a very broad brush.
P.S. - I, for one, never feel "okay" if I set a goal and do not reach it. I actually feel pretty shitty thinking that my best may not be good enough.