We played our last gig of the year last night – it was really great. The crowd loved it, we played pretty well and the energy was high. I got some very nice crowd response to some of my solos on the guitar, which always feels good.

Interestingly, I still feel that my guitar work is not where I want it to be. Even in the middle of a fast riff, it’s not as clear and precise and perfectly timed as what I can hear in my head.  I’ve got to do more practice to reach what I think is my potential.

You may feel this way about your work this year, as you hurtle towards summer. So much left undone, performance not quite where you’d imagined or hoped, opportunities that didn’t play out as you’d anticipated.

That’s all true, and you should hang on to your dissatisfaction with your performance because that’s what keeps driving you to your full potential.

But take a moment to listen to your version of the crowd.  Did you delight your customers? Did you enable your staff to grow? Did you make the organization work a little better? Did you do something new?

Most important, are you performing better than you were 12 months ago?

If you can answer any of those with even a partial yes, give yourself a break.

Acknowledge the crowd with a smile and a wave, and head into summer with both a sense of achievement and a determination to do better.