A changing World - switching from 'victory' to 'mastery'

[February 23th 2022]

Adam Grant, organisational psychologist at Wharton, recently referred to following ...

"Striving to be the best is a mistake. It creates the illusion of an endpoint - and a delusion that you can only succeed by beating others".

"Striving to be better shifts the focus from victory to mastery. You're competing with your past self and raising the bar for your future self" .

I love this and couldn't agree more ... the former is so true ... whilst the latter is founded on robust psychology and philosophy that goes back thousands of years (e.g. Greek philosophy) ...

The former is based on setting high levels of expectations based on comparison with others ... whilst the latter is based on being happy with oneself and seeking to become a better version of oneself ... 

These are very different approaches ... and create very different outcomes.

For instance in the business world many companies do the former, whilst world leading companies do the latter (e.g. Microsoft cf Apple) ... and yet look at the results (e.g. Apple are the most valuable, and highly respected, companies in the world).

... and these concepts equally apply in an individual's personal life too ...

If an individual constantly compares themselves with others and expects to become the best in the world ... then the vast majority of times they are destined to fail ... and end up disappointed, demotivated and depressed. 

Conversely if an individual expects nothing, and instead continuously strives to become a better version of themselves (e.g. by doing meaningful things for others, for communities and the environment), the vast majority of times they will succeed ... and will be motivated, fulfilled, successful and happy.

In my humble opinion a good place to start is by removing the word "Expectation" from useful vocabulary ... and stopping comparing with others too ... as we are only ever happy when we are happy in ourselves ...

The Good Turns Foundation's mission is highly aligned to this ideal ... with it's vision of seeing "a world where values are valued" ... and with it's mission of "creating a world where good is valued and people and communities thrive" ...

The main 'measures' the Good Turns Foundation is using are measures of 'good', doing good for others, for communities and the planet e.g. Good Points®, Volunteer Points®, Environment Points®. However the Foundation is also using measures such as Creative Points®, based on the definition of creativity in it's widest sense and being "the process of having original ideas that have value". These measures are all "measures of behaviour", not output, and they are supported by many more unique and meaningful measures which are part of the overall Good Turns® portfolio of measures too.

The world is changing at an ever increasing rate and the Good Turns Foundation is playing it's part in helping to create this future ... a better future ... a world where 'values' are 'valued' and people and communities thrive!

David Clift, Founder of the Good Turns Foundation

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