Saturday’s speech to the Saint Anselm College Ice Hockey Team in New Hampshire was an exciting challenge for me. Though I’ve addressed football teams and basketball teams in the past (sports that I played…and understood), I had never spoken to a hockey team. (Come to think of it…I’ve never even been ice skating before!)

This was a perfect opportunity for me to stretch, to go outside my comfort zone.

Comfort is an achievement killer. People fail to reach their full potential due to their unwillingness to make choices that create discomfort for themselves.

I shared this idea with the team, but I doubt that they had any idea that I was addressing myself as much as I was sharing with them.

We all have the tendency to work just hard enough to achieve a place of comfort – a sort of homeostasis. As soon as things are good enough, we relax our efforts and attempt to enjoy the comfort for as long as it lasts.

However, to really live a full life, complete with overcoming personal challenges and experiencing victories as a team, we must understand that good enough is not good enough. We can never be satisfied with things as they are.

It doesn’t matter what it is you do. It doesn’t matter how well you currently do it. There is ALWAYS room to grow. There is ALWAYS some way that you can get better. You haven’t reached your full potential yet. You haven’t reached your peak.

For real winners, good enough is NEVER good enough.

Challenge yourself to be your best!

(By the way, many thanks to my cousin Nick Wheeler for making this weekend happen. Go Hawks!)