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When Being the Best Is Still Not Enough

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Achievement may not resolve the deeper feeling that we are not enough.

Early experiences can shape the physiology beneath our hunger, drive, and relentless commitment to achieve.

Attuning to our physiology can help shift our relationship with performance and achievement.

Novak Djokovic has achieved virtually everything possible in professional tennis. He is widely considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, players of all time. Yet in the newly released documentary Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter, he reflects on something deeply vulnerable that may be familiar to all of us: “The feeling of not good enough has been with me for a very long time. It’s still with me.”

There is something both striking and human about hearing those words from such an accomplished icon who often portrays so much bravado and confidence on his stage.

We live within a culture that repeatedly encourages us to compete, compare, perform, achieve, and prove ourselves. Today’s performance is no longer good enough tomorrow. We tackle one goal, and we immediately begin pursuing the next. We become better than before, but we quickly compare ourselves to someone else or to another standard we have........

© Psychology Today