Raúl González Blanco was considered one of the greatest club strikers in the game of football during his time as a footballer at Real Madrid. He scored an impressive 323 goals in 741 games over 16 years at Real Madrid winning every club trophy that he competed for and finished his career as the highest scorer in the European Champions league’s distinguished history.
Over the past few months, current Real Madrid striker, Cristiano Ronaldo, has been the subject of criticism in the media for a bad patch of form. There was lot of speculation as to the reasons for this bad patch and Ronaldo came into criticism for issues such as celebrating his birthday in style after a game in which he performed poorly.
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2009. In the nearly 6 years that have followed, he has scored 307 goals in 298 games. So, he is 16 goals short of Raúl’s record despite having played 443 games less. How can a striker who scores more than a goal a game on average (a feat many teams would love to be able to match) come in for criticism?
In one word, expectations. As you do better, people’s expectations of your work keep rising with it. I term this “The Ronaldo effect.” A piece of work that would have earned you plaudits a few months ago will no longer earn a clap today. It is a base level expectation now. You’re expected to do better.
But, how much better? And, to what end?
If there is one lesson to be learned from the Ronaldo effect, it is that doing work to earn appreciation is a fool’s errand. Do work because you believe it matters. Do work because it helps you make progress towards a goal (a good life, etc.). Do work because it makes you happy. And, develop a work ethic where you just focus on the process.. regardless of the outcome.
A Learning a Day 