After many long hours and a lot of hard work, it’s always a great feeling to bask in the glory of our achievements, especially ones that exceed our very own expectations. Let’s face it…it’s human nature to do so. Go ahead and congratulate yourself, say Dr. Mikel J. Harry and Richard Schroeder, authors of Six Sigma. Give yourself a quick pat on that back…realizing that career kudos always translate into monetary value, such as raises and promotions. But, get back to work because you must be careful if you think that your past victories guarantee you a spot in the winner’s circle. Just like a company’s balance sheet, it’s important to take frequent stock of your personal assets and liabilities that add or subtract from your personal career goals.

According to John Wooden, famed basketball coach for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), resting on your “high horse” is a recipe for disaster. He made it a personal priority to review every detail after each game in order to continue improving as head coach. Wooden was just as interested in improving his performance when he was winning as when he was losing. His outstanding results prove his theory correct. The same thing applies to the business world. when it comes to high-performing companies…there is always room for improvement. While most good companies operate at a three or four sigma, the goal should be to be great…to be a six sigma organization filled with level 5 leaders. Six sigma requires a company to benchmark itself to the competition, analyze processes to pinpoint problems in order to come up with solutions, and reduce the amount of customer complaints. This will result in everything from better customer satisfaction indexes to increased market share. From the amount of time it takes to deliver an invoice, product or sale, return a phone call to client, or ship a container half-way around the world, time is money, and seconds can cost millions of dollars in profit.

To find out where the problems are…to see with both eyes, if you will…is the goal even if you’re already meeting great expectations. When you stop trying to improve, you do a disservice to yourself. Focus on what you can do to learn from yesterday and apply it today. Living in your glory is like seeing with only one eye, because remember: Even if you’ve just landed a big account or just won a championship game, there is still room to be better.