Good
Morning Brilliant and Excellent People,
I look
forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips
for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.
It's is quite amazing engaging young
entrepreneurs who are in pursuit of excellence. Today's thought was put
together by a member of the BPE team.
What is Excellence?
Excellence
is the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. It is synonymous to
distinction, brilliance, greatness, merit, eminence, pre-eminence,
supremacy, transcendence, value, and worth.
Life is worth living when there is
a pursuit of excellence. Nelson Mandela said, there is no passion to be found
playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are
capable of living. Excellence is not settling for less than you are capable of.
Life often bring challenges our way, some we are more prepared for than the
other. However, when you refuse to be knocked down or laid back as a result of
an unfortunate incidence, when you are always prepared to do better than you
last did- there it is, the spirit of excellence.
What
excellence is and is not
1.
“Excellence is not an act but a
habit” Aristotle: Habit and action both involve doing something, but while
action speaks of a work done, habit is a behavioral pattern of doing things
that stems from an unconscious aspect of the human mind. Making excellence a
habit is not just doing your best right now, it is doing your best right now
and again and again until it becomes a part of your lifestyle.
Tony Robbins
recently said, it is not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, it
is what we consistently do. We are what we repeatedly do, the sum total of a
person’s life is in the little steps consistently taken.
In
this very competitive world, you realise that many people have skills and
knowledge, that is, they can get the work done. If you really want to be
successful however, you must demand more from yourself, to not only get a work
done but get it done excellently.
2.
“ Excellence is not a skill, it’s
an attitude” Ralph Marston: There is the skill of excellence but that is not
what comes first. Being skilful in excellence stems from inculcating the
attitude of it. It is first of all an attitude. Think of it this way, it is
like sitting for an exam that everybody was trained for. Evidently, everybody
will pass but the result will still not be the same.
In other words, everybody
was skilful in answering the questions, but only those who have the attitude of
excellence will go further in their reading, they will think a little deeper,
they will answer questions with a little more clarity, and their result will
differ from the majority. Understand this, while I’m not trying to suggest that
having the attitude of excellence means that you will score high marks in
exams, I make no mistake to say that excellence sets you apart from the
majority.
3.
“Excellence is doing ordinary
things extraordinarily well” John W. Gardner: in simple terms, this means
putting quality in everything you do. Sometimes we feel that certain things are
so inconsequential and don’t deserve our very best, this kind of mind-set is
wrong. We are to do our utmost best in small, seemingly ordinary situations,
those are the things that leads up to the greater task. We are to remember that
great things proceeds out of small things.
4.
“Excellence is not a competition”:
Excellence is not a competition, it is not trying to surpass other people’s
best. It is surpassing your own best, constantly raising the ladder for
yourself and striving to be better than you once were. When competition
surfaces and you find yourself trying to do better than other people, you will
soon be faced with a dead end. This is because, the more you surpass other
people, the more people show up in your life who are still better. You will
soon find yourself chasing shadows and very frustrated. It is very important to
be contended with where you are and work towards where you are going to.
5.
“Excellence is not being the
best, it is doing your best” Tony Bhudda: In talking about excellence,
perfectionism is not a part of it. There is a thin line between perfection and excellence. The difference is in the level of joy and energy you have as
you go through your daily routine. Being your best is that you are working
towards a better version of yourself. Along the way, you may make mistakes, may
not achieve the desired results, or may not get it right, but you keep going
forward, taking it one step at a time and enjoying each phase. While
perfectionism is great, for a great number of people, it is unrealistic and
frustrating. Stick to doing your very best and as you do so, never lower the
bar for any reason.
6.
“Excellence is a continuous
process and not an accident” Dr Abdul Kalam: people don’t stumble into
excellence, they work at it continually.
Increasing
your capacity for excellence
·
Get out of your comfort zone: This is done by challenging the way things are. Ask yourself, what can we do
differently? How can we change our strategy to achieve greater results?
Excellent people never stay with the familiar, they launch out into the unknown
with knowledge. This is very important, never step into the unknown without
adequate knowledge and preparation.
·
Change your mind-set: Negative
thoughts pattern can and will affect our capacity for increase. When you
constantly think negative, you will soon speak negative and your life will move
in the direction of your words. So, change your mind-set, train yourself to
think positive of every situation and to go the extra mile in putting quality
in your outputs.
·
Personal development: this
involves re-engineering yourself. Think of it as staying up to date with
present challenges in the system, in the school, in church, at home or wherever
else you find yourself. Personal development involves reading and training your
mind, it is mostly about character formation and depth of thinking.
·
Continually challenge yourself: Most of the time, we often lie to ourselves that we have reached our very
limit, we have stretched enough, that we have reached the peak. And what are
the result? Sloppiness and an unwillingness to take on new challenges. If you
haven’t tried something before, you really can’t know whether you can or cannot
take on that challenge. Some of the greatest people we adore today discovered
their gifts from new things that they tried out. Excellent people always
challenge themselves to learn more, to do more, to take on new projects, and to
be more. There is only one warning here: never take on more than you can handle
at a time. As you increase your capacity for excellence, recognise your ability
and do likewise but don’t stay there. Pick yourself and go a step further.
Contact the BPE team for more tips on the pursuit of excellence.
