In pursuit of excellence

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.