What is Excellence?

“If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.”

― Thomas Jefferson 

Do you accept "good enough" from others, as well as yourself? Do you believe that no one's going to know better; or no one even has any idea of what you're talking about? Stop it. Strive for excellence in all you do.  Here's why. 

Excellence is akin to honor.  If you give your word that you will appear at 5 pm, don't show up at 5:03 and shrug your shoulders as if it really didn't matter.  If you promised to keep a secret, don't then tell your spouse about it, thinking that it doesn't really count.  If you made a commitment to meet your friend each morning at 6 a.m. for a 2-mile walk, don't cancel because you just don't feel like going, or want to get more sleep. 

Excellence is a commitment.  A commitment to your best.  Not your almost-best, but your best.  Your best effort.  Your utmost; your all.  It means giving 100% to the task.  What such commitment says about you is that you can be counted on.  Your best - your own excellence - is unimpeachable.  It is true and strong and reliable. 

Give your word.  Be excellent.

The Pursuit of Happiness

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Anger - that state of being of antagonism, indignant rage, desire for vengeance, jealousy, resentment - has become a popular means of expression in this day and age of liberation, of self-determination, of assertiveness.  Have we crossed too far to the other side?  Negative emotions that lead to negative actions are not the mark of the strong, but rather the refuge of the weak.  It is the weak who rely on their "right" to self-expression as an excuse to vent their anger.  But consider: any form of negative emotion is, by definition, negative - it is harmful, deleterious to health, both physical and emotional.  And anything that does not support resonant, brilliant health of body and mind necessarily is the robber of such states.  Do not permit your house to be robbed.  Do not become vulnerable to the seducer that is anger.  Do not allow yourself to succumb to the lie that anger is useful.  It is not.  It is a mark of weakness, a road to perdition.

A Test of Courage

“The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”
― George S. Patton 

As the quote above states, the mark of character is not what you find when you are on top; it is what you do when you falter.  The "test" of success - or, for that matter, the test of courage or of faith or of loyalty, occurs when things are not going our way.  If we can rise above adversity; above discouragement; ignore others' malicious or deprecating opinions of our efforts - then we shall have passed the test. 

It is true for faith, whether you believe in an unseen greater power, or if you choose to have faith in an outcome: the test comes when the chips are down.  That's what makes it a test.  Otherwise, how would you know that you have been tested? How would you know that your faith was challenged, questioned even? When everything around you is purring along, with no problems, no issues, nothing to resolve, there is no conflict.  You are at peace.  The forces do not battle each other.  Everything is harmonious.  And that is not a test.  The test comes when conflict begins.  How you resolve it is the mark of your character.

Facing One's Problems

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”
― Henry Ford

There is no question that problems are not fun.  We tend to avoid them.  We want to sidestep them.  In a sense, we want to pretend they don't exist.  But in truth, problems do exist, and exist in everyone's lives.  No one is immune.  The mark of character is what one does with one's problems, whether one eschews them or faces them head on.  Why should we strive to face our problems rather than bury our head in the sand? because facing them - soon - means that we are acknowledging their existence; are unafraid of their influence or consequences; and are ready to deal with their reality.  It is a reality check.  Surprisingly, facing our problems makes them less imposing.

Think before you speak!

“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
― Napoleon Hill 

NLP (neurolinguistic programming) suggests that our words are extremely powerful in influencing behavior, as well as feelings - not only of the people who hear our words, but ourselves as well.  If you say to Johnny, "You are lazy, you'll amount to no good," Johnny's attitude and feelings about himself will be influenced to match those words.  But worse, your own feelings will be negatively affected by that commentary.  This may seem curious, but in fact, observe your own emotions the next time you say something - positive or negative - to another person. 

History repeats itself

 “ If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. ”

― George Bernard Shaw 

People jealously defend their opinions.  Their political positions are typically unchallengeable.  As the quote above suggests, this only leads to more of the same.  Why do we so ardently refuse to see the other point of view? Because it is threatening to our self-esteem.  It threatens our sense of self.  It challenges our image of who we are.  It is ego.  Even clear evidence cannot prevail against ego.  Why? Because our limbic system is geared to self-preservation.  And self-preservation means preserving not only our physical lives, but also our intellectual selves.  Hence the reason for the gridlock in Washington.  Hence the reason for misunderstandings overall.  Once we understand the phenomenon, we can then allow ourselves to calmly listen to other points of view, and assess their merit dispassionately.  This takes courage, because it may mean that we must acknowledge and accept another point of view, and that we might feel is an embarrassment, loss of face, capitulation.  It is not.  Acknowledging a point of view that makes sense comes from strength.

“ Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. ” ― Voltaire

Have you ever required proof that God or goodness or dreams exist? Faith is based on non-provable phenomena.  That's what marks it as faith.  It is a state of mind, a serenity, an acceptance that some more powerful forces than ourselves exist in the universe.  In effect, it is a mindset of humility, that we humans are not all powerful and all knowing.  Having faith is said to be a virtue.  Perhaps the virtue lies in the humility.