Excellence Is Who You Are

by RICHARD NORRIS on AUGUST 27, 2015 of www.leadingmenonly.com

Excellence Is Who You Are

Excellence is who you are more than how you do things. You cannot succeed without excellence.

Hardly a day goes by when I’m not reinforcing the message to my kids that excellence is important. They know it because, as soon as I start saying, “The only job worth doing…”,they finish, “…is a job done well.” Interestingly, as they say this, I note them correcting the activity, attitude and/or behavior that I’m addressing. The sooner they learn this lesson, the richer their life will be and the better the example they will lead.

What does excellence mean to you?

To me, excellence is an all or none. However, it is relative – it means different things to different people in different areas. What is important is for each of us is to define excellence for ourselves where we aspire to it.

As each of us is created uniquely, we have our own unique experiences, abilities and talents. As such, we can be excellent in one area and not in another. Our excellence may also be on a different level to someone else’s. We cannot really judge another person’s excellence or lack thereof- we can only truly judge our own. Why compare apples with oranges?

Whilst we may not achieve an excellent result right away, we can, at least, start with an excellent attitude and behave with excellence. To truly excel, we must begin with the end in mind.

In the past week, the new swim season has started. I’m a volunteer coach at our local team. On the first practice of the season, the kids were reminded of the importance of getting their technique right first. They were reminded that excellence in results comes from excellence in form. As with any group, you can tell those who are motivated to excel versus those who are not. Our team has a great example. One of our swimmers is on the GB national team. He just got back from the FINA swimming world championships in Kazan. (There he made the finals in both of his events.) There are at least two up-and-coming swimmers I’ve noticed who are following his lead. I can see great things ahead for them too.

From experience,people with an attitude of excellence are most likely to go far in their sporting career. Or the most likely to graduate top honors. Or the most likely to lead their market. These are the people, teams and businesses who listen to wisdom, apply what that wisdom and learn from the experience. They know that excellence is a habit that comes from repetition of doing the right things right.

People of excellence may even be in a league on their own. But that doesn’t stop them from striving to be and do even better because they know they can. Of those swimming  world championships, Katie Ledecky, from the USA, set a new standard. She is the first person, male or female, to have won 4 Golds in separate Freestyle events. She won the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m. She set two world records and for those races she was way ahead of her competition. She was not pushed by anyone other than her own standards of excellence. That’s what drove her.

Excellence is a commitment. You give your best, your all. You leave it all on the field…always. You do not look back. You keep moving forward. You aim always to stretch your comfort zone, to set new baselines, new limits. Excellence is not just a result; it’s a lifestyle.

If you show up, you show up!

When everything about you is the quest for excellence, then in due time, success will come. However, excellence never comes easily. It’s all part of your Journey of Success. To become excellent, you will face problems, challenges, setbacks and failures. But that’s okay. These sort the wheat from the chaff. These test those of you who truly want to succeed. You may even get hurt or damaged along the way, like a weight lifter’s muscle when he or she maxes out, but when you recover, you come back stronger.

Excellence is demanding. You have to work for it. Just ask anyone who is at the top of their game. Without excellence, success would not happen. That’s why Olympic athletes, pro golfers and F1 teams are constantly seeking the edge, to fine tune their performance to maximize their results and achievements. Excellent people are successful people. They never rest on their laurels. They do not have cruise control.

Are you any different?

Sure, you may not make the headlines, but excellence is in you. Trust me, it’s there. Don’t come to the end of your life where your prevailing thought is ,“What if…?” Let yourself be excellent. Let it out. Live and lead to such a high standard that no one can truly touch you unless they decide to follow your example. Do that and you will succeed. Do that and you will live with no regrets.

When you pursue excellence, excellence is who you become. It becomes your identity. The time to be excellent is now. You only have today. Make it your best. Sow what you want to grow. Be your best. Do your best. Give your best. You will then be blessed. Your excellence will pay off. It always does.

The only way to reach your dreams, to succeed is to reach your potential. The only way to reach your potential is to pursue and become excellence personified. The sooner you do, the sooner you will achieve the success you deserve and desire. So…whilst you are here on the planet, be excellent in who you are meant to be.

Your Powerplay

Commit to excellence today. Pick one thing and give it your best.

#BEGREATER

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Olivia Anderson on Excellence from Glenn Mills on Vimeo.

USA National Junior Team Member Olivia Anderson shares her view on excellence. It's great to see that defining excellence is an individual thing, and should be seen as the internal journey to reaching your own potential.

Why you ask, I ask, why not?

By Coach Mike

What a great roller coaster ride this season has been! It was full of many things, such as; hard work, learning, emotions, failure, successes and as always lots of FUN. No matter what, we are learning to have fun and find the positives in everything we do. Why, you ask? The other day I was having a conversation with a friend and as most conversations start out we greeted each other. She asked, “How are you?” I responded with a resounding “WONDERFUL”. She asked “why are you so wonderful.” I said, because “I choose too to be.” The why, is simply a choice. Why wake up in the morning and choose to be miserable and have a horrible day. That doesn’t sound very appealing does it? Believe it or not this is what a vast majority of people do. They only look for the negatives, measuring the temperature around them and then going along with it. I decide everyday to wake up and challenge myself to find the positives. Every moment is a chance for me to practice something and improve, I choose to set the temperature and be a thermostat. Why you ask, I ask, why not?

We as a team are learning to challenge the status quo around us and become thermostats in our environments. At our championship meets we love to cheer and show our team pride. We as a team have many high standards that are not shared amongst other teams in the area. One thing is that we swim finals and we do not scratch out. We as a team plan on making finals so we can represent our team. Another, is that we swim relays, so we can represent our team at these competitions at the fullest extent we are capable. Speaking of relays, one of our BLUE WAVERS asked me at Long Course Senior Champ finals “Why are we swimming this relay?” We were the only girls relay and we ended up racing a boy’s relay from another team. This question sparked the answer to why we set such high standards and do more than just swim for a time here at BLUE WAVE. Why do we have a suit policy which restricts the use of those tech suits; why do we swim relays; why do we take advantage of swimming in finals every chance we get; why is character first? Why…the real reason is because we challenge the status quo and want to set an example in Potomac Valley Swimming of what a great team is! A great team is a team that works hard to have the opportunity to swim at meets such as this. We love to have fun competing with each other and to set a higher standard within PVS and USA Swimming. We challenge what it means to be a USA Swimming team. We are a team of values and passion and everything we do extenuates that.

At this summer’s championships we did well as a team amongst the other teams in PVS, placing first at Senior Champs and first at 14 and Under Championships both in the medium team division. This however is not what we consider winning. If we only viewed winning as claiming a title or finishing in the top 16 to make it back to finals, or getting a time then winning becomes uncontrollable. The great coach John Wooden never spoke about winning to his athletes and he became one of the most winningest coaches in college basketball. He coached the controllables and expected excellence out of his players at every practice and game. They learned that every practice and competition was an opportunity to improve and learn. He valued character and valued traits such as perseverance, hard work and dedication amongst other traits that all great leaders have. So, how do we define winning? Winning is showing up to practice each day ready to give our best for the team (family); winning is balancing school, social and swimming and being successful at each (dedication); winning is never backing down from a challenge (mental toughness); winning is qualifying for one of our big meets to represent your team due to winning at each of the above. We believe that these are things that will not only help you winning here but win at life.

Why do you do what you do? How do you win each day? These are all in our control and are based on the choices we make.

BLUE WAVE ON 3…BLUE WAVE ON 3…1...2…3

GO BLUE WAVE!

FAMILY – DEDICATION – MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Are You the Best Version of Yourself Today?

By Shivani Parikh of tinybudduh.com

“I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.” ~Sidney Poitier

I felt I was living a dream life. I had a great husband, a lovely child, a nice house and cars.

I studied in one of the best colleges in my country and went on to do my MBA from another best in the country. While attending b-school I met my husband, and we both went on to get mind-boggling jobs.
Going on lots of vacations, eating at posh places, and focusing on next big house were my ideas of a good life.

I never questioned the wisdom of blindly zooming through the day. I could never see beauty in mountains, trees, flowers, the sea, or the sky. I was focused on earning a living, and racing through life.
One day my husband developed a lump near his neck, and we ignored it thinking it was a silly little thing. But the lump adamantly stayed there.
After two months of inaction we rushed to the doctor. We were asked to undergo a series of blood tests, x-rays, and scans to ascertain the cause. But none of them could prove what caused the lump. Doctors hinted at tuberculosis or lymphoma (cancer of lymph nodes), and we were asked to undergo biopsy.

The word cancer brought about stress like we’ve never experienced before. It was our life at stake. I prayed hard that it would be tuberculosis, the lesser evil of the two.

I prayed that if I passed this test I’d be a reformed person. I promised I would change myself. I would value this life more than I ever did.

The biopsy proved it was TB, frightening but still curable, and not as intimidating as cancer. The treatment went on for almost a year, and my husband recovered. But I changed over that year.

Never did I take life for granted. I started enjoying the beauty around me. I appreciated each day we lived. I developed empathy for people who had less than me. I started being kind, less arrogant, gentler, and more positive in life.

I read self-help books to improve myself. But changing one’s self from negative to positive is one of the most difficult tasks to undertake.
I regretted my ruthless ways and wished to atone. I always thought the world revolved round me.

I began to observe people who had made positive changes in their lives. Almost all of them changed after a life threatening experience or a negative experience.

Do we all need bad experiences to change for better? Can we all try to change for better each day just because? Can we do one thing today that was better than yesterday?

It could be thanking a colleague for help given. It could be observing the flower outside your window and appreciating that it took months to bloom to give you a beautiful sight. It could be looking at the rain and appreciating the water it gives us rather than cursing it for the shoes it spoils.

I worked harder than ever at being a better person each day. Every night I would ask myself a few questions:

Am I any better today than I was yesterday?

Were there any negative experiences today from which I could learn?

Did I accomplish something today?

By setting aside some time daily to reflect on my behaviors, I have created an opportunity for myself to grow. I developed a list to help me be a better person today than yesterday. If you’d like to start being the best version of yourself now, ask yourself:

1. Did I pay attention to the people around me?

I try to reflect on whether I talked or listened more today. Did I genuinely show interest in what other people were saying? Did I give them the attention they deserved when they spoke? When I listened more, I made more friends. When I was interested in people, I could make a positive difference in their day, which in turn made me more content.

2. Am I stuck on a bad yesterday?

I can’t be a better person today if I am stuck on my bad yesterday. Dwelling on a bad yesterday makes my today bad as well. This results in two bad days—a bad yesterday and a bad today, and a bad today would be a bad yesterday the next day (complicated).
I try to forget and forgive nasty remarks made by a friend, boss, neighbor, or my husband. I stopped regretting mistakes; I needed to move on. I stopped thinking about time wasted in past since thinking about it now wastes time today. I let go of past resentments.

3. Did I work on my character today?

More than anything else that matters in life, it’s your own character that counts. I keep trying to improve my character through good thoughts and more importantly, good deeds. Our character determines how we will respond to situations and circumstances of life.

4. Did I work on my habits?

I try hard to get rid of my bad habits and develop good ones. None of us are born with fixed habits. They are developed and cultivated with practice. It is easy to get hooked on bad habits, but difficult to get rid of them.

I was a very impatient person, and a slave to the clock. Everything had to happen on time, but with a six-year-old child, this slavery to time is extremely stressful.

My child wouldn’t think about whether I’d be late to work and would take ages to get dressed while I was waiting for him. This would bring about a round of threatening or fights to hurry him.
Over last one year I gave up wearing my watch to slow down a bit. I decided I didn’t need it. It really wouldn’t be a big deal if I was five minutes late, but yelling and screaming at my child would induce a guilt/unhappiness that lasted for hours, and it would start his day poorly as well.

Now every time I look at my wrist out of habit to check the time, having no watch reminds me to slow down. It is now a constant reminder throughout the day to slow down and appreciate what I have.
Working on little habits like this can make a big difference in our lives.

5. Did I allow anger to consume me today?

It’s inevitable we’ll feel angry from time to time, but we don’t have to let it control us. Working through my anger with people, life, and my circumstances was the toughest in the list to do—but also the most beneficial. Deep breaths worked for me. This post may be helpful you.

6. Did I exercise today?

This one is an instant mood booster, which allows us to be better for the people around us. I realized that sometimes I might be too tied up for an hour workout. So I break it into parts and look for opportunities to walk a little, since every step counts. Every time I talk on the phone I walk. So now my daily chat with my sister for ten minutes provides me with ten minutes of walking.
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We all deserve to be the best versions of ourselves; it not only reduces our own suffering, but also allows us to make a positive impact on the people around us.

Cars, phones, computers, technology are all becoming better each day.

Shouldn’t we?

In business we follow the principle of “continuous improvement.” It’s time we replicate the same in our lives.

Each day is a new opportunity to grow. Each day we can be better than yesterday.

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About Shivani Parikh Shivani Parikh is a faculty at a premier b-school. She is passionate about writing and loves to write in newspapers, magazines, research articles, and blogs.