Excellence: Paying Attention To The Details

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

One man can change the world isn't a line I pay much attention to, yet it's with strong conviction that I hold on to the belief that one man can reinvent himself, changing from who he used to be, to who he's become, then to who he wants to be.

This is what self development is all about.

When we unlearn bad old habits and learn good ones, when we improve our value by learning new skills, we recreate ourselves; because we're no longer the same person we were yesterday.

This means that everyone of us can get better gradually over time, by intentionally doing the work it takes to create our dream life into reality and not merely wish for it.

This is the basis of our conversation today.

Word by word we're going to take a closer look at what it means to live excellently and what we can expect when we do so.

It's good to be back here with you my friend on another weekend.

Cheers to a beautiful one filled with warmth and peace.

Discussion:

When we say that “how a person does one thing is how they do other things” it's because actions make up habits and habits become character.

To be excellent in one thing, is to be excellent in all things showing the desire to live right and to improve aspects of us where necessary.

This is opposed to being mediocre; where we live through life with the satisfaction of playing it really small without going on to maximize our full potential.

Quite frankly, mediocrity is only a resultant effect of our failure to match up to the standards of excellence we've set for ourselves because everyone initially sets out to do something important.

So why do we fail?

Many of us want to be successful in one aspect of life without minding how we fare in other aspects of it; but it doesn't work that way.

We can't realistically build a successful business without adapting the disciplined habits that allow us the time to put in the committed efforts it takes to do so.

Same way we can't intentionally lose weight without the required exercise routines and proper dieting.

This goes for every other thing in life.

There's always a process to everything worthwhile and this is where the best separate themselves from the rest.

Showing more desire by their willingness to go all the way, doing things others wouldn't, suffering what others don't, until they reap their rewards in due time.

■ Adopting The Right Attitude 

If excellence is adapting disciplined traits by practicing them daily and routinely until they become a part of us.

Then excellence is a learned behaviour.

When we say “that's just how I am” we neglect our ability to say “this is no longer who I want to be” and then go on to gradually make that change.

If we can acquire learning and skills from both formal and informal education then why can't we unlearn our anger issues?

It's just about the mindset and once we're ready to grow, we can go on to make that change.

With the right mindset we can consciously try to adapt certain attitudes until they gradually become our character.

Attitudes that include:

▪︎ Modesty 

Moderation is a virtue of excellence that tells us where to draw the line.

We should be conscious of how we behave and our choice of words, bearing in mind that ‘freedom’ doesn't mean expressing ourselves in a way that puts others in harm's way.

In the same vein, we may not tell another adult what to wear but when we dress in a way that makes others compliment us as “looking sexy” rather than “looking beautiful” we can't turn around and expect them to look beyond that physical attraction to interact deeply with us.

What we want to attract, we must first of all become.

Moderation can be learned, never doing too much or too little, not being lazy but not overworking ourselves, not slacking but not desperate.

▪︎ Humility 

To be humble has more to do with how we see ourselves than how we see others.

We don't have to suppress our ego or let others run over us, but we can learn to relate with everyone the same way, acknowledging that none of us is special because everyone is.

It takes humility to acknowledge our flaws and work on them rather than look to be friends with hypocrites that indulge our bad behaviours in our presence and cuss us for them behind our backs.

Humility is recognizing that everything we are is of God and we should be good stewards.

▪︎ Servitude 

“While others look for what to take, a true king looks for what to give” - Mufasa 

There's pride in serving others with our gifts and talents as we live out our God given purpose.

When we extend a helping hand to those in need, we become the finger of God that they can feel.

▪︎ Patience 

When we lose our heads over little things, we end up making wrong decisions that eventually make matters worse.

It's always better to think before we act bearing in mind that actions have consequences.

It's fine to sleep over events thinking through perspectives rather than acting on impulse.

When tempers are high, hurtful words can be said which can't be taken back.

▪︎ Discipline 

To forfeit the sweet pleasures of distraction for the thrill of fulfillment is a worthwhile sacrifice that only the disciplined gets to find out.

Since we can only satisfy our cravings and desires momentarily, why make ourselves slaves to them?

Discipline is finding how to make the most of our time, as we look to spend the majority of our twenty-four (24) hours engaged in productive activities.

In the end, how we use our time is how we spend our lives.

■ Why We Struggle To Excel 

The first reason we don't excel is our lack of awareness that dreams are intentionally worked on not left to chance.

Keyword here is intentionally.

We have the ability to predict the future by going on to create it.

Truly, both success and failure are consequences of our actions and inactions so what we do today determines our tomorrow.

Until we're ready to become accountable, acknowledging the role we play in our own misfortunes, not much would change about our realities.

Since we continue to spend all our time blaming everything and everyone instead of seeking for ways to react better to our situation; so that we're made by what should have broken us.

The second one is our lack of consistency.

It takes time for actions to evolve into habits before it becomes our character.

When we're trying to unlearn bad habits that hinder our growth, it's important to give ourselves the room and grace to make mistakes and slip ups.

After all, old habits they say, die hard.

We should appreciate ourselves for our journey because it's an honorable walk to choose to heal our brokenness and work on our flaws rather than sweep them under the carpet.

It's this mindset that ensures we keep doing the inner work, and not quit on the way, confronting and overcoming parts of us we're ashamed of until they're no longer there.

This is a life longer journey because we can always get better as individuals learning daily from all our experiences.

■ Summary:

Like all good things, our time here together has come to an end; my friend.

I hope that you considered it worthwhile because for me, it's always a pleasure dropping by to chat with you.

See you next weekend buddy, until then, be good.

Master Apprentice.

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