Achieving Excellence In Life

Being top of the class does not necessarily
guarantee that you will be the top of your life. You could graduate as the best student in finance but it does not mean that you will make more money than everyone else.
The best graduating law or mass communication student does not necessarily make you a best lawyer or journalist. The fact is, life requires more than the ability to understand a concept. Life rewards people for their imagination. School rewards self- consciousness. School hails those who live by the rule, life exalts those who break the rules and make new ones.
Study hard in school but don’t sacrifice every other thing on the altar of first class. Don’t limit yourself to the classroom. Do something practical.
It seems most people think of excellence as something unattainable for themselves. Self excellence or greatness is beyond their comprehension.
In life, rewards come to us in proportion to how well we live our lives and do our work. However, the distance that separates exceptional and mediocre performance is often deceptively small. Take a leadership position, start a business and fail, contest an election and lose, Read books outside the scope of your course. Do something you believe in. Make the world your classroom. You can be an hero of your own story. The only thing you can control and change is yourself. So many have failed to make it in life, because at some point, they were afraid asking themselves, will I finish? Some even say I better don’t start what I won’t finish. Now the question is: how will you know if you would not finish it if you don’t start at all?
One’s competence is unlimited, keep trying new things. No child was born walking, we all learned to crawl and then walk. No matter the challenges, don’t fret. You are more than able. Greatness lies in you. Excellence is a virtue that goes with hard work and persistence. Excellence comes to only those who seek it from their hearts and give it all it takes to get it. No matter how great your aspirations are, you can achieve excellence only by putting in your all. Accept challenges as they come and make the best out of it. In achieving excellence, don’t let your goal to be just any goal. Make it a big, bold and audacious goal. One which will truly excite and inspire you.
It is pointless to have a goal that will automatically be achieved without much of a fight. On the other hand, if you have a goal where you really have to work for it, that is the one worth striving for. Having a strategy is also a way of achieving excellence. Strategy is more than just planning. A plan is simply what you are going to do. Strategy is like your blueprint for success; the secret keys that will guarantee your victory. Every goal has its own set of strategies to guarantee excellence. The obstacles you will face to achieve excellence are: what are the best modes of action to achieve your goal faster and better? How did people who achieve their goals do it? These are questions that should run through your mind. And once you develop a strategy and you set out to achieve the goal, excellence awaits you. Also, the more you read, the more knowledge you gain. There is no end to what you can read. Do what you love and what gives you joy. The door of excellence is locked but the keys are in your hands to open it any time you want to.
Be valuable, be reliable and also always try to do your best in achieving excellence. It pays to excel. Some people may have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them. They achieve it. They do not achieve it unwittingly, by “doing what comes naturally” and they don’t stumble into the course of amusing themselves. All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.
Striving for excellence is not about the quantity of repetitions as much as it is about the quality of repetitions. To become technically excellent, we must perfect proper technique and establish proper muscle memory.
Excellence comes with zeal; you can’t achieve excellence if the zeal and determination to get it is not there. Always go for what the world and even yourself think you cannot do.
Achieving excellence is a project that takes effect in many different aspects of life. Excellence is for all of us. Excellence is about getting the most out of our talents. It is about trying to make a little dent in the world, so that we can move on.
When you open your heart, you can achieve excellence because connections in achieving excellence can only come true when the heart is open. Excellence can come too when we learn something new every day. Become aware of your reaction and your emotions in different situations. Learn how you can release negative emotions instead of suppressing them. Try out different strategies.
Excellence is achieved when you share your knowledge and expertise freely with others and give love and kindness unconditionally to your loved ones. In life, we give out something in order to get something.
Owajiokiban is an intern with The Tide

Martins Owajiokiban