WHAT IS EXCELLENCE?
Lots of people I know are
high-achievers, go-getters, motivated individuals who want to be the best at
what they have chosen to do in life. I like surrounding myself by people like
this, they excite me and motivate me in turn, making me feel like I can achieve
anything that I want to if I just try hard enough (still working on flying).
However, it is these very same people who are the harshest self-critics and
will berate themselves for what they view as minor misdemeanors. They are often
the people who worry the most, work the hardest and unconsciously compare
themselves to other people as a measure of how well they are doing. Well first
of all I say to these people that you are all excellent because you are all
trying, and just endeavoring in the act of striving you are bettering
yourself. But my heartfelt words of
encouragement may not be enough to help these people realize that they are the
pinnacle, they are the people that change lives, they are the people that do
instead of watch, act instead of think, feel without reserve. So, I want to set
about defining what is excellence in an aim to prove that excellence is
something everyone can achieve.
The English dictionary defines
excellence as:
noun
1 The state or quality of
excelling or being exceptionally good; extreme merit; superiority
I find this definition annoying and also I would argue that in actual
fact it is wrong. Why would I be so blatant as to think I know better than the
English dictionary? For these two reasons below.
The first reason being that this definition offers absolutely no
context. People rarely exist in a vacuum so surely the state of excelling
requires background, situation, context to that persons’ life.
Take for one example
the competitive athlete who has every hour of every day to train or prepare
good quality nutritious food. They have ultimate access to trainers and
coaches, nutritionists and advisors, maybe even to baby-sitters and
child-minders. All they need to do is focus on their goals, train twice and day
and eat right. Is this person excellent or are they just good by circumstance?
I would contend that any average person who follows that routine would be
competition ready in just a few months.
Maybe I am just being harsh or maybe I
am jealous because I would like to be able to have that level of selfishness
without thought or heed of anyone else. Surely more impressive is the part-time
mum, full-time office worker who fits in twice a day training around long
working hours and still makes time for bath playtime and to read her children a
bedtime story. That to me says she is succeeding at all other aspects of her
life WHILST excelling at fitness.
Not too sure about my example? A bit too specific for those of you who
don’t share a passion for training? Another example is the child of wealthy
parents who gets a first class degree. Yes hard-work was put in (unless the
degree was bought!) but did this student ever have to spend half their time
studying and half in paid employment, did they ever have to worry about their
next meal or how they would afford the new text book. Did they ever spend 25%
of their time cycling to lectures because they couldn’t afford a car. They
earned their degree but in the optimal of conditions. Not to sound resentful
again but could they have done the same whilst faced with biopsychosocial
adversity?
Last example: the 25-year-old business director who inherited his
father’s successful business on leaving college. Would he have been in the same
position had he not been heir to an already established business or would he
have had to work his way up like other employees? What I am trying to question
is whether these people are examples of excellence because of their situation
not in spite of it.
How about the builder that buys an old house to fix up;
yes, an impressive task I admit. Nonetheless does this compare to the doctor
who works 56 hours a week and buys his own place and does it up all himself
(whilst maintaining a relationship and a social life!). The business owner who writes best-selling
books in his spare-time. The couple who race endurance races around looking
after their new baby. The uneducated child-minder who takes night courses to
then set up her own booming business.
These people scream excellence to me.
They are not only living their everyday lives but are thriving at it yet still
manage to achieve excellence in something they have chosen, whatever that may
be. If these individuals have reached excellence in one part of their life at
the detriment to all else is that really excellence? I argue that truly
inspirational people are not those who have a perfect set of circumstances and
reach brilliance but those who achieve it in spite of imperfect environments,
against odds and making their own route that works for them.
Reason number two for disagreeing with this definition is the mention of
the word superiority. This words necessitates connotations of negativity; by my
definition people who excel do not exude superiority, they don’t have to show
off what they can or can’t do and they don’t need the world to think they are
perfect in an effort to strive for external validity. A brilliant,
inspirational person is one who seeks excellence not to boast and parade on
display but for themselves. They don’t make other people feel inferior by their
lesser ability but aspire to help others achieve their own state of excellence.
They are quiet and happy in their abilities and they know they will get their
moment to shine.
So my friends this is the reason that I say you are all excellence
embodied. For you are all an exception to your environment rather than a
product of it. You all strive, work hard, keep pushing even when faced with
set-backs. You all judge yourselves too harshly so give yourselves a smile J
