You follow the rules; put in your very best; go the extra mile and strive for excellence and all you get is just being ordinary. There is no excellence in your work; there is no touch of pure genius. You look like everyone else and what’s worse is that, you are not making any progress. Now you are thinking, how am I going to turn this around? How am I going to be excellent?
The good news is that all hope is not lost, you can turn your situation around and become excellent in everything you do. However before we look at how to solve this issue, let’s take a look at the word Excellent.
The True Meaning Of Excellent/Excellence
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary the word excellent means very good of its kind or being superior (higher or greater quality) which is very clear to many of us but do you know the origin of the word and why it has become a part of our lives?
It all started from the world of the Greeks. They had this belief that there was an excellence of every kind ;they also had the perception of happiness which resulted from a well lived, prosperous and fulfilling life. These concepts were inspired by Plato and Socrates.
So the excellence of a man was different from that of a horse or a bull; the excellence of a bull was different from that of a chicken. Now how were they able to measure excellence in every living thing or material; the answer is by creating standards. You see every Greek understood that one could live up to its full potential. So it’s no surprise, that they created standards to be able to measure excellence.
Excellence: A Double Edge Sword
The problem with standards is that sometimes they are inaccurate which is why they change. If you judge something as being excellent, you’re comparing it with a set of standards. Those standards will one day be obsolete, and then you will have to look for another standard to follow.
For instance in the educational world, you were termed excellent if you were good at all the subjects (depending on your course choice) but today as innovation and collaboration is vastly spreading as a result of rapid improving technology, being good at all subjects does not necessarily mean you are excellent. If you can’t collaborate and work as a team or you lack negotiation prowess, or your emotional intelligence is zero, are you excellent?
How To Be Excellent In All Your Works?
So how do fix the struggle of being excellent? Try not to think about it; rather focus on providing value. Excuse me, but a lot of notable legends have said that striving for excellence is the way to success. I doubt that was their focus. Most successful people thought more about providing value than excellence.
If excellence was the main deal, then there would be no Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, or the internet itself. Everyone would make sure it was excellent and perfect before they began business.
Starting today, think about providing value wherever you are, in any hobby or profession of your choice.
I know you might raise an eyebrow to this article but lets discuss about this issue. Your feedback is highly welcome.
