The Quest for Excellence.

In the course of my work as a Life Coach and a Motivator, I come across many young men and women, of various backgrounds and religious persuasions, who feel inadequate and grossly incapable to face life and put up an excellent performance in their chosen field of endeavour,  each time and as each situation demands. They see the few who walk in and manifest excellence, and desire to be like them, but just don't know how.

Some of them have come to believe, wrongly though, that excellence is some sort of magic or supernatural phenomenon that they can only access through juju or voodoo or through membership of some shadowy fraternity or cult group or through the prescribed occultic procedure of an international organisation steeped in mysticism and fabled abbracadabra and other such myths. They go to ridiculous lengths and do some horrible things, all in the name of magically or supernaturally accessing and possessing excellence. At the end of it all, they discover they had just wasted time and resources in exchange for nothing.

They fail to see that excellence is in them and that they are the crafters of their destinies and nothing and no one else. You are what and where you are today because, consciously or unconsciously, you chose to be and do just that. You can choose to be better and you will be better, if you work at it. You can choose to develop the characteristics of excellence and, with time, you will own excellence and manifest it daily. It is all within you.

This is how Aristotle (384 BC - 322BC) - Greek philosopher and polymath - saw it:

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit" - Aristotle.

To step up to excellence, therefore, and master it and own it and walk in it daily, you must go beyond merely wishing for and talking about it to actually training for it and habituating yourself in the practice of excellence. You must start doing, on a consistent basis, the things that will build excellence in you and make it second nature. 

Please find below some steps that, when taken constantly and consistently, will gradually but surely lead to excellence in your life and pursuits:

1. Challenge yourself to know what is right, in every situation and in every given scenario, and always do and insist on it.

2. Be willing to follow those who are ahead of you and to learn from those who know more than you do.

3. Be open to new ideas and be willing to try new methods and to adopt new practices.

4. Read daily, widely and relevantly. This is one of the most useful tools to self-improvement. 

5. Deliberately seek out and learn something new every day. 

6. Always act deliberately and intelligently. Use your brain power and not brawn. The key lies in brain power, not muscle power.

7. Practice the art of your profession or vocation daily. This will help you grow and constantly remain sharp and focused.

8. Work hard and smart, and give your best to every assignment or project before you.

9. Never go to bed until you are satisfied that you have covered all your bases and have done all that you can possibly do that day.

10. Never accept second best or settle for mediocrity in all that you do. Constantly stretch yourself and press for the highest and the best.

11. In all that you do or are engaged in, always put up a professional performance and uphold international best practices. Do not be held down by local standards or expectations.

To buttress the need for constant and unrelenting effort in self-improvement and the quest for excellence, let me leave you with two (2) relevant quotations.

The first is by Pat Riley, US professional basket ball executive, former basketball coach and NBA player and the current President of the Miami Heats. He said and I quote:

"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better " - Pat Riley.

The second is by the philosopher, Aristotle. This is what he said about the quest for excellence:

"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny" - Aristotle.

In conclusion:

I would like to advise you to give a deaf ear to armchair critics, backbiters, maligners, small thinkers, narrow-minded people, spoilers, and all such likes. When they attack and mock your efforts to grow into excellence, it is mostly jealousy: they are not good or cannot do it as well as you do and, misguidedly, do not want to see you do it. Ignore them and keep on with your quest for excellence. As long as you keep working at it, gradually and eventually, you will come into excellence. You will become a recognized and celebrated brand and authority.

It is all possible.

It is within your reach.

Grab it and live it.

It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.