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The Pursuit of Excellence


 

“Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve

 the quality of what you have to offer” – Rick Pitino

 

The pursuit of excellence in any field of endeavour is always traceable to individuals who are highly allergic to failure and have zero-tolerance for mediocrity. They spend every passing moment looking at possible ways of improving on their abilities, skills and if possible, the entirety of their own world. One beautiful thing about excellence is that it announces itself and brings its possessor to limelight and relevance.

It is also worthy of note that excellence begets excellence. More often, an individual who has attained excellence in a particular field of endeavour would most likely want to have it repeated once and again. This therefore justifies the assertion that “excellence is a habit”. Furthermore, someone who has the habit of excellence easily recognises inadequacies and inefficiencies anywhere he finds himself. He always believes that things around him can be better than what they are.  Vince Lombardi explained it this way: “Perfection is not attainable but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence”. In essence, a fundamental move in the direction of excellence is the acceptance of the truth that excellence is attainable in any field of endeavour and it remains the only tested and trusted path to relevance.

Dr. Norman Borlaug, often referred to as the Father of Green Revolution, created a food revolution so big that he received the Nobel Peace prize in 1970. In the 1940’s, he was invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to Mexico to help with their Agriculture. There, he recognised the weakness of the wheat being grown and set to work to breed wheat varieties that were disease-resistant and that would grow under several other stress conditions. For the next decade, he was reported to have worked for endless hours in the fields, investigating and hand breeding several wheat varieties. In essence, his work ethic became legendary. It was also noted that in spite of dire predictions of global famines, Nations in Asia adopted Borlaug’s excellent methods and were able to grow enough food to feed their people.

The precursors of excellence in whatever field of endeavour are unarguably the following:

i.                    Dissatisfaction with meagre achievements: Thomas Edison once said, “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure”. To attain relevance through excellence, you have got to be highly uncomfortable with mediocre achievements. This in turn sets you thinking about possible ways of making things better until excellence is attained.

ii.                  Deliberate positive actions: Vision without action is not better than daydreaming. It is highly imperative that the quest for excellence is coupled with deliberate positive actions. 

iii.                Optimism and perseverance: Charles Spurgeon once remarked, “Through perseverance, the snail reached the ark before the deluge at the time of Noah”. The road to excellence is undoubtedly not without challenges. It is through optimism and perseverance that the goal is eventually attained.

Finally, ponder on these:

ü  “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected”. – Steve Jobs

ü  “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort”. – Paul J. Meyer

ü  “The will to win, the desire to succeed and the urge to reach your full potential are great keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence”. – Confucius

ü  “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence regardless of his chosen field of endeavour”. – Vince Lombardi

ü  “Excellence always sells”. – Earl Nightingale

ü  “It is never crowded along the extra miles”. – Anonymous
“You were not born a winner and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself to be”. – Lou Holtz




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