You Need to Get That Ball Rolling

I saw a sign that talked about being excellent. I turned around and saw another sign about excellence. For some reason the word “excellence” was right in my face today. I talked with someone about it, I read something about it, then the signs. It is a word that is often commonly used and all too often less frequently practiced.

So why do we not practice excellence consistently? There seem to be too many versions of what excellence really means. What I like about this quote is that it brings a perspective we can all understand to the word “excellence”. Every day in any task we have the opportunity to practice excellence. It means making the bed well, not just good enough. It means cleaning the kitchen thoroughly not just the easy stuff. It means saying what we mean, treating all people we encounter with kindness and patience. It means bringing our best to our work, play, love and friendships each and every day.

Excellence doesn’t mean we pick and choose, we make excellence a daily part of who we are and what we do even in ordinarily things. It is our mindset, our practice, our habit and our calling. And we all know that some days this is easier to achieve than others. Some situations are easy to provide excellence, for others it is a struggle. Treating your neighbor you don’t like with excellence no matter how you feel. Being kind to the person who is hard to love, or cooperating well with that coworker who barely shows up for work, or even doing the things no one sees with excellence simply because you can.

Excellence means doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well even though they are ordinary. When we practice excellence across all areas of our life the level of what we expect and receive from others rises, and a rising tide raises all ships. Our excellence raises the bar for the others in our life to do the same. Not is a snobby, haughty, superior way, in a we all deserve to give and receive excellence way. People may not know what excellence looks like until you start that ball rolling. Let today be the day you begins to intentionally practice excellence in all areas of your life, no matter how you feel. You will be amazed how that practice impacts all areas of your life, your attitude and what you receive back from the world.