Pursue Excellence!
- Jamelle Sanders
- Aug 13, 2018
- 4 min read
As I sat down to write this week, I just felt an incredible sense of gratitude and appreciation for everything in my life. This week brought major breakthroughs and big news. I hope you can look back on your week with appreciation and a sense of accomplishment. It is hard to believe that we are heading towards the end of summer. This has been an awesome summer for me. It has been filled with life-changing moments, major transitions and wonderful surprises. Continue to stay focused on your goals and remain committed to greatness. Your ability to stay focused will determine the fruitfulness of your life. Focus is a skill that we all have the potential to develop. However, very few people take the time to develop focus. You cannot consume your life with worthless pursuits. Essentially, you must fill your life with worthy priorities to succeed.
What is excellence to you? Are you pursuing excellence in life? Or are you making excuses for why you cannot excel? Excellence is a word that I hear talked about all the time. However, not many people really understand what excellence is. Excellence is defying the status quo. Excellence is going above and beyond to deliver tremendous value. Excellence is becoming exceptional in what you deliver to the world. Now that we have defined what excellence is. I want you to look at your life. I made a decision years ago that I was going to live a life of excellence. I did not want to be ordinary or common. So I devoted myself to cultivating uncommon disciplines. Ultimately, discipline has become one of the most hated words in this era. We love the rewards of discipline but not the cost. The reality is that success is a climb. More importantly, you cannot climb into new dimensions in life without paying a cost. Elevation is always expensive and change is never cheap. All transformation will necessitate tradeoffs in your life. Do not allow the cost of excellence to stop you from committing to a life of excellence. Your disciplines will distinguish you in the world and usher you into the realm of greatness.
It is not enough to just desire excellence in life. Ultimately, you have to move from desire to pursuit of excellence. One thing I have learned over the years is that exposure always expands the possibilities of your life. In other words, you need to get around people that are living life at the next level. You need to see examples of those that are excelling and experience life at its best. It is great to have mental pictures and distant mentors. However, nothing can replace tangible examples of those that have been where you are desiring to go. Pursuing a life of excellence will require you to make uncommon investments. If you want what you have never had, then you must be willing to pursue what you have never pursued before. Therefore, you must pursue knowledge, wisdom, mentorship, coaching, training, development, etc. Many people look at my life and marvel at the things God has allowed me to accomplish. However, the moment I mention investments I notice that many people start to lose interest. You cannot desire my life and not desire to know the process that has made me who I am today. While your process will be different, you can study the process of those that have gone before you and shorten the distance to success. It is important to remember that promotion always has a price. Be willing to make the investments that will improve and increase your life. Pursuing excellence is moving from dreams and ambition to diligence and action.
Excuses are the seed for a life of frustration and failure. I cannot tell you how many people have allowed excuses to endanger their potential. Excuses are the enemy of elevation and evolution. The time we waste making excuses we could be excelling and living our dreams. I’ve learned that often excuses are fears and illusions that hold us back from becoming who we were born to be. Excuses keep us in cycles of complacency and never force us to change. While your excuses may be accommodating, you must also understand that excuses keep you living an average life. Any person that you see thriving is a person that has refused to make excuses. The reality is that the energy you pour into making excuses can be poured into producing excellence. I have not complained about the circumstances and conditions in my life. Instead, I made the decision to defy the odds and move beyond the clutter of the common. My intention was to be world-class and respected around the world for what I do. I could have sat back and played the blame game. I’ve experienced failure and disappointment and I could have let that stop me. Doors have been slammed in my face, betrayal and heartache have occurred. However, when you are devoted to excellence you refuse to allow anything to deter you from an extraordinary life. Ultimately, no event in your life has the power. You have to power to change the atmosphere and shatter every barrier to greatness in your life!
In closing, you have been called to excellence. It is important for you to understand that excellence is not reserved for a selective few. Excellence just requires strategic focus. If you are going to distinguish yourself among the great, you have to get dissatisfied with good enough. Push beyond what is comfortable and convenient for you. Challenge yourself to produce your personal best every single time. You will be amazed at what you produce when you make excellence a standard in your life. It is time to make excellence the standard in your life. If you follow my work, you know that I am obsessed with excellence. You should stand out in everything that you do. You should go above and beyond expectations. When excellence becomes your standard you will always produce exceptional work. I dare you to pursue a life of excellence!
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