Be the best you can be: Commit to Excellence

I believe that whoever you are and whatever you do - you can become the best!

When i say this, some people take it negatively, as if i'm encouraging them to trounce their peers and suddenly compete with everyone around them. But i do not mean that at all, in fact, people who take that approach clearly aren't the best!

By being the best, i mean that you should commit to excellence. Why would you commit to anything else? Commit to failure? Commit to mediocrity? Commit to normality? I believe by committing to excellence - we are doing something deeply spiritual. We are saying:

'I am going to serve this universe at the highest possible level.'

Think of all the stunning works of art that have been created as a commitment of excellence to god. Think of the beauty of nature, or the wonder of a newborn baby. Did some higher power not commit to excellence to create all of this! Therefore, should we not follow this lead?

... and guess what? The universe always commits back! Commit to excellence, give it time and you will be rewarded for your efforts. Not only will you feel great for being excellent, you will start a Mexican wave of excellence around you - people will be inspired to do the same! There is always a market for the best, so watch your pack packet too! Every company on earth is crying out for great people!

Quotes about excellence
"Be so good at what you do - they cannot ignore you." - Steve Martin

"Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism." - Oprah

"Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love this quote...

"Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one up when success is almost within reach."

Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich

Love this quote:

'To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.'

Reba McEntire

From Benjamin Button (Letter to Daughter)

I just love this passage from the Benjamin Button film. (Wasn't Brad Pitt amazing in that film?)

When I've had a bad day - i read it through. It just smooths away any jagged edges and gives me the strength to get on with whatever i need to do. Enjoy :-)

It's never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be.
There's no time limit.
Start whenever you want.
You can change or stay the same.
There are no rules to this thing.
We can make the best or the worst of it.
I hope you make the best of it.
I hope you see things that startle you.
I hope you feel things you never felt before.
I hope you meet people who have a different point of view.
I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you're not, I hope you have the courage to start it all over again.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Screenplay by Eric Roth

An inspirational link :-)

I got sent this link today - it's really wonderful if you're interested in finding better ways to live your life or you've got some interest in Buddhism:

Life lessons from the Buddha

Will i ever manage to achieve my goals??

When we've been working hard at something for a long time, yet we keep suffering setbacks and difficulties - we tend to question why we're even bothering. We yearn for a breakthrough - but there isn't one in sight.

If we let these thoughts consume us, it can be very hard to get back on track. Especially, as society gives us a big, shiny, neon exit sign: give up, blame someone else for your failure and be a victim.

Tony Robbins says the quality of your life is directly proportional to the quality of the questions you ask yourself: 'Why am i even bothering? 'Will i ever get where i want to be?' are such rubbish questions to ask yourself. Maybe you will get there, maybe you won't - but it's not down to you to make the decision here and now. This is a decision for the world at large - not you! And definitely not you, when you're alone in your room, upset and downing a bottle of pinot grigio. Sorry dude, it's just not your call.

So shhhh your chatterbox... stop asking yourself dumb questions (which are only going to take you down a path of extreme negativity). And busy your hands and mind by shooting the thing in front of you. Immerse yourself in whatever needs to be done right now and get the hell BACK TO WORK. Because, if you ask the general public what the definition of 'success' is - i'm pretty sure the consensus would settle along the lines of a single theme: not giving up when things get tough, not throwing in the towel when your luck is down and staying loyal to your ambitions.

And remember, if something is taking a long time to come together - it's probably actually worth doing! It's these quick and easy wins that are usually the bringers of doom (how many lottery winners have committed suicide in the last couple of years?)

I presume you've ended up on this weblog entry because you're in frustrated place right now. Therefore, let me recount the words of people wiser than I:

Favorite Quotes:

The only lack or limitation is in your own mind.
N. H. Moos

The greatest pleasure in life is in doing what people say you cannot do.
Walter Bagehot

It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down all resistance, sweeps away all obstacles
Claude M. Bristol

Nothing worthwhile ever happens quickly and easily. You achieve only as you are determined to achieve... and as you keep at it until you have achieved.
Robert H. Lauer

For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.
John Greenleaf Whittier

More fabulous quotes to get you back to the table!

Leading horses to water

We know the old adage: 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink.'

I hear this expression a lot and i think it's overused. This saying alludes to the preservation of life: getting water (which is an essential life force for all organisms) in a place where this is obviously scarce.

Whereas, I hear the following kind of thing on a daily basis:

'Well, i set this date up for Sarah and she won't even go - despite moaning that she's been single for a year. You can lead a horse to water....'

First of all... your friend is not a horse (probably)... if she is - then that's a little creepy, but probably a better use of the expression.

The thing is - we always think we know what is right for others... and that is GREAT! It is great that we have confidence in our solutions and opinions, great that we are creative enough to think of a solution for others let alone ourselves and it is amazing that we have the compassion to want to help others and go out of our way to do this. There is nothing bad here!

But there are so many paths to a destination. There is choice in where we want to go and how we want to get there! It's impossible to know the options of other people - so when they don't take up your idea - it's that they want to do it on their terms/ their way or don't even know where they want to go yet OR haven't told you where they want to go.

How would you have advised a three times married Albert Einstein who was unemployed and frustrated because he was desperately searching for a university teaching post in switzerland? How would you have advised Sylvester Stallone when he had been throw out of every hollywood agent 5 times over many years and didn't have enough money for food, wife had left him and had sold his dog? What would you have said to Rosa Parks if you knew what she was going to do with her seat on the bus?

Maybe Sarah doesn't like being single when she has a vacant +1 at a wedding or a christmas party. But actually likes the freedom it offers her, loves living alone and getting attention from her friends who feel sorry for her because she's single.

If one day - you ACTUALLY lead a horse to water and it doesn't drink... then use this expression. But otherwise, embrace the amazing concept of freewill, wonder, individuality and of multiple paths to multiple destinations (and the fact that some people love the long, winding country roads!)

A favorite quote

Here's a quote that keeps me going when my goal looks entirely unachievable and obstacles are springing up from every direction.

'They can because they think they can' - Virgil

Mind over matter, people... whatever you're facing right now - achieve success in your mind first!