Are You Striving for Excellence?

You’re not making the most of your potential when the standards set for you by others are higher than the ones you set for yourself. Former basketball star Bill Bradley attended a summer basketball camp when he was fifteen. While there, basketball star “Easy” Ed Macauley told him, “If you’re not working at your game to the utmost of your ability, there’ll be someone out there with equal ability who will be working to the utmost of his ability, and one day when you play each other he’ll have the advantage.” Neither your critics nor your competitors should determine the standards you set for yourself.

Psychology professor Jon Johnston points out the difference between mere success and excellence: “Success bases our worth on a comparison with others, excellence measures us against our own potential. Success grants it’s rewards to the few but is the dream of the multitudes. Excellence is available to all living beings, but is accepted only by the few.”

Are you known for your lukewarm, low-impact living, or can you say like Paul, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God?” Are you striving for excellence?