Do you ever find yourself meandering through life without ever thinking about how developing the habit of lifelong excellence would actually change your life for the better? Trust me, you’re not alone. The average person doesn’t really think about these things. But deep down inside, that’s not really “you” either. Nothing about you is average if you’re reading this post. Sometimes we want improvement and change in our lives but we just don’t know how to go about it. This article will help you with that.
Have you ever found yourself being intrigued or even jealous of how some people seem to excel at everything they do? It might not take as much extra effort to excel in those areas that you desire mastery as you might think. What you need is a strategy that you can start implementing today. Below I discuss quite a few strategies that you can put in to practice right not. But first, here is a little disclaimer: I’m most definitely not talking about perfection in this article. Perfection is unattainable and boring. Never confuse perfection with excellence. It is important to understand that nobody can be perfect, but it is possible to be excellent.
Let’s examine some real strategies to develop lifelong excellence:
Put Your Best Foot Forward:
As corny as this may sound, it’s true. One of the best ways to develop a life full of excellence is by always putting your best foot forward and directing all your energy into your projects. As long as you acknowledge that you are doing your best, you really are growing, changing and excelling. You have to put effort into everything you attempt, otherwise, you can never develop excellence. You can’t sit on the couch while becoming an excellent runner. You have to get out there and practice running by putting your best efforts into it.
Embrace the Fine Art of Mastery:
Accept the fact that when you first start something new you will most likely suck at it. One reason why most people don’t attain mastery is that, they try something for a short while and if they’re not killing it in 5 minutes they simply give up and move on. They never really give themselves an opportunity to actually get better and begin to excel. Another way to develop excellence is to learn how to master things. This can be applied, for example, to learning new skill sets, starting a business or even understanding how to run a new software program.
Be Committed:
Don’t just settle for being interested in something, be committed. I have seen this one concept lead to mastery over and over again. COMMITMENT. You see, most people are just a little interested in many different things, they’re not really committed to anything. As a result, they can take it or leave it. These are the ones that go from thing to thing to thing, never really becoming excellent in anything besides satisfying their curiosity. You need to be committed in order to excel. Before taking on a new project or setting a meaningful goal, you must be prepared to fully commit and follow through with it.
Learn from Challenges and Mistakes:
Set Higher Standards:
Another way to challenge yourself towards excellence is by setting higher standards. Don’t be satisfied with only doing those things that come easily to you. Do something that takes you out of your comfort zone. Stretch yourself and grow.
Embrace the Beginner’s Mindset:
Life is full of challenges. They can be ones that you set for yourself, or they can be ones that life throws at you. With any challenge you are going to make mistakes, and there is nothing you can do to avoid this. What you can do, is to learn from your mistakes. When something goes wrong, don’t put yourself or others down, instead, think of what happened and learn from it. This way you will be more prepared the next time. This approach to challenges leads to excellence, growth, and change.
No matter how much you “already know” about any given subject, embrace the mindset of a beginner. The beginner mindset says, yes, I do know a lot about this topic, but if I approach it as a beginner chances are I will learn something valuable or new. To really develop lifelong excellence you should be always open to learning something new. This may include learning from books or taking courses. But it also includes learning from life and adapting to new challenges as necessary. Be open to becoming a learner for life!
Grow In Self Awareness:
Being a student of yourself is critical for lifelong excellence. Knowing, accepting and embracing who you set you up for success because at the end of the day you can only become a better version of yourself, not someone else. I really believe that you can’t develop the excellence that you desire in life if you’re always faking it and trying to mimic someone else. When you get to the top of that fake ladder, you might be thoroughly disappointed. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. There is no one else on this planet quite like you. Learn how to love and embrace yourself as you’re on your journey of lifelong excellence. Before you can really develop your true excellence you must understand what you are all about. Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are?
Developing a lifelong habit of excellence does not happen overnight. You need to be intentionally aware of yourself, you’re unique journey and take in your surroundings, as well as the people you surround yourself with.
Be open to new experiences and be willing to learn from your mistakes along with all of the suggestions above. This will provide you with a framework upon which you can start building excellence in your life. That framework of excellence will then start to permeate other important areas of your life. Excellence is a journey. It can be fun, exciting and rewarding. At the end of the day, it can change your life.
Be well + prosper!
Elaine