Excellence Demands Sacrifice

What does it take to excel?  Pick your field, the requirements are the same.  For one thing, it takes a willingness to stretch yourself.  It also takes commitment.  In any field, if we want to excel, we need to be ready to step outside of our comfort zone.  We may have to leave pookie in the sandbox and move on.  Anyone can be mediocre, no commitment or sacrifice required.  Excellence in any field demands sacrifice.  Much of the sacrifice required is a personal sacrifice that most individuals aren’t willing to commit to.  Why doesn’t everyone strive for excellence?  Much is written about just that. 

Robert Kiyosaki says that there are four types of people: Those who want to be comfortable; Those who have to be right; Those who just want to be liked; and Those who just want to win.  Those who just want to win, realize that excellence demands sacrifice.  We all most likely know someone with each of those four personalities.  Which personality someone has is a great predictor of how much success this person will have in their job, school, athletics or business.  Success is a journey, but is normally measured in terms of greatness in some field.  Many people feel very content with being pretty good at what they do, so they don’t strive for greatness.  You may have heard the quote that GOOD is the enemy of GREAT.  Those who truly excel have a feeling of, ‘why settle for good if better is available?’  Many people are pretty good at their job and that’s fine.  They will never become great until they find a reason to drive towards excellence. People are normally content with pretty good until they find their WHY or their big DREAM.  In the words of Carl Sandberg, “nothing happens but first a dream”.  Finding that dream is the first step to striving towards excellence. 

Strive for comfort and you'll never achieve greatness.  Insist on always being right and you'll sacrifice effectiveness. Set being liked as a goal, and you will often sacrifice being right, or being successful.  Set your goal on winning and everything else falls into place.  Winners don't let the little things get in the way.  They are a totally different breed of cat from the other three.  They will do whatever it takes in order to be successful (hopefully within reason).  They don’t see obstacles, they see challenges.  Problems aren't major distractions and they stay in the hunt for success.  The philosophy they live is, “a dog in the hunt doesn’t know it has fleas.”  Little things don’t bother them, and everything that doesn't help is a little thing.  You’ll never hear this type of person say, “I’ll give it my best”, or “I’ll try”.  Their mantra is, “I will succeed, and nothing will get in my way”.  Napolean Hill wrote, “Whatever the mind can conceive and truly believe can be achieved.”  That’s the attitude that this type of person has when striving for success.  Whenever I hear someone say, “I’ll do my best.”  I think about a line from the movie, “The Rock” with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage.  Sean Connery asked Nicholas Cage if he could do something and he said, “I’ll try my best”.  Sean Connery said, “Your best?  Losers always whine about doing their best . . .”  In order to win, in order to excel, in order to truly succeed it’s going to take a big commitment.  It’s not about trying, it’s about doing – no matter what.  The only way to be all you can be is to give everything you have.  This personality type is eager to do just that.

William Wallace in the movie Braveheart said, “All men die, but few men truly live.”  What type of life is he talking about?  What does life demand of us?  What does it take to live a life of significance?  The bottom line is that if we want to truly live, we must find something that stirs our soul, something to strive for.  Too many people just go through the motions and look like zombies.  There’s much more to life once you find your burn.  Once you find that thing that stirs your soul, the rest is just details.  Once you find “your burn”, nothing will get in your way.  Those who have found their purpose in life, realize that excellence demands sacrifice, and more importantly they are willing to make the commitment and eager to make that sacrifice. 

Anyone can be mediocre, you don’t have to commit to or sacrifice anything.  It’s easy to be poor at something; you don’t even have to try.  For those few who pursue excellence, excellence in any field, they realize that excellence demands sacrifice.  With that, what does LIFE mean?  For me, LIFE is a new business opportunity that is currently in it’s pre-launch stage.  LIFE is an acronym that stands for, Living Intentionally For Excellence.  It’s about living a life of purpose, and helping others to lead a well-balanced life also.  LIFE is a business model that seeks to help individuals to improve themselves in 8 specific areas of their life.  Not everyone will be interested.  They may become interested, but not everyone will be to start with.  Some will be content to stay comfortable, they won’t stretch themselves.  Some will continue striving to be liked and won’t risk stepping outside of the norm.  Others will keep insisting they're right, even if they sacrifice effectiveness.  But for me, I choose LIFE.  Living Intentionally For Excellence is a way of life and a fantastic business that can’t be explained, it must be seen.