Excellence is the path to fulfillment. Every day we are sold the guilty pleasures and material purchases of life under the notion, everything will be better with one more; one more vacation, one more shirt, drink, or upgrade.
We can have meaning and fulfillment through excellence, and excellence will grant us most of the material things we desire, but the search for stuff and pleasure will not fill our soul. It’s fleeting, impersonal, and a weak replacement.
When Sir Earnest Shackleton’s men signed up for what would become the most amazing and harsh story of survival in modern history, they read the above want ad. This ad did not promise them anything more than excellence. Excellence knowing every day they would be challenged and every day they would grow.
Excellence grants us options and recognition. It grants us knowledge and freedom. The animate limitations of pleasure are limited to the moment and can easily be taken from you, just as the items we acquire quickly lose their appeal.
It is only through excellence that our gains are personal and earned. Excellence and excellence alone opens doors to outside possibilities.
So tonight before bed, write down on a piece of paper your plan for achieving just a little more excellence tomorrow. Place this piece of paper on top of your cell phone and when your alarm goes off, pick up the piece of paper and go after it!
Always improve,
Chris Johnson