Excellence – What it takes to live it in front of the world

It was a beautiful summer night in downtown Chicago when I stopped to take this quick picture. Honestly, it was breathtaking, everyone was in sync, the assorted colors of the kayaks and just the exhilaration of the summer night made it feel like a perfect moment I was able to witness and capture. Let us call it magical and it made my mind drift to think of what would begin today to showcase the best in class and the world’s excellence.

The French will call it Supe’riorite’, we call it Excellence. Today athletes from every country around the world gather in Paris for the beginning of the 2024 Summer Olympics. The best of the best from every country and every sport you can possibly think of or even would begin to imagine. Would I want to qualify for a gold medal in badminton? (Nothing wrong with badminton now, laughing), but I do not think so, but someone has trained their whole life to win that esteem with their excellence. That is just one of hundreds of sports outside of the fan favorites of gymnastics, swimming, basketball and so on. I myself am a huge fan of Golf since it was brought back in the last few Olympics. It shows a different side of the weekly golf tournaments, competitions, and golfers I watch, even the prestigious Masters, etc. which is considered the best of the best. No, something about these wins and awards on the world stage is deeply personal and driven not only for themselves but for their country.  It takes their personal game to a different level.

What is it in our lives that pushes us to the next level where we thought we could not push ourselves to go? Is it our desire to win the big award at our annual meeting? Is it the bragging rights in front of our peers for them to know you are one of the elite and absolute best in class? Maybe if we took the time to really dig down, we might find we do not know what ours is. The extraordinary ability to give the extra push in our life to get up earlier, stay later, get back on a plane week after week, make our proposals the absolute best in class, push ourselves to turn our weaknesses into strengths. For all of us Type “A”’s out there, this is our Holy Grail, how we find the secret recipe that keeps us always at the top of our game.

Ironically, that is for you to answer and you only…. Ask yourself, if you do not know what that is or could be, how do you find it? Pushing yourself to that next level, and simply what it is that will drive you to do it. Once you find it, dig in your feet and tap into that everyday while figuring out a way to remind yourself, this is what truly brings meaning to being excellent in life, work and at home. Satisfaction with you left nothing undone.

We may not be Olympic athletes, but we certainly have the ability to find our individual excellence, and for everyone it looks different. If you are working towards that every day, it could be life changing, or just life satisfying, but either way, you are giving your absolute best and that is all we can ask of ourselves and others.