This feature has been sourced from David B Bohl's SlowDownFast . David is a lifestyle mentor, educator and author. He prefers the simple life, relishing his role as a coach after frenzied years in the stock exchange and as an entrepreneur.
Are you content to live an ordinary life?
I've often thought that people choose to live in misery, mediocrity, magnificence, or mastery. Most people don't realize they are choosing their life situations, but if you believe you are responsible for everything in your life, then you can accept your present circumstances as your choice.
If you're ready to move out of misery or mediocrity into magnificence and mastery, you might want to consider looking at how to strive for excellence.
If you've been content with less or just enough, it may be because you didn't realize you could have more. Or maybe you’ve set your sights too high–on perfection, rather than excellence.
I like to encourage my coaching clients to strive for excellence because it is achievable, while perfection rarely is. I suggest they pursue the projects and goals they set for themselves to the best of their abilities. And rather than aiming for perfection, use the journey of life as a learning and growing experience to improve personal and professional skills.
In striving for excellence, it's important to know that challenges, failures, and distractions will arise in our lives and in the world around us, and learning how to respond to these will add to the enjoyment of the journey and effectiveness of the results.
If you'd like to learn how to raise the quality of your life, here are some things you can do to strive for more excellence in your life:
Define excellence for yourself
It's not perfection. It's more about giving 100% to everything you do. It's about taking responsibility and not making excuses for what you haven’t done. Challenge yourself to excel in all that you do.
Build your confidence and competence as you conquer new challenges and rise to new levels. You become a new person as you strive for excellence, honing the raw material of you.
Aim high and reach just a little beyond your comfort zone, each time to see how much you are capable of. Yet, be realistic and don't beat yourself up if you miss your mark. Just regroup and continue on.
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Decide on your values
Then make certain you preserve them by living your values in all that you do. For example, if you value creativity, are you doing creative things in your life like music, art, or business innovations? If you value friendship, are you spending quality time with your friends?
Many of us are not living lives of excellence because we’re not sure what our values are or we're not living them regularly.
Make sure one of your values is self care. To live a life of excellence, you need to be mentally and physically fit. Take vacations, balance work and play, and pursue your passions.
Determine your goals
Are you living an authentic life where you are striving to be, do, and have what YOU want rather than living someone else's script? What is your purpose? What are your passions? Are you pursuing them? Do you have your goals written out and an action plan for their achievement?
If you're not actively seeking goals or doing what you love, your life will never rise to excellence. Your heart will not be in anything you do that you don’t love. You won't be striving for excellence if you’re a ship without a rudder moving in no particular direction.
Commit to achieving your goals, to do whatever it takes, and you will become excellent along the way. Do things right the first time and you will save a lot of time and energy. Focus on one thing at a time and eliminate distractions. Follow through, track your progress, and reward yourself for each goal you achieve.
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Declare to others what you expect of them
What are your boundaries? Do you expect others to be on time, to adhere to certain morals, to be honest and communicative?
Expect the best of others and give more than is expected of you. You can't expect from others what you don't expect from yourself. Speak in positive, supportive terms to those around you and especially to yourself.
As you strive for excellence, look for the good in all situations, and see where you and others can add value. Use praise on yourself and others for a job well done and even when you need to step it up. Positive reinforcement and a cheerful attitude always produce a better outcome.
Direct your own life
You are in charge of your life. You set the goals, set the limits, set the bar as high as you want. Your commitment to excellence is in your hands.
Every choice you make moves you toward or away from your goals. Learn to make the right choices. Learn from your errors when you make poor choices. Stay positive and focused on the end goal and keep going forward. Take time to refocus and reassess when you get off track. Take time to rejoice and reward your wins.
Know that as you strive toward excellence you are not only enriching your life, but the lives of everyone you touch.
Striving for a life of excellence is a worthwhile goal. Know that you have all the power to achieve and you are half the way there!
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