Goal
Today, I will discuss why you must pursue excellence daily.
Table of Contents
- Excellence Every Day
- Why Is Daily Excellence Difficult?
- How To Pursue Excellence Every Day
- 1) Recognize anything worthwhile requires constant excellence
- 2) Remove the things that sap you of energy or provide emotional highs
- 3) Track your progress, so you can see the good things excellence provides you
- Forever Onward To Your Best Self
- Actionables
Excellence Every Day
To be virtuous is to pursue moral excellence.
“Excellence Every Day” means two things: first, you act virtuously and follow the best behaviors and standards. Secondly, you are performing optimally to accomplish your big goals.
Emotionally, you are stable. Financially, you are not wasteful. Mentally, you are tough and focused. Physically, you are fit.
In every aspect of your life, you are pursuing what is ideal and forsaking what is comfortable and vice-ridden as best you can. And you are doing this daily. Why? Because you’ll have to work if you want to do anything meaningful with your life. Lofty goals require immense time, energy, and resources. For example, if you wish to be a better parent or have a successful small business, there is no way to execute these goals in a few hours. You’ll need constant action every day.
Why Is Daily Excellence Difficult?
“My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest.” – Charles Dickens
Waking up every day to be your best self is not easy. Virtue is challenging because it is within human nature to seek comfort. We want to relax. We want distractions. We desire junk food, quick sex, easy relationships, painless solutions, and so on. We do not wish to engage our minds to think critically or go to the gym to train our bodies. Such options are painful and uncomfortable. But they are the only options that allow us to be excellent.
Some days are more relaxing than others. You have to be honest with yourself about what days those will be. However, the more you waver in your pursuit of excellence, the less prepared you will be tomorrow. Every action you take now helps you build toward your goals or will prevent you from the life you wish to have.
How To Pursue Excellence Every Day
If you frequently reject comfort, you can always achieve the best version of yourself.
Pursuing excellence daily involves building the habits that make you better. How do you build these habits? By doing what we’ve always discussed: understand where you want to go, remove the things that sap your energy, and track your progress as you march forward.
1) Recognize anything worthwhile requires constant excellence
All humans want something better. People cannot live without dreams of a brighter tomorrow. Because of this, you must understand where you want to go and who you want to be.
What are your life goals? What is something that makes you anxious, and how can you resolve it? What are your responsibilities, and how can you best attend to them?
These questions will help you determine what path you want. Once you understand this path, you know what you are sacrificing for. If you forsake comfort, you only need to look at your goals to remember why you have chosen to forgo comforts. Your lofty goals are more significant than the temporary pain you feel.
Determine what you want to justify why you are pursuing excellence.
2) Remove the things that sap you of energy or provide emotional highs
News, social media, all of it is a distraction. You know what you believe. Nothing is going to change your mind.
Our culture is full of distractions. This reality is unfortunate but expected. The greatest thing you have to offer others is your attention. And everyone wants a piece.
How do you escape? By recognizing very few things are here to benefit your most virtuous self. The news, social media, deadbeat friends, abusive family members, and so on are all here to distract you and take you away from your path. Limit your time with these things, and you will feel a surge of energy.
The less time you invest in what doesn’t make you better, the easier it becomes to pursue excellence daily.
3) Track your progress, so you can see the good things excellence provides you
Pursuing excellence daily will reap clear rewards. However, the only way you can see these rewards is by clearly tracking your actions.
You can use a multitude of systems to help you track your progress. You can journal at the end of every day. You can keep a calendar where you block out what you need to do and what you have done. You can save a checklist and mark things off as you finish them. You must track your actions to see where you have been and how well you have done.
Lastly, set aside time for gratitude. Always reflect on your progress: the home purchased, the weight lost, the children raised well, the skill growth, and so on. Never get stuck in the mindset that you aren’t good enough. Your progress clearly shows you are good enough and should keep going.
Forever Onward To Your Best Self
“Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better.” – Gordon B. Hinckley
Your actions compound on one another. The things you do today set you up for success or failure tomorrow. Therefore, you should not be wasteful. It is crucial to spend every day being as virtuous as you can.
“Excellence every day” will carry you towards the best version of yourself. You can die in peace, knowing you always used your skills and abilities for your betterment.
Never give up. Remember the world needs you and you need yourself. You are capable of much. Do not let your fire go out.
Actionables
- Who is an impressive individual you know? What are they like? What do they do for a living? Would they be willing to tell you their daily routine?
- What is one thing you wish to achieve? What do you need to achieve it? What resources, time, or energy is required? Lastly, how hard are you working towards accomplishing your goal?
- What is one bad habit you wish you could remove tomorrow? What would such a bad habit give you back in terms of time, energy, and resources? How painful is it to end this bad habit? How can you possibly beat this vice? Remember, countless resources are online for overcoming many bad habits and vices. You do not have to suffer.
Please remember that it’s important to do the actionables. You’re not on this earth to simply read but to do. To become an individual, you must act more than you consume.
*Image credit to Unsplash.
