Is There A Difference Between Success and Excellence?
I’m not sure how many people consider success and it’s relation to excellence. It’s probably a thought that rarely
crosses your mind right?
I feel that knowing, or at least starting to examine the difference can be of value in creating mental strength (hint: the quest for excellence will develop mental strength ten fold verses the quest for success)
Success is often measured by comparison to others. Excellence, on the other hand, is all about being the best we can be and maximizing our gifts, talents and abilities to perform at our highest potential…our peak personal performance.
We live in a world that loves to focus on success and loves to compare. We are all guilty of doing this. However, I believe that to be our best we must focus more on excellence and less on success. We must focus on being the best we can be and realize that our greatest competition is not someone else but ourselves.
For example, coaching legend John Wooden often wouldn’t tell his players who they were playing each game. He felt that knowing the competition was irrelevant. He believed that if his team played to the best of their ability they would be happy with the outcome. In fact, John Wooden never focused on winning. He had his team focus on teamwork, mastering the fundamentals, daily improvement and the process that excellence requires. As a result he and his teams won A LOT.
A focus on personal excellence was also the key for golfing legend Jack Nicklaus. His secret was to play the course not the competition. He simply focused on playing the best he could play against the course he was playing. While others were competing against Jack, he was competing against the course and himself.
The same can be said for Apple’s approach with the iPod and iPhone. When they created these products they didn’t focus on the competition. Instead they focused on creating the best product they could create. As a result, rather than measuring themselves against others they have become the measuring stick.
We have a choice as individuals and teams. We can focus on personal success and spend our life looking around to see how our competition is doing, or we can look straight ahead towards the vision of greatness we have for ourselves and our teams. We can look at competition as the standard or as an indicator of our progress towards our own standards. We can chase success or we can embark on a quest for excellence and focus 100% of our energy to become our best… and let success find us.
To help with the understanding of excellence…it is NOT perfection! Excellence is using your inner and mental strength and committing 100% to be the best YOU can be. Perfection is based on an “outside” standard; excellence is based on an inner standard….yours!
Ironically, when our goal is excellence the outcome and byproduct is often success.
The book ‘How to Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” will help in focusing on your personal power and excellence.
What do you think? Is there a difference between personal success and personal excellence? Let me know in the comment section below.
