Become Addicted to Excellence

Geplaatst op 17-02-2023

How do we become excellent?

I’ve been doing some ponderin’ recently….

I was in the gym the other day, and I was just thinking about how good it feels to be seeing results. I noticed also how whenever I’m really pushing myself at the gym, it motivates me to push myself in other areas of my life. I could be feeling a bit lazy or unmotivated – I’ll go to the gym, and start working out. Once I get into it, I like pushing myself as hard as I can. It’s challenging and makes me feel good. What’s the point of being in the gym if I’m not going to give it my 100% ?

Suddenly, I find myself thinking about all the other things I want to do – all the areas I want to / could be pushing myself more in. I start thinking about game concepts and how they could be explained more effectively to my students. I get ideas about how to get closer to, and add value to the lives of the people I care about. I start thinking about what I could do to better my service and expand my business and my career. Sometimes, I even get ideas about some things I could try in bed!

I’ve also noticed, when I’m doing some really good coaching… and there’s a happy student in front of me beaming…. I think “fuck yeah. I rock. I’m good at this. I’m awesome. I’m going to going to push myself harder in the gym – I’m gonna be ripped!”

It seems to me, the more discipline I have in any one aspect of my life, the more it makes me want to push myself harder and go further in all other areas. Success is contagious. Discipline is contagious.

The flip side of this is, lazyness, failure – and “settling” seems to be contagious as well. Makes sense – this is why you see so many people on either side of the divide. So many people out there are ridiculously successful. They don’t just have a successful multi-million dollar business – they’re in good physical condition, they’re happy in their relationships, they have an awesome social life, they don’t settle – they want it all, and they get it all. Why? They’re addicted to success.

And of course – on the flip side this would explain the down and outs. How can someone not have a job, be fat, single… and still live with their mama at age 35?

They’re used to failure. Failure begets failure and success begets success.

Just like discipline. The more you have, the more you want, and the easier it is to maintain.

At any point in your life – you’re either making progress and moving forward, or you’re regressing and moving backwards. There is nothing in between. If you’re doing nothing – you’re wasting time, which means you’re moving backwards. Ask yourself. Are you better today than you were yesterday? Are you overall happier/most successful/more satisfied with life than you were a month ago? If the answer is no, it’s time to make a change!

So, I say to you – if you’re skirting around the idea of pick up, dive in head first! Go CRAZY! Decide on a specific amount of time you are willing to dedicate to this area, and do everything within your power to make the largest possible improvements. Come up with a specific goal, one that you will clearly know once you’ve achieved. Strive for total excellence in just this one part of your life. Become addicted to being amazing. SMASH YOUR GOAL!

You’ll find the better you get in this one area, the more you’ll strive for excellence in other areas of your life. It’s only natural! Step by step, you’ll start to apply the same discipline in other parts of your life that you’ve applied to achieve excellence in your 1st chosen area.

Some of the greatest “Over performers” went from mastery in one area to mastery in another. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was the #1 Bodybuilder in the world – then he became the #1 actor in the world… and then the governor of California! Josh Waitzkin was a Chess Grand Master by the age of 11 … and after becoming one of the World’s greatest ever chess players he took up Tai Chi. And guess what – he then went on to Become a Tai Chi master and world champion!! Unbelievable? Not really. These people strive for excellence.

Take one thing – focus on mastering just one area of your life – and the next thing you know, this excellence will spread like a kind of happy cancer. One day you’ll wake up, and be a superstar!