We all have one way or the other come across people who are achieving or have achieved excellence in what they do. Looking at the perfection others have attained in their respective fields mostly throws the question; how come they are achieving all these excellence and yet we cannot accomplish with joy the single task we have been focused on.
For a considerable number of years, I was a great believer of the famous but deceptive adage “Jack of all trades, a master of none”. But, recently, I have been forced to revisit this belief upon realizing the excellence certain individuals are achieving in all the trades they are engaged in. As a matter of fact, I have witnessed and have had the opportunity to meet several “Jacks of all trades, masters of all”.
How come these people are able to achieve excellence in all their trades and yet, the single one we focus on turns out to always be a disaster?
The easiest approach to this fundamental puzzle is to go for “we are all different in life” and simply back it up with “all fingers are not equal”. Without putting much effort to ascertain the core “difference” mentioned above, we settle peacefully with this answer that suggest that, others can do and we cannot, simply because we are all different.
The above sounds very cool; it seems like a very reasonable and logical answer. But what we have forgotten to consider is that, excellence is not a birth mark of anyone; it is not even an act. It is a habit that must be fetched out of repetition.
Yes, we are all different and we might be doing different things, but this does not in any way stop us from achieving excellence in whatever we are doing.
What are we, what is the difference between us and the others, and how can we achieve excellence in all we do too? This question was once answered in a simple language- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
To achieve excellence in whatever we do or intend to do, we must repeat what we are doing over a considerable amount of time, pushing the “doing” which is an act into becoming a habit. You do not achieve excellence from a single jump, until you repeat jumping and falling without giving up, you will not see excellence.
A single stone throw is an act; excellence does not crop out of any act. You have to keep throwing the stone over and over again to turn this “act of throwing” into a “habit of throwing”. Something only becomes a habit after it has been repeatedly done. It is at this juncture that excellence can be achieved.
To therefore achieve excellence in whatever we do, we must repeatedly do it in spite of the failure that may come along. With repetition, we can move our endeavours from being “acts” into becoming “habits” and then, we will see the emergence of excellence. Get into the habit of achieving excellence and not the act of achieving excellence…
By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri/ ScrewLife.Com
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Chris-Vincent is an internet enthusiast & entrepreneur, web developer and a blogger, a law student with special interest in Human Success, Personal Development and Achievements.
As a multi-niche blogger, areas of web development, internet entrepreneurship and marketing are a close heartfelt passion. He enjoys blogging and making money online.
ahhh my favourite day of the week! but I have to say Chris…do you really think that is really the case and is actually possible Jacks of all trades, masters of all? The one thing I do agree with and have also learnt is yes it really is that simple! repetition and dedication and not giving up just because you have yet to see any results. I was tellin’ my BF how the maker of the Dyson hoover actually had 5221 protypes before coming up with the original hoover and when I tell you that guy is MINTED! I was thinking damn just goes to show people are not excellent by accident…great post Chris…thanks for the inspiration.