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INTERNET GRANDFATHERŽ
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Excellence Excellence refers to superior achievement, transcending the performance of others, in some pursuit. We see excellence in business, entertainment, athletics, in fact in every human pursuit. Excellence is usually the result of years of effort, training and focus on the relevant pursuit. Yet, I must say, we also usually see some evidence of talent in those who perform excellently. The intangible, inborn, natural ability to perform seems to be a requirement for excellence. No matter how hard we try, without talent we may fail to become excellent in a given pursuit. The problem of lack of talent causes some of us to give up, to cease trying. Some of us conclude that we can't be excellent because we don't have talent so why bother to try at all. I urge a different response. Even without talent, if we work hard and keep trying we can achieve creditable results. And if we keep trying, we may find undiscovered talent which will enable excellence. I continue to believe that the only disgrace, the only defeat, comes when we give up, cease trying to do our best, stop giving the best performance we can. It's sometimes discouraging, it's tempting to give up sometimes, but no matter what our results we can be proud of making our best effort. Another aspect of this issue is identifying our talents. Without maximum effort, we may not find out whether we have talent or not. Also, the fewer things we try the smaller the chance that we'll find our talent. If we limit our efforts to one pursuit we may miss one where we have talent and could achieve excellence. This is why I love to see parents offer their offspring opportunities to try a number of pursuits. The more pursuits they test the more likely a talent will emerge. Let's do our best. After all, it's all we can do. The pleasure of effort is enough no matter what our results. And we may discover a hidden talent along the way. 11-20-06 2006 Archives 2005 Archives 2004 Archives 2003 Archives 2002 Archives 2001 Archives |