As I conclude my senior year I have often heard this word. Excellence. Whether to applaud me for my accolades or describe the programs I’ve started. But what truly makes what I did excellent at all? To me I was simply doing what was expected; giving my very best. This has led me to wonder how low the bar for excellence truly is. When “all” I’ve done was actually try and that is deemed as excellent, does that mean that anyone can be excellent? (short answer yes)
Attending a high school that is relatively easy in comparison to other schools, I often found myself wondering why my peers didn’t use our luxury of largely having no homework to study topics they were interested in on their own time or pour their all into their sport. The biggest difference I’ve found between people who were “great” and those who are not is effort. It is innately human to be lazy and put in as little effort as possible I suppose. Yet when one actively has a goal they claim to want to achieve, why would they not do their very best to achieve it?
“All” I did was try
For a while I wrestled with this idea. As many of you know I got into many high ranking colleges, but I often wondered what made me special. Why me out of everyone who applied? After all, “all” I did was try my best. I didn’t cure cancer or found some national nonprofit curing blindness in another country. I didn’t even have perfect grades or test scores. These were all the hallmarks I associated with the Ivy League and other top universities. Yet time and time again as acceptances one after another flowed through, I was continuously shown that what I was doing WAS enough. More than enough in most cases. So then why, if it’s so simple, do others not do the same? As we’ve talked about countless times in the Dojo, simple does not mean easy. I believe that this issue surrounds the same point.
Human beings (and the universe as a whole) tend toward absolute efficiency. Most people do the very bare minimum to get by, survive, and reproduce. We innately crave the lowest energy level available. This is a variation of a concept known as Enthalpy, and to a broader extent, the second law of thermodynamics. Being the very best version of oneself takes an enormous amount of energy. Not just physically, but mentally as well. As one tries to follow a plan and keep on track, the brain is running subconscious calculations constantly.
Discipline is not enough
If someone tries to rely solely on discipline they will likely fail. This sounds harsh but it is the sad truth. James Clear lays this out (pardon the pun) quite clearly in his book, “Atomic Habits”. You can’t just try to rely on your will power, but instead must fundamentally reshape your surroundings to make following your goals inevitable rather than a choice. As I mentioned previously, your brain is a very overworked yet lazy entity. If in order to stay on your path you must make a conscious choice, one will find themselves very quickly slipping away from their goals.
What can be done about this? The bar for excellence ISN’T very high. This is true. However the discipline and understanding of oneself required to achieve excellence is often insurmountable. In order to achieve a goal (excellence, a new job, a house, etc) you must first HAVE a goal. Once a goal is made, a plan can be made. Once a plan is made, one’s life can be adapted to make that goal unconscious. While yes there will inevitably be hard days, having the frameworks in place will give you something to fall back on.
Anyone can be excellent
In conclusion, while many are praised for their “excellence”, true excellence comes from mastering oneself. That mastery is much easier than many people know, and given the proper amount of effort, can be done by anyone. Anyone can be excellent, but very few will choose to do so. I guess there lies the answer. Excellence is only excellent because few people are willing to do it.
What’s my advice? Be the few. Give your all into everything that you say you care about. There is no worse feeling than looking back and thinking, “if only I had tried just a little bit harder, or trained a little bit longer”. At that point even if you fail you know you truly gave your all and have lived your life to the fullest. What I think you’ll find however, is that you rarely will actually fail if you truly give it your all. The potential possessed by human beings is limitless, and if harnessed, can be shaped to do incredible things.
ZaHir Covington
Other blogs by ZaHir:
A Journey of Research
Building Your Box