How to Achieve Excellence

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. - Vince Lombardi

write it down

Lots of people might have a vision or goal of some sort that they want to acheive one day, but one very powerful tool is to actually write down your goals and what you need to do to acheive them. By actually putting the pen to paper, you have just took your thoughts and have put them into some type of action. If they are important enough to you, write them daily - have a constant reminder of why you are working so hard and something to keep you in check. For myself, I like to have a timeline of where I would roughly like to be at different points in time and then use that timeline to determine my monthly, weekly, daily objectives. Its important to stay flexible and remember that its the big picture you're after, so don't sweat it if shit goes wrong for a day, or a week. Little and often over the longhaul.

Lower Your Expectations

Huh? Everything I talk about seems to be about raising one's expectations...right? Wrong! I'm a firm believer that if you consistently do the right things, then there's no reason to ever place high expectations on any single event. It literally should just be another day, and by putting something on a pedestal you are automically putting extra pressure on yourself to perform. Shoot for the moon, yes, but don't get overly anxious about any one particular event. Do the right stuff pretty much all the time and everything will fall into place. You ain't got to get ready if you stay ready.

Have Your Behaviors Match Your Goals

Have your behaviors match your goals. To keep yourself in check, this is a good general rule to follow...if you want to lose 20lb, but you go to the bar 4 nights a week, then I guess your behaviors are not matching your goals! I'm not saying that you need to be perfect all the time (often times, this can just lead to more stress and steer you further from your goals), but keep the big picture in mind and focus on taking baby steps to accomplishing something big. Often notice how people who are always complaining about whats going wrong in their life tend to bring it all upon them? This is not just some mystery, because if you were to back track and see what they've done in the past - more often than not, they've been fuckin up for a long time. So in the words of Ice Cube, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. If you do the small things on a regular basis, then it'll all come together at the end, and vice versa. In the example of a competitive mixed martial artist, if you keep putting off that you need to work on your defense, but you continue to just spar and not drill, and then proceed to knocked the fuck out, then I guess you deserved it!

Fake It Til You Make It

The most successfull people are those who envisioned themselves being where they are a long time ago, took action, and then through calculated risks ended up at the top of the mountain. While you certainly need to remain humble in your journey, and realize that it is going to take a lot of work, you need to put yourself in that moment, in that mindset as often as you can. Feel what its like to have conquered your goals and remember that feeling to drive you past any detours that pop up. People who are constantly down because they aren't where they would like to be, are definately not helping themselves with their negative thoughts. By constantly feeling sorry for yourself and your PAST actions you are not advancing forward into the future. Work hard, be positibve, expect to constantly acheive more, and after that its all gravy, baby.

5 People

Its been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. In that case, I guess i'm hit! Joking aside, choose the people you hang with wisely, let them know your goals and aspirations, and if they are not helping you in some way then they are hurting you. Stick with positive people with a positive outlook on life, because it just takes one downer to bring everyone with them! Its not all flowers and sunshine, but no matter what you do on a daily basis, you are setting your path NOW for the rest of your life and the people you surround yourself will be in direct correlation to where you are headed.