Evolution-by-Excellence

Evolution by Excellence

by Barbara Casey

The value of an organization is measured by its bottom, not its top.

For example, not long ago the future of television was being measured by a lackluster season without writers - and its enchantment with amateur shows. Baseball's esteem has been falling right along with the reputations of its substance abusers, instead of rising with its home run kings.

Turn on the TV and you can't avoid noticing that political campaigns are being evaluated more by their defects than by their triumphs. In business, the "bottom" line has been deemed more worthy than the integrity of the company.

And, on the internet, where I spend much of my time, I'm seeing that products created "in 7 days" are being aggressively promoted by internet "gurus," while quality and value seem to be bygone concepts.

Do you want to be evaluated by the WORST you can do - or by the best?

On the other hand, if you're a Michael Phelps and your "worst" is frequently better than most other people's "best" - what does that say about you?

-- That you're not following the herd, perhaps?
-- That quality is more important to you than quantity?
-- That you don't compromise your high standards?
-- That you honor and respect your customers, viewers, readers, constituents or fans?
-- That your motivation to excel starts where everyone else's stops?

What vision are you seeing that spurs you to excellence? How far can you go, continually recreating new levels of excellence?

A Baryshnikov, a Pavarotti... and now a Phelps - who represent incredibly high pinnacles in their respective fields - had to have a couple of things going for them to reach those zeniths.

They had to have a desire to reach the heights, in order to survive the hard work of becoming technically perfect. And they had to feel an inner purpose that compelled them to become the embodiment of "dance," "music" and "swimming" respectively.

If you have ever watched their peak performances, you could see how they were literally "at one" with what they were doing. The dancer, the singer, and the swimmer faded from view and the grace with which they performed reached out and touched us in our souls.

When the creator and the creation merge so completely, the whole becomes all that much greater than the sum of its parts.

We know what it looks like - but somehow we don't believe that we can accomplish the same levels of excellence in our own creations.

Me? On the same level as a Baryshnikov or Pavarotti... or a record-breaking athlete like Michael Phelps?

Most of us think about our skills and talents as something we "do." We often list them on our business cards, almost like a "to do" list. Then, too, most of us are satisfied with staying on the surface of our abilities, not risking our egos for the bumps and losses we'll experience on our way to the gold medal.

That is, until some discontented voice within starts nagging more and more insistently, "Is that all there is?"

If we don't respond to our inner voice, quite often a spiritual two-by-four whacks us in the form of illness, job loss or some other event to get our attention.

Then, if we're lucky, we awaken from our "illusory" life of being like everyone else and doing what everyone else does - to finding that song or dance or physical performance within us that must be expressed - the creation that personifies our truest soul essence.

Whether it's in the arts, writing, healing, teaching, athletics or business - we understand that our creations are now being nourished from a deeper well.

And the result raises the bar - not just for our own next effort - but for everyone else's as well. Our "bests" and our "worsts" keep trading places with everyone else's... as we continually motivate ourselves to be better than our last "best."

Just think about what Michael Phelps has done for the world of swimming.

Evolution by excellence. Isn't it what we're all here for?

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