Excellence.

So, blog readers, I have a confession about my character.

It's a weird paradox of sorts.

I admit that I can be über-motivated and competitive. A serious go-getter. Between Mary and Martha in the Bible [see the story here], I'm mostly a busy-bee Martha. I like doing things to help, and I get annoyed by people who are seemingly "dead weight".

 On the flip side, I can be chillaxed to an infuriating degree. When I feel daunted by a task, or I don't feel like pursuing it, I'm simply mediocre. I annoy myself with apathy.

 I never wanted to be an all-or-nothing sort of person, yet here I am with this dilemma.




I read  the pursuit of excellence by Ted Engstrom.
I'm not going to go all Zig Ziglar on you, but this book made some points I want to remember (ergo, I blog them)

1. Everyone has unrealized potential. Mediocrity comes naturally.
2. Excellence has a high cost and risk, but it's worth it. 

"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." ~Anon 

     3.  Success takes time and perseverance. There's no magic formula for excelling immediately. 

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. 

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." ~Theodore Roosevelt 

     4.   Clear goals and priorities make all of the difference.

     5.   It's okay to fail and make mistakes, so long as you try. Failure teaches important lessons. (this was a big one for me. I'm afraid of failing at something on my first go, I think that I should be born knowing how to do whatever the task is.)

I do want to better prioritize and remember my source of strength, and know that in Him I can do all things. I don't want to be a lukewarm Christian.

Jesus speaking:
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. 
I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
~Revelation 3:15-18

There is my motivational post for the day.