Do It Again

What does it take to be a success-minded person of excellence? Is it when you do everything right every time? Excellence is not a destination. You do not hit excellence and say, “There, now I have made it.” Then you kick back and do nothing more. Excellence does not come from what you do but rather from who you are – a success-minded person.

Many talented people can do their craft with excellence as far as the craft itself. Singers, musicians, artists, and writers who excel at what they do. Some hold high office and influential positions. That, however, does not make them a success-minded person of excellence. That comes from character. Samuel Brengle, the great Salvation Army preacher of the early 1900s said, “The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has born or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart.”

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Aristotle

385-323 BC

Philosopher

Success-minded people must be people of character. It is a character that will keep you striving when everyone around you has given up. It is a character that will help you to stand for what is right and true despite the opposition you face. Excellence demands that one is willing to not settle for mediocre…ever. Success-minded people know that they can do their best and will settle for nothing less. Industrialist Charles Schwab said, “When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do.” 

Success-minded people of excellence know that there is a cost to success, and they are willing to do what it takes to get it. They will never do anything underhanded or dishonest, but always with integrity and dignity. They know that when they compromise integrity, they lose excellence. There is no such thing as a successful dishonest person. What seems like success today will always be followed by destruction. 

Stand firm.  Be a success-minded person and give your best. Never think that success will require you to compromise your integrity. Remember the advice of Benjamin Franklin: “A small leak can sink a great ship.” Excellence means you are at your best all the time and getting better as you go.

“Be on alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

1 Corinthians 16:13

You can learn more about Personal Development from author and speaker, John Patrick Hickey. To get his books, training material, or book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website at www.johnpatrickhickey.com.   

© 2020 John Patrick Hickey. No part of this may be reprinted or published without the permission of the author.