Reaching for the Moon

The title could as well be reaching for the stars or the sun but the essence is to reach for perfection.  The other day a colleague shared Robin Sharma’s 2012 life lessons and one of his points was to pursue excellence rather than chase perfection which I think is quite a profound vision.  It’s really a matter of doing one’s best and making the effort not to be sloppy with one’s work no matter what the task may be from your job to washing your toilet or from savouring a good book rather than skimming through it to say “I read thus & so”. 

Excellence seems like a more powerful word than perfection in the sense that it is humanly achievable in a way that perfection never could be.  But also in a way the pursuit of excellence is a continual goal with multilayered ambitions.  One could be writing at a piece with the desire to use good grammar and at the same time hope that the content will strike a cord with the reader.  Over time perhaps the content will be of a quality that might influence the reader in their way of thinking or observing life.  As we like to say in this house “one can always hope”.

Entering adulthood I don’t believe one general has set goals.  There could be the goal of getting one’s degree and then finding a job, hopefully in one’s chosen field.  But I don’t believe most young people have any thought of self development or honing their character during their 20’s or even their 30’s.  I think looking at one’s character doesn’t really start to occur until your 40’s at least for most people (if they start at all).  I don’t mean that people don’t have values or the intention of living up to them when they are young because I do think most people tend to stay loyal to their teachings but I don’t believe they are consciously working at being a “better person”.  Society teaches us to have ambition, to be career oriented or sports conscious but seldom do we see advertising that promotes being a better person.  It’s rather interesting since I know that the Girl Guides from my time certainly focused on character development.  It seems to me that today there is a lot more focus on sports than other children’s activities such as guides or boy scouts.

Once again I look at what is served up in television and other media and question where society is headed.  Few and far between are the ideals one ought to aspire to.  Instead there is too much self serving celebrity bouncing.  It’s quite disturbing when you actually start analyzing what is out there.

So today, savour the word excellence.