Excellence: Should be more within than without

By Jimmy Wanjuhi

“Excellence is not being the best. It is about doing your best. “

So What does it mean to be a man of excellence?

Many of us picture it in terms of praise worth achievements like winning championships, being always at the top of your class or even having wealth more than everyone else. Yes all this do in a way define excellence but looking at the bigger picture,  is there a long term sense of fulfilment after these accomplishments.

You see When you become the best in something, there is always the sense of accomplishment, it causes a dopamine rise, but it soon fades away as fast as it came. Sometimes the reason most of us strive to excel in something is so as to show the world how good we are.

Sometimes the reason most of us strive to excel in something is so as to show the world how good we are. If this becomes the motivation, then definitely it becomes a habit and can easily lead you to a loophole.You’ll have to indulge in more and more risky stuff for you to get that dopamine rise. So, in this context, excellence only becomes an addiction, a bad one I may add. We’ve heard stories of people who died while trying to break certain records.

Let’s flip the coin. What if we change the narrative? What about we stop striving to excel so that people can see us. We stop caring about the accolades we’ll get and our focus becomes, ‘how to do the best.’

“Don’t climb a mountain with an intention that the world See’s you, Climb with an intention to see the world. “

Excellence should be a drive from the inside not from the outside. The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether somebody appreciates it or not. As the famous quote goes, “If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. If broken by an inside force, life begins.”

A Bibilical Perspective

Imagine the life of Jesus. What if Jesus forgot about His purpose and was concerned about what people said about Him? He would have spent most of His time proving them wrong instead of establishing His ministry. Despite facing criticism, rejection, persecution, etc. He remained focused on His mission of spreading love, compassion and teachings of redemption.

“A leader who speaks the truth seeks to empower you while the one who tells you what you want to hear seeks to control you”

The reason why the life of Jesus is a story of excellence is because He didn’t seek approval from His audience. He didn’t aspire to be liked, but to fulfil His purpose. He knew in order to excel He had to tell people the bitter truth, whether they like it or not.

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus talks about the light. He compares light to a town built on a hill; it cannot be hidden. He teaches that we should let our light shine upon others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify God in heaven. Note this; ‘that they may see your good deeds and glorify God in heaven.’ So, whenever we live a life of excellence, the goal should be to bring glory to God not to self.

Matthew 6:1-4; “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. ~ NKJV Version.

Jesus warns against seeking approval from men. When we do deeds of excellence it should be the same, it should not be for men to see and to praise us, but our deeds should bring glory to God and there can be no greater reward than this.