Excellence is a lot easier than it seems.
And that’s because excellence, and what it means to be excellent, is widely misunderstood.
Excellence isn’t something that happens in a grand gesture, like releasing a bestselling novel, or a football team winning the Super Bowl.
No, excellence is all the tiny decisions that led to that moment.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
— Will Durant
This is a profound realization because it means that if you’re struggling in any area of life, excellence is only a few small decisions away.
One of my favorite quotes in Jordan Peterson’s book 12 Rules for Life, says this:
“Five hundred small decisions, five hundred tiny actions, compose your day, today, and every day. Could you aim one or two of these at a better result?”
If we run with that number, we have 500 chances to choose excellence, each and every day.
Do I eat frosted flakes for breakfast, or have eggs and bacon?
Do I scroll on my phone, or get the work done I’m procrastinating on?
Do I talk to my wife after work and connect, or sit glued to the TV?
We have 500 opportunities every day to make the choice to be excellent.
And what I like most about Jordan Peterson’s quote is he ends it with:
“Could you aim one or two of these at a better result?”.
Meaning you don’t have to be perfect… you just have to slowly change a few decisions into a more positive direction.
If you read my 2024 reading list post, you might’ve noticed the book “Areté” in the picture.
It’s a great book so far, (I’ll do a write up on it when I finish), but ironically I’ve seen a connection to this idea of 500 small decisions in how the author, Brian Johnson, describes Areté:
“Areté means expressing the best version of yourself moment to moment.”
Similar to the Jordan Peterson quote above, living with Areté doesn’t require perfection.
And again, it shows that we have countless opportunities to make up for the times when we fall short.
Maybe you didn’t eat the best breakfast… could you have a better lunch?
Maybe you skipped the gym today… could you go for a walk after work?
Maybe you snapped at your kids out of frustration… could you go connect with them now to make up for it?
Keeping Areté front of mind means no day is a lost cause, and we have countless opportunities to make the step towards excellence.
And excellence only seems so elusive because when people see a fit body, a great marriage, or a Super Bowl win, they only see that one moment in time.
What they’re missing is the thousands upon thousands of decisions it took to get there.
The fit person chose to go to the gym when they’d rather sleep in.
The couple chose to have the hard conversations, and learn to work through problems.
The football team drilled the basics, day after day.
So if excellence is your goal, (and it is mine), then know that it isn’t achieved when you’re standing at the finish line.
You can be excellent today, in this very moment, by making better choices, and choosing to show up as your best self as often as you can.
Thanks for reading,
– Josh