Living Intentionally For Excellence

What does it mean: Living Intentionally for Excellence?

Inside all of us, and created by God, is something that in the early stages of our existence controlled are very being. It caused us to scream and cry when our diapers were wet or dirty. It pushed us as young children to walk two steps and fall down then get back up and do the same thing again. Each of us were striving to intentionally live for excellence.

Slowly but surely from childhood to adulthood this striving for greatness and betterment was programmed out of our being. How does that happen? We are taught through sports competitions and various day to day activities that winning is everything. But what happens when we fail? We are losers. We are treated like second class citizens. I know because I've been there.

Today our children are taught that there needs to be no scoring in games any more, because the losers will gain a poor self image and we can't have that. All the while we are cheating our young children of learning the important lesson of losing gracefully and learning from our failures.

Most successful people will tell you it takes at least three failures to actually be able to gain success in any field of endeavor. When I was young losing was wrong. The very word was almost a cuss word. Anyone with a loser tag on their shirt was treated like a plaque; ignored and belittled.

Our educational, system over the years, has dramatically change from teaching excellence to getting everyone through school without failure. Life is filled with ups and downs. It has its good days and bad. One of my uncles always told his kids that life is full of trouble then we die. I think it is a little more complicated than that but it makes a point.

Now to my point we will travel. We all need a dream that we look to everyday. This is the something that wakes you up in the morning and all that you do that day contributes to accomplishing this goal. When you eat it consumes you. When you work it is constantly on your mind. Before you go to sleep you contemplate the fulfillment of this accomplishment. When you wake up it is the first thing on your mind.

But you say, "I have nothing I really want. I have no dream." I say get one. The Bible says that a man without a vision is dead. He is not physically dead but breathing and walking through life without a purpose.

I proclaimed to a young gentleman today, that I'm in the business of helping everyone and anyone find their purpose in life. My job is to give people hope and help them dream again. I'm here on this earth to touch thousands and create good in their lives. I here to Live Intentionally for Excellence.

It's all about a change in thinking. In the last few decades, our thinking has changed due to a dramatic evolution in our culture away from excellence and into expedience. We are what we think. A very wise man said that thousands of years ago. Today, many of us don't even think. We just act.

Today is the information age but millions are information starved. So what is the answer? The answer is that we all need to hunger after the right information that will change our lives for the good. We all hunger after something. God placed that trait in each one of us. We hunger for recognition, and praise. We thirst for pleasure and earthly satisfaction, and there is nothing wrong with wanting all of these things. Most of us do nothing about the hunger and we just complain that we are hungry.

Three keys to life that I have discovered from listening to some incredible friends of mine are: Listen, Read and Associate. We listen to good information from people with fruit an the tree like our pastor, mentor or some other successful person in his field of endeavor. We read good books that will teach us principles from those who have gone before us such as the Bible. And lastly associate with people whom you would like to emulate or who build you up and push you toward your successes.

So, let's all live on purpose for excellence and then when life has numbered its last days, we will hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant enter in to my glory."

David Erickson