February 4

Quote of the Day

Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.

Ralph Marston

This quote brings up a bone that I have to pick with myself.

Throughout college I've been pretty much a 4.0 student, I've done well, I've succeeded in many things and in many areas of life. But I don't try. Granted, I don't slack either, but I don't put in any more effort than is absolutely necessary. I procrastinate, I study for exams only on the last night, I don't do extra credits. And I cannot bring myself to make the extra effort to read additional readings and educate myself outside of the compulsory stuff. And because I still pull of the good GPA and know a thing or two, I don't have to.

You know what all of the above amounts to? Apart from the straight A's and diplomas and being boxed into the "good student" category because of good results? Definitely not a feeling of excellence.

I feel this is what Marston must have meant when he speaks of excellence as an attitude. Even if my results would indicate excellence, success and whatever else seeming intellectual abilities can be described as, without putting the effort, without knowing that I did my best and pushed as hard as I could, doing well - even extremely well - does not equal excellence.

This is where a decision I've made comes in. I've planned on this over and over again, without excelling in it, so now the time has come to actually put the effort in, do my best, work as hard as I can - not as hard as is necessary for an A, not as hard as is necessary to get noticed by professors or my boss, but as hard as I can.

This spring - and beyond - I am planning on excelling. Over and beyond just succeeding.

Because when event befall that require that extra push - and they will and do - I need to not be used to surviving without a sweat.

February 5

Quote of the Day

When Maya Angelou wrote that

"Nothing will work unless you do," she was definitely onto something. You have to be willing to strive, sweat, push again and again to make the life you want for yourself.

Yet, the sad thing is that many things work even without you putting in an effort, and this can teach you a lesson you should never take to heart. Luck, talent and privilege can lull you into a state of entitlement, an effortless existence and an inattentive character, and, if you ask me, few things are worse than arrogantly lazy successful people, who cannot fathom that others have to work to attain results and prosperity.