DAILY SLICES OF LIFE

 Striving for Excellence

 “We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

         This sound and impressive observation was originally made by the great ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, in the 4^th century, BCE. It has withstood the test of time, and remains as accurate today, as it had been for all the past centuries. He insisted that the attainment of excellence was not a gift granted only to a few special people as a reward or a privilege, but rather it should be seen as a stage in the person’s growth and development that can only be arrived at by committed and diligent repetition of meaningful actions.

           Excellence therefore, should only be used to define the person who actually carries out an action, and not, as is the common practice, the action itself. The performance of every living person is defined strictly by the caliber of the actions he carried out in his lifetime. So that the image that others will have of him, is essentially based on a reflection of what he had been repeatedly doing, and the quality of work he actually accomplished during his lifetime. Further, contrary to a common misconception, excellence is neither inherited nor is it inborn, but is in fact, a deeply embedded personality trait, a desire to win, that can only be acquired from the constant exposure to good example, learning and experience. And, irrespective of any circumstance, it should never be based on what he claims he is capable of doing.

          When fully developed, excellence[EM1 serves as a nucleus to encourage a desire to win and to succeed, and also, to reinforce a willingness to constantly extend beyond the full limit of one’s potential. As a result, excellence cannot and will not survive unless there is a commensurate desire to move beyond the present level of ability, and an accompanying motivation to excel above and beyond current levels. Excellence therefore, is the constant striving to be the best version of oneself, without having to resort to artificial or dishonest means; and not being satisfied with anything less. John W. Gardner, a highly respected American psychologist and a senior member President Lyndon Johnson’s cabinet, described this in the following simple but very effective terms, when he observed:

 “Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

         There is no formula laid down, nor are there any rules that will aid in the ultimate achievement of the state of excellence. In fact, the actual steps taken, and the paths followed by different people are as different as the people themselves are different. Because if this, achieving any degree of excellence is never easy to accurately measure or to predict in an individual. Most people tend to follow the conventional path of trial and error, or hit and miss, and follow leads as far as they go without giving in, until the task is completed. And others will  choose to rely more on intuition and inspiration, trusting their own vision of the outcome they desire, and then committing themselves to the task at hand. But whatever the approach adopted, excellence can only be achieved in the moment when the person himself feels and sees, both qualitatively and quantitatively, that he has arrived. This, I believe, was the intention of an Unknown Author when he recorded:

 “Excellence is never an accident: it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution, and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.”

          Excellence is not a specific mental or physical state, with clear and easily identifiable boundaries, but rather, the culminating result of the interaction of many varied dimensions as they interplayed and interweaved together, each one serving to strengthen and support the other, and then fusing into an aura of excellence that can be readily appreciated. In this respect, Steve Jobs, considered by most people to be among the greatest of the recent successful, gifted entrepreneurs, effectively placed the right attitudes for excellence in the right context when he advised:

 “Don’t let the noise of other people’s opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition.”

 Yet despite this warning, far too many of us continue to pollute our inner voices with the external voice of others and in so doing, destroy any chance of fulfilling our deepest hopes and dreams.

         For excellence to be truly trustworthy however, it must fulfill two s  separate channels of activity; the internal (qualitative) response, and external (quantitative) activity. To be true and genuine these must always remain clean and unadulterated from any kind of influences. For although it may be possible to achieve some degree of overt quantitative results, it would be almost impossible to achieve and maintain the qualitative effort needed. So that, rather than trying to assign a number to the degree of excellence, it would be better to measure it by its impact upon the person and his resulting living. Perhaps this is what this Unknown Author meant when he noted:

 Life is not easy for anyone. Sometimes you don’t see the challenges on the inside or the outside, but every single one of us has both. Give it all, dare to be all you can be.”

          But to create the desired impact, must include a number of important subjective components without which, there can be no sense of alignment. These include:

Truth and Honesty

This represents a mainly intellectual manifestation of having remained honest and true with the intention, and the manifestation of the final action.

Quality and Beauty

This relates to the aesthetic effect of knowing that the action resulted in the creation of a meaningful effect in line with the one anticipated.

Fulfillment and Satisfaction

This falls within the moral dimension as it relates to the fact that the work was completed without attempts of dishonesty or cheating designed to impress or fool others.

          Achieving excellence can never attained by wishful thinking, nor can it be arrived at by taking short cuts or using deceitful measures. Any one of these measures may appear to be initially successful, but in the long run, like a house built on sand, will crumble in failure. Like all of life itself, excellence begins when the person recognizes the meaning and the need for excellence and deliberately initiates steps to move in the direction. It does not matter what area of life chosen; the steps needed to secure excellence remains unchanged. Beginning with the vision, and a strong desire to complete the goal to the best you can. Without this passion etched inside, the impetus needed will soon die. This demands absolute belief in oneself, a degree of self-confidence that rises above any fear of failing. There must also be a workable plan that is practical and manageable, and the intention to see it to completion. Whether the process is by trial and error, or by inspiration, the plan must be based on sound reason and not wishful thinking. Even after all of this, nothing can ever happen without there being a single-minded commitment to reach the state of excellence.

          Indeed, there can be no end to excellence, for even when it appears that the goal has been achieved, excellence will demand that there is yet more to pursue. For once the seed of this habit becomes embedded within your psyche, then little else will matter. It becomes the prevailing attitude by which all your life is measured, an obsession that never leaves, and a yardstick on everything you do. Perhaps, the Holy Bible in 2: Corinthians 8:7, explained this state, best:

 “But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness, and in the love for us that is within you, make sure you excel in this act of kindness.”

-Without any doubt, Aristotle’s views on excellence are still worthy of complete and absolute acceptance. We are all meant to live our lives in such a way that we can be judged as excellent. For it is only when we are able to truly satisfy this need, that we can honestly declare that our lives are blessed with happiness.

 

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DAILY SLICES OF LIFE

 The Power of Perception

 “Perception is a clash of mind and eye; the eye believing what it sees, and the mind seeing what it believes.”

          The above quotation by Robert Brault, a respected American author and prolific free-lance journalist, puts in stark perspective, the power of perception in a person’s life. In making the statement, Brault was reminding us that what we think we are experiencing, our perception, may not be the actual truth, but what our mind’s eye interprets as the truth. The illustration presented above is meant to clearly demonstrates the degree of confusion that can occur as a result of differing perceptions. Each person is convinced that, based on his own perception, his conclusion is correct, and as such, is unwilling to accede to the other.

          On every single occasion, the image of an event that registers in the brain is the one that was interpreted and painted by the mind, and the perception is often far different than the actual event. In pure psychological terms, such a ‘perception’ refers to the way the mind receives, organizes, interprets, and consciously experiences the incoming sensory information it receives. The final picture itself can differ greatly from its actual appearance since the brain does not function in the same way as a camera. The camera faithfully reproduces the stimuli it received, while with perception, the image reproduced will always be colored by the receiver’s experience and interpretation, and is very rarely, if ever, a true reproduction. This fundamental difference between the fact and the perception caused Bill Cowher, a very successful American football coach to declare:

 “Perception is reality, but it may not be actuality, and you have got to be able to keep the difference between them.”

               The actual process of interpretation of the stimuli is by no means a simple predictable event. Each incident involves several separate and distinct components working together to produce the final picture, and it requires several key players to be actively involved. Among these are:

Sensory recognition.

An efficient sensory process and recognition is the foundation of survival and development of anyone. We are provided with 5 specific sensory receptors which together form the basis of all our sensory receptions. They are the very essence of who we are, and how we respond. When one or more of them are compromised or lost, there is a significant change in sensory reception that can give rise to corresponding changes in perception and behavior. The sensory responses relayed to the brain are generally reactive, disjointed and incomplete and not useful until they have been sorted out in a meaningful direction.

Interpretation.

This is the process of sorting out the continuous series of stimulations provided by the senses, and then making some sense out of them. It is dependent upon the efficient functioning of the nervous system, without which the final message may be distorted and misleading. The brain is structured in a modular pattern, with different areas processing different sensory stimuli and then bringing them together to form a meaningful picture. It is only after this stage has completed that any sense can be made of the stimuli received.

Past experience

Past experiences including education, exposures, cultural standards, values and a variety of other factors related to experience, strongly influence the ultimate perception by predisposing the individual to favor some and reject others. Clearly events that are recognized will receive greater attention than those that are not, and will be interpreted differently by the person.

         The final cognitive picture that develops is always the result of a complex interaction between the sensory inputs, past experiences and the state of the nervous system working together to influence a person’s thinking. The very highly regarded 19^th century American psychologist and philosopher, William James, in dealing with subject of perception stated that if man were to respond to the world in the way it actually appears to him, it would look and feel like a ‘big, buzzing, booming confusion.’ It is only because of his ability to perceive by selecting some of the incoming stimuli and leaving others out, that he is able to find a meaning in them. James insisted that we never truly perceive what is actually occurring, but we perceive only what we think is occurring. He regularly made reference to this fact, stressing the importance of the role of thinking in the interpretation of behavior. He insisted that:

“Thoughts become perception, and perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, and you alter your reality.”

         The role of perception therefore, is essentially to provide the person with a sense of awareness of his environment so that he can obtain the information needed to help him make beneficial decisions. It plays a key role in arriving at conclusions that are required for judging, interpreting, and analyzing of behavior as well as in understanding the reason for such behaviors. It plays an integral part in the molding of the personality, character and attitude of the individual and is the main determinant of his emotional responses. It determines whether he should be sad or happy, supportive and attentive or angry and aggressive, or timid and fearful or optimistic and hopeful. In fact, the expression of a particular response by the person is a direct reflection of his perception at that moment. Perception in fact, plays such a vital role in so many aspects of a person’s life that it is considered to be the major factor in determining the ultimate direction of, and the success or failure as an individual. Dr. Edward de Bono, a renowned Maltese physician and psychologist, and an authority on human behavior, reminded us of this power of perception when he stated:

 “Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic.”

         Yet, although perception can be a most powerful weapon in determining a person’s ultimate behavior, it is a double-edged sword, capable of doing great good or equally, great harm. Because of the fact that it can deeply influence both reality and emotion, it can easily control, almost completely the life of the individual. Whenever we choose to blindly follow our instinctive responses and ignore the real possibility that our perception may be flawed, we open ourselves to committing grave disservice to ourselves and others. Consider the following example:

You see a person in the distance walking toward you with his arms raised and holding an object. If your perception was that the object was a weapon, your reaction will likely be fear and concern. But if you perceived that the object was a gift, youwill happily go to meet him.

Clearly, because our perception of any situation cannot be ever fully trusted without a full and true review of all the information, it is imperative that on each occasion, we must resist the temptation to assume that we are always right, and that anything else, must be wrong. And on every occasion we do this, we run the risk of rejecting the truth. Unfortunately, because we tend to refuse to entertain the flexibility that will allow us to do so, we are all open to the possibility that we can have the wrong perception of a situation.

         This would mean that by default, reality in many ways is an illusion, and we, in fact, are dealing only with perception in our day-to-day lives. So, to truly understand the actions taking place around us, we need to rely on efficient sensory cues, and a balanced, untainted interpretation. If, for whatever reason, this does not occur, it is not difficult to understand why wrong conclusions are arrived at, leading to negative behavior. In addition, because we retain all our previous perceptions encoded in our memories, then any subsequent action tends to be measured against the past. This can, and does, create ambiguity and misinterpretations, and a major reason for creating false or misleading perceptions. It is no surprise therefore, that so many perceptions done in good faith and with good intention, end up causing great harm. Sonya Teclai, a promising young American author and entertainer, described this conflicting state of affairs beautifully, when she observed:                                                            

“Life is all about perception; positive vs negative. Whichever you choose will affect, and more than likely, reflect your outcomes.”

-This therefore is the message that we must all learn concerning the way we use our wonderful power of perception. Like so many other blessings given to us, it can only be used with discretion, and never allowed to totally control thinking and behavior. Perhaps this warning, contained in the Holy Bible in Proverbs 14:12, was meant to be taken more seriously:

 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end can be the way to death.”

        

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