One of the life lessons that I have gleaned over these almost 40 years is that, in most cases, excellence does not result from the things we traditionally think. It’s not necessarily exceptional genius, talent, or innate ability. Instead, excellence results from the discipline of being CONSISTENT with a defined focus and a willingness to evolve and grow. Being consistent means that you still show up when your business plan is rejected by investors. Being consistent means still working at night on your big dream after a long work day. Being consistent means trying and messing up over and over again. Excellence is not born out of a string of excellent days. It is birthed from the consistent effort of many AVERAGE days. I wish my parents had imparted this knowledge to me when I was younger instead of emphasizing that somehow excellence should be achieved every single day. In the demand for excellence, I could feel the weight of their anxiety and fear if I didn’t turn out to be “excellent” in their eyes. The weight would crush me as I compared myself to all my peers. Every time I fell short, I wasted so much energy beating myself up instead of learning from the process and perhaps even enjoying it. In fact, it would have allowed me to embrace the many days in which I felt mediocre, average, normal, and human. I would have embraced that version of myself and reminded myself I was enough in the normalcy. Now, having walked through this road and looking back, I will teach my kids that excellence is not the goal. Consistency is. To commit to themselves and their dreams enough to keep showing up each day. Because living your dream doesn’t require the label of excellence at all. It is enough simply because you believe it is worth pursuing. I will teach them that excellence will figure itself out so long as they keep showing up for themselves and their dreams. So share with us: How do you allow yourself to detach from excellence as the goal? How do you remain consistent with your dreams? Thanks for sharing 💛