View from the Cheap Seats

February 8-14, 2016

Living in excellence

By William O. “Bill” James, Jr.

What if you lived every day in excellence. I am talking about everything you think, everything you say, and everything you do being done at the peak of your abilities. Put simply, what if you did your absolute best all the time? How would your world change? How much could you change the world? Even though I have trouble imagining how great the world would be if I did live in complete excellence, I have even more trouble with the answer to the question of “why not (try to) live that way?”

The sad commentary to all of this is the fact that this is not the first time I have ever pondered the possibilities. I believe the first time was about 40 years ago at the end of my 9th grade football season. I went in and told the football coach that I was going to quit and focus my time and efforts on boxing. He kinda got in my face and pushed me for a reason.

I told him that I did not really understand what he was upset about, it wasn’t like I was a star. He looked me straight in the eyes and asked me one simple question. He asked me if I had given 100 percent during every practice and every game. I had to tell him no. He went on to explain to me that you never really know what you can do until you give something your all. He was, of course, correct.

Can you give everything you do in life 100 percent? The simple answer is no. Plus, that is not really the issue. Doing your best doesn’t always mean doing everything full speed. Instead, the first step to doing your best may mean deciding what is truly important to you and focusing on the limited things you can do excellently. Obviously, there are many things we would rather not do, but must be done. If you were going to live an excellent life, taking care of your responsibilities would certainly have to be included among the things that must be done excellently.

Before one can strive to live in excellence, they must recognize that the only person who will ever know for sure if they are meeting that goal is the person in the mirror. One person’s excellence may be no better than another’s half hearted attempt. While many of us spend our moments competing with the world, the real competition is with that same person in the mirror. If we do our best what else can we really ask for?

What is stopping you from getting up tomorrow and starting your excellent life? If your worries don’t extend beyond the things that you can actually affect, and doing your best in all you do, then you have given it your best shot. If you give life your best shot, you can live with the uplifting freedom of knowing you could have done no better. Not just that you did it “your way” but you did everything you did as well as you could under the circumstances. There is no regret in that.

There is nothing you can do about the life you have lived to this point, but as long as you are drawing breath, you have a chance to live an excellent life. Why would you want to live any other way? That is the question we should all ask ourselves every morning when we look in the mirror. That is especially true for those of us living way up in CHEAP SEATS!

Bill James is a criminal defense lawyer and co founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway, and Fayetteville, Ark. He may be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com. If you feel like writing him and want to bad mouth him, he will respect your opinion much more if you sign your name.

 

  • Bill James
    Bill James