Pat Riley, a well known name in the basketball fraternity, having rubbed shoulders with the LA Lakers, the Miami Heat as a coach and later became a sought after motivational speaker once said that

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better

I love what he said about excellence; the fact that he views it as a gradual result of striving. That word, 'gradual' can get some people off their seat in protest. "We don't have space or time to be gradual anymore!" is what I can hear them shouting from the rooftops. Think about it: we live in a instant mechanised society, where instant demand has to be corelated to instant supply or we just lag behind. Yet, Pat Riley, an experienced coach can expound on the need to be gradual and bring his teams from nought to well-sought, shouldn't we sit up and take notice of what gradual means?

Mind you, there isn't anything wrong with excellence. We all want to be good at what we do. That's being responsible with the time and talents we possess. Yet, there is a need to understand the path to excellence-its a gradual path upwards, learning from mistakes, learning to overcome challenges, before reaching the top. I liken it to be enjoying the journey and focussing on that journey rather than being obsessed with the destination. We'll get there some day, but we need to focus on the journey, the gradual progression towards excellence.

How are you 'striving' ? Keep at it even if your not on top...yet. Remember, it's gradual.

SELAH