Personal Excellence

A professor of mine told this story about a man named Joe.

Joe was at Judo practice and had just had his butt handed to him by his opponent. He walked to the back of the room and sat down looking very discouraged.

The Sensei approached Joe and asked what was wrong. Joe told the Sensei that he just couldn’t beat the other guy. It was frustrating to compete with someone who was so much better than he was.

So, to illustrate a point, the Sensei drew a line on the floor and asked Joe how to make the line smaller. Joe figured that he could cut the line in half or curl it around or even cover up some of the line.

Then the Sensei drew another line beside the first, but this one was longer. The Sensei said, “Make your line longer.”

The point of the story is that we should focus on how to achieve personal excellence. We should be competing with ourselves.

In juggling it’s the same. Let those who are better than you inspire you to improve rather than allow yourself to see the difference and be discouraged. Develop your skills and make your line longer. This is the key to personal excellence.

Quote of the Day

Passion is the energy you get from brining more of YOU into what you do. ~Curt Rosengren