Excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice to develop~Plato

We do not act "rightly" because we are "excellent", in fact we achieve "excellence" by acting "rightly"."

We all know that excellence is neither an isolated act nor a gift but it is a comprehensive cultivated quality in a person who strives to be and becomes outstanding or exceptionally good at something or the other field. Excellence can be said to be scholastic/academic; in demonstrated sustained superior performance at work, or a skill or a craft; can be shown by cerebral brilliance, such as, in clear thinking or problem-solving; as well as general merit; or high calibre in absolute or in comparison with one's peers.

We have seen that such individuals are usually high level achievers and successful at whatever work they undertake. Naturally, excellence is evident in one's actions as measured by performance and achievements. Some people can do excellent things because they have a natural gift of nature, whatever it is that they can do excellent. I don't think it is just a gift because when a person does not enjoy something and not motivated to do something they will not do excellent work. It would be nice to make it a habit to try to excel in whatever it is that you do, however, most people who do excellent work also have a passion to do it.

One can say that excellence can also become a habit as Aristotle had proposed. But, I also think that excellence in small acts is overlooked and under-appreciated. We look at people who have made excellence a habit and they seem to simply be good at everything they put their hand to. If we’re prone to compare ourselves to them, the things that we excel at seem diminished, even unimportant. Every perfect act whether its making a perfect pancake, knowing how to grow roses better than anyone in the neighbourhood, or understanding atomic physics it finally felicitates the individuals. Even a prodigy practices. Excellence also comes through trial and error, experiencing new things, observing what's possible, proposing risk taking and doing constant repetition.

There is a famous story about Pablo Picasso where he was having dinner in a little bistro one night and was suddenly approached by an ardent and relentless fan. "Draw me something on this napkin," she begged. He looked surprised at the woman's request, but nevertheless agreed, and quite pleasantly took out a fine pen and sketched a quick drawing of the same woman on the napkin. As he went to hand it to her he said, "That will be 1 million dollars." The woman gasped, "But it only took you 30 seconds to draw that!", she exclaimed. " "Yes," said Picasso, "But it took me 30 years to learn how to draw it in 30 seconds." This is what is called as excellence in life. It is indeed a gift as said by Plato or a habit as said by Aristotle is a matter of further discussion but we agree that excellence can be achieved by doing the same things repetitively and improving the performance every time we do it. Stay blessed! #kishoreshintre