The Excellence Book
My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Tomich of Eagle Point Elementary School in Weston, Florida brought this concept to life for me early on. He had a literal Excellence Book. The goal for us students during the year was to sign the excellence book. There were many ways in which you could sign the excellence book, some more straightforward than others. For example, if you earned an A on a spelling test, you would sign the book! Other ways to sign the book were more subtle.
We might be completely absorbed in a game of kickball outside and Mr. Tomich would start walking back toward the school. This was our sign to race to the door and line up in a single-file line; the first five students in line signed the Excellence Book. This was one of my favorites because I am very observant and focused at the same time. I could make a catch on the field, but also sprint the instant I saw Mr. Tomich turn his body toward the building.
Good grades and awareness could lead to signing the Excellence Book, but so could small acts of kindness or support. If Mr. Tomich noticed you help a student understand a passage in a book or help a classmate carry in their science project, he might suggest that you sign the Excellence Book.
I signed the Excellence Book many times and for many reasons – it was my driving force in the fifth grade. In fact, as you night have guessed given its impact on me, I signed it the most and received special recognition at the end of the year. It meant everything to me. My experience in the pursuit of excellence, and the well-rounded definition that Mr. Tomich ascribed to excellence, has stuck with me ever since and been a guiding force in my life.
Soul Excellence
For the two decades following the fifth grade, my pursuit of excellence was fairly traditional and linear. It meant taking the hardest classes and earning the best grades. Serving as senior class president of my high school. Volunteering hours on end. Getting into a good college, winning an award for best thesis in my major, and speaking at commencement. Graduating with an exciting job in Washington, D.C. Moving to San Francisco and jumping into the technology start-up scene.
While pursuing excellence in academics and in my career, something else has been happening behind the scenes. I have been digging deep into my soul. I have been wrestling with my values. I have been absorbing knowledge and freeing my inner wisdom. I have been questioning what excellence means to me – by whose standards? To what end? I have been experimenting with new foods. I have been applying new philosophies. In the past five years, I have awakened to the fact that my purpose in life is indeed to pursue excellence, but to especially pursue and embrace soul excellence.
At first blush, proponents of either excellence or of soul might gawk at the juxtaposition of these two words. Excellence, or greatness, is often associated with ambition and drive. Soul, our spirit or our emotional energy, is often associated with allowing and being. One word evokes the feeling of great action, while the other evokes the feeling of simple presence.
Soul Excellence, to me, is the lifelong pursuit of individual greatness at the deepest level of our being.
Soul Excellence means awakening to our true self, aligning our lives to grow our spirit, bringing intense focus and clarity to our actions, and elevating the world around us.
Soul Excellence feels right and true. Yet, Soul Excellence is also new concept to me and I look forward to expanding on what it means to me and others as I grow and share.