Excellence by Association ~ 2

I took some time to read the story of the Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville who are acclaimed to have designed and piloted the first aircraft. Such a beautiful story. None of these two brothers finished from high school. Wilbur suffered from depression after a hockey accident that he was involved in. But behind closed doors, he gave himself to intensive reading. Later, as newspaper printers, these brothers discovered they were also crazy about bicycles. Then, they worked together to build and fly the first fully practical airplane. Talk about iron sharpening iron!

The people we relate with over time become us. And we become them. The greatest good any Exceller can do for himself/herself is to get surrounded with positive influence!

Be deliberate about your atmosphere and environment! Surround yourself with love. Surround yourself with colour. Surround yourself with green. Surround yourself with positivity. Surround yourself with dreams and vision.

Your eye-sight, mind-sight and foresight are very important. God promised to Abraham, the Father of faith; “Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are to the North, South, East and West. For all the land which you see, I will give to you and your seed forever.” Gen 13:14 – 15. Very often, you need to lift your head and look towards the horizon. Our God is able to give lands for possession as far as our eyes can see!

Faith comes by hearing the word of God inspired by His spirit. Read your Bible every day and associate with Bible loving people.

There are 3 kinds of association that you need as an Exceller:

1. Excellence Mentors: There must be people ahead of you who spur you to greater heights. Listen to them. Read their books. Read their stories. Relate above your horizon. It is not enough to see things at your nose level. 

Be careful however that you do not idolize or worship any fellow human. Remember that we have only one true Father who is God in heaven. 

2. Excellence Fellows: At your level, there must also be people who you partner with to achieve excellence. Study group members. Prayer partners. Business partners. If you are studious and resourceful, you will attract the right kinds of colleagues. Or you can meet those people and request to be their partners when you notice that they are resourceful.

Note that for students, I strongly recommend that in addition to your personal studies, you have a study group with which you discuss course content and practice sample questions together.

3. Excellence Mentees: You must also be willing to give out. God did not design any system to only be receptors but also to be donors. Every organism and macrocosm has the ability to feed and excrete; to be birthed and to reproduce. At every level in your life, it is important to seek those who you will impact with the things that you are learning. That way, you too will grow.

In engineering, we say that a heat engine is a device that receives heat from a Heat Source (Reservoir), converts some of it to useful Work and rejects the remaining heat to a Heat Sink (Reservoir). Be like a heat engine. Be a channel of blessings!

With much love to you, dear reader friend.