ACHIEVEMENT MEANS DOING THE ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARILY WELL -- NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE

 

 

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Heard this said by Madame Secretary (in the TV series of the same name) ---- "Achievement is often anonymous." -- I liked those lines then and still do now. And I guess always will.
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So how is achievement defined?
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I know of several friends who give the word human being a good name. They highlight the beauty of life and living. Extending their hand of friendship and comradeship to all regardless of race, color, or creed....... exercising perseverance and determination in times of trial or struggle..... being joyful even during difficult times....... persistently stressing the good in men....... non-judgemental no matter how the situation or person can look so bad...... doesn't care who gets the credit being happy with the thought that the goal has been served and very well at that...... And even so much more like it.

Achievement doesn't have to be on a grand scale or grander, nor should it be up there for all to see and applaud. It doesn't necessarily have to be up for awards, recognition, certificates, trophies, medals, or plaques of distinction. (But those aren't bad in itself either. It all has its uses naman.)
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To my mind, achievement is something like this ........
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--being a good mother, wife, father, son or daughter, husband, grandma or grandpa, sibling or relative, friend, boss, school or office colleague, a brother in arms, a good neighbor, an honest vendor, cop, government employee, street sweeper, teacher or mentor, doctor or nurse, shoemaker, or whatever profession you have chosen for yourself.   It's being exceptional without needing an audience for it. It's right there in or from your heart where it truly matters.
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Maybe it's better said this way.......... It's someone doing ordinary things extraordinarily well and with a humble and sincere heart day after day after day.
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Nothing for show, nothing for money, praise, or fame. Not because everybody does it nor because it's the fad or trend. A friend puts it this way.....  "It's essence above form."
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It's simply doing the best with his or her god-given gifts. It's being authentic with 'who-I-am-and-what-I-have'. Humbly. Honestly. By Divine Design.

EVERYBODY IS A STORY

Friends say that I don’t talk much in a group the opposite of what I do with my pen. They are correct... I don’t. Because I would rather listen... observe... understand... learn. After all if you would listen to them talking they might as well be saying your same thoughts on a chosen subject. The diversity of the group assures me that at least one would mirror my own perceptions or insight. So I need not eat up space which they would gladly take over anyway.

You’ll always find a match, your match, with someone out there... someone who would share your thoughts though maybe not exactly but differently in a most interesting way. I like that because it affords me to look at the same old things in a new way which I may not have explored on my own.

Interestingly everybody is a story. The questions of who-what-when-where-why-how unfold and are played with exact preciseness as in a stage or screen play. One paying attention would know how it begins, continues, and finally ends. If things go wrong somewhere in the story you simply go back to the WWWWWH questions and pluck out the right question that could possibly lead to the right answer. 

And I have learned that paying attention to a person is acknowledging that person’s right to life and everything which life creates tailored to his uniqueness. Ignoring a person is something like pushing that person back to nothingness, like pushing him back to a void which has this unnerving knack of making him want to blend with it and finally he convinced disappears into it.

Nobody is boring, maybe bland, straight, worn and weary, unhappy, sad, lonely, frustrated, disappointed, broken-hearted, fearful, confused, quietly miserable; too the opposite positive side of that spectrum and perhaps even so much more unpleasant things one may not even want to know. But that is just the stuff stories are made of. And listening to their stories tells you one great thing ....... People, we are all the same basically where it matters most --- Being human.

QUALITY IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

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This came to me in email shared by my good friend, Mr. Quote Man. To quote.....

 "When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers,  you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back,  even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it.  You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.  For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."  (Steve Jobs)

Unquote.

I think that does not speak alone about a job. That also works with the rest of life and living. We are not good just for show. We are good because we are good. It's not that we simply show our good side as in our photogenic side for the camera, but our good has to be rooted down in our core. That's true quality.

Be true to your self. That's all that's being asked of us. Whatever standard or measure or conditions are used on us, let's remember that those things don't matter. You can't let their standards define you. It's their standard or measure, not ours. Because the real challenge is this....  how do you measure up to your own standard of self.

My mom used to say this.... 'Know yourself. And if you see some rough spots, try to smooth them out with learning and more learning. There is always room to grow. But don't let people use their standards on you. It doesn't work that way. Challenge yourself, compete with yourself, benchmark yourself. Always be true to yourself and what you stand for.'

Steve Jobs was right.....  "For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."

Enjoy your day, with wonderful blessings awaiting you.