Fishers High School

YOUR INVITATION TO EXCELLENCE Here’s some good news for anyone who wants to win in any important area of life, including you here today. You don’t need anyone else’s permission to pursue excellence. Whatever's in front of you today probably brings with it its own unique challenges and complications. But whatever's in front of you today also brings with it its own unique opportunity, to meet the winning standard that your very best requires. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. painted a clear picture of what pursuing excellence looks like. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper,” he once said, “he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’” Those words are powerful because they undercut the foundation of a mediocre mindset, which is built on the belief that the value of your work and the standard of your performance are circumstantial. The street sweeper's work matters, the quote implies, not because it's particularly engaging or glamorous, but because the person doing it has decided so. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses this street sweeper as an example, and in doing so challenges and encourages each of us to follow his lead and take that same high-level approach to the work we're doing today. You might call it an invitation to excellence. Accepting that invitation starts with solidifying your belief that what you're doing today matters. If you’re reading along here as a Michelangelo or a Beethoven or a Shakespeare - if your work is receiving public praise and regular recognition - then maybe it’s easier to meet that high standard of performance. But champions are committed to pursuing excellence in even the menial or mundane tasks that most others take for granted. Those tasks are important because those are the tasks that often define our days. I'm guessing those tasks might play a part in the day you've got ahead of you. Why has the champion chosen to make such a commitment - and why would you choose to make it here today - even when it doesn’t get much praise or recognition? You would make that choice because you recognize that it’s what success requires. The truth is, winning cares about what you’re doing, but cares just as much or even more about how you've chosen to go about doing it. Embracing that mindset allows you to recognize today as an opportunity to validate once again who you are and what you’re all about. There’s a level of constancy and consistency that defines the champion’s approach. When they walk in the door, you know exactly what you’re gonna get. They've made winning a habit in every area of life. The question today is…have you? The other reason why the champion has chosen to meet that standard, even when it doesn’t get much praise or recognition, is because they recognize that their choice serves as an invitation to others. Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. used the street sweeper as an example to challenge and encourage us to raise our level here today, your example has the potential to have a powerful impact on the people who witness your performance. This belief lives at the heart of high performance and effective leadership - that the example you set serves as a invitation to the people around you. It calls them up and helps to bring out their best. You never know who might stumble upon your work and how your winning approach and performance might influence them. Nobody needs your permission to pursue excellence here today, but they might just need your invitation. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHAMPIONS 101 NEWSLETTER HERE.