When you give everything to what you believe in, you work hard, and then harder, until you have got nothing to give, yet still you feel like you haven’t given enough… that’s the beginning of a long and slow road to excellence.
The journey is long, slow, and taxing, to you, to those around you. But the adventure’s well worth the pain.
There’s a saying in Bahasa Indonesia: Berakit-rakit ke hulu, berenang-renang ke tepian, bersakit-sakit dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian, which says pretty much the same thing in every culture and tradition. You may dismiss it, and laugh to those who pursuit this path, but this journey is inevitable to every living soul, mankind or otherwise. It’s inevitable.
Excellence is not the result, but the very DNA we are all ingrained with. Some of us choose to take this responsibility and go down the rabbit hole, some choose the other direction. Some people go and change the world, others choose to refine the way they brew their cup of coffee everyday.
It doesn’t matter what you choose, really, but once you are there people will notice and see it, they can’t ignore excellence, no matter how small the subject of your choice is.