Excellence is a Habit!

A Spark from ARC - August 9, 2022

Our theme this year is “Excellence is a Habit.”  Habits are heavily influenced by your thoughts.  When you sow a thought, you reap words that eventually become actions.  Your actions form habits which shape your character.  Character is critically important because it determines your destiny.  The aforementioned transitions started with your thoughts. 

It is imperative that you prevent your negative past experiences from infiltrating your thoughts.  Don’t contaminate where you are going with the dust from where you have been.  Negative past experiences should not define you.  Your past is important because it has brought you to where you are; but it is not nearly as important as the way you see your future.  The way you see your future impacts your thinking today.  Your thinking will influence your performance, which is a profound factor that impacts your future!  You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind. Failure is an event, not a person; a detour, not a dead end street; a stepping stone, not a stopping stone; a teacher, not an undertaker.  Failure is not final unless you stop trying.

If you are not achieving excellence in your role in our school district, the problem could be the software you use to program your mind.  It may contain viruses that keep your mind from producing positive thoughts, which are necessary for you to achieve excellence.  I suggest that you restore the original software that your creator placed in you.  Your thinking is critically important because you cannot consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.  You will become what you contemplate.  If you can’t see it, you can’t be it, you can’t achieve it!

Do you know your purpose?  Do you feel committed to your purpose?  If not, I encourage you to use any means necessary to discover it or get in alignment with it.  When your vehicle is out of alignment, tire wear, gas mileage, handling, and overall efficiency will be negatively impacted.  If you are out of alignment with your purpose, your journey on the road to excellence will be difficult and you may not achieve excellence.  Your habits, attitude, beliefs, standards, expectations, grit, tenacity, commitment and relentless pursuit of excellence are affected by whether or not you are connected to your purpose.

Both you and our students were born to win, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness!  Together, we can achieve excellence if we embrace the concepts I have shared with you, and instill them in our students.  However, we must not make excuses!  Excuses are tools of incompetence.  They build monuments of nothingness and those that are accustomed to using them rarely do anything except make excuses.  Excuses do not change existing conditions; instead, they allow under-achievers to feel okay about their failures.  Instead of making excuses, we must paint the Excellence Creed on the canvas of our hearts and perform our responsibilities from our hearts. 

The Excellence Creed

I believe in myself and my commitment to excellence at all times.

Every day, I will:

Expect Excellence

Believe in Excellence

Embrace Excellence

Make Excellence the Standard, Not the Goal

Claim Excellence and Greatness as my Destiny

Be Committed to Excellence

Empower Excellence

Model Excellence in Action

Pursue Excellence

and

Positively Impact our Culture of Excellence

I am focused on Excellence because:

I was born to win, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.

I am driven by purpose and vision.

I am on a mission.

I have the right Attitude, Concentration, and Effort (ACE).

I will Persevere Until Success Happens (PUSH).

I will not be discouraged by temporary failure on the road to excellence.

I will paint a picture of excellence on the canvas of my heart.

I will surround myself with people who strive for Excellence. Excuses do not change existing conditions. I can’t consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way I see myself.

Excellence is a Habit!

Make it a great year!

Arthur R. Culver