“Strive for excellence and let God determine the results”

This quote is really close to my heart because, as a business owner, mom, and wife, I am constantly faced with the challenge of living to a standard of perfection. So, my goal today is to bring some joy and peace into your life by helping you understand the difference between striving for perfections vs. striving for excellence.

Inspirational Quote

When I – inevitably – fall short of this benchmark, the feelings of failure, discontentment, and worry want to creep in and have my heart. It is a daily struggle! My mind is bombarded with thoughts of needing to be perfect: need to cook more homemade meals, need to spend more time with family, need to eat healthier, need to exercise more, need to be a better boss, need to work more, need to work less…blah, blah, blah!!! You know what I am talking about!! If you are not careful, trying to be perfect and meet ALL of the expectations we place upon ourselves will leave us feeling overwhelmed and defeated. I am not saying that it is a bad thing to have high aspirations and tough standards, but I am saying that if your mind is not in the right place, you will feel burdened and stressed.

According to the dictionary, the word ‘perfect’ means “having no mistake or flaws.” So, we can safely say that wanting to achieve perfection means that we expect to be flawless and entirely without faults or defect. Don’t you think that this might just be a little too unrealistic?!

So, what is excellence? Again, according to the dictionary, ‘excellence’ is “the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.” To become extremely good at something requires constant improvement and practice. In the process of trying, you will fail many times…and that’s ok! All you need to do is try again, maybe change your strategy, but never quit. I think that striving for excellence means focusing on a few things at a time and constantly improving on your previous achievements. We need to realize that, ultimately, we don’t have control of the outcome! All we can do is to strive to make small improvement every day and let God freely work in His area of expertise!

Proverbs 21:31 says: “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”

This bible verse perfectly illustrates an example of striving for excellence and allowing God to take care of the rest. All you can do is improve, be excellent, and prepare…and leave the outcome in the hands of God! After all, loosing a battle does not mean you’ve lost the entire war!

So release perfection and embrace excellence! it is a worthwhile trade that will make your journey to true success much more fulfilling and joyful!

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