Inspiration from (friendly) spam I received in my email….

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983…

From the world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: “Why did God have to select you for such a bad disease”?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

“The world over, 50 million  children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the  grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD ‘Why me?’. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD ‘Why me?’ “

I’ve always talked to folks about having a sense of urgency in life. Because that’s how I operate.

I look at the young & successful, and I feel like I’m 10 years behind. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing either.

If you don’t have nowhere to go and nothing to achieve, then you just take life as it comes: do your “job”, go home, have a beer, watch TV, hit the sack. Rinse, repeat.

But if you did have greatness to be achieved, that feeling that you are not yet where you ought to be, then you do things differently.

Having this sense of urgency is not the same as “being in a hurry”. Because when you’re in a hurry, you forget the basics, you overlook the fundamentals, you skip over the essentials, and you could end up going nowhere in a hurry.

But when you feel that you don’t have the luxury of time, the luxury that other “mere mortals” have, that’s when you transcend to a different level of your game.

I keep saying “sense of urgency”, but a much more beautiful way to say it is, “like your hair is on fire”.

Obviously, Seth doesn’t have much hair, so I’m pretty sure his scalp is on fire .

- Ravi Jayagopal
RavisRants.com

“Steve Jobs said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

Did you know that you have big things to accomplish in life? And did you know that those big things are getting rather dusty while you pour yourself another cup of coffee, and decide to mull things over rather than do them? We were all born with a gift to give in life, one which informs all of our desires, interests, passions and curiosities. This gift is, in fact, our purpose. And you don’t need permission to decide your own purpose. No boss, teacher, parent, priest or other authority can decide this for you. Just find that unique purpose.”

Beautifully written.

Here’s the entire post: 10 Golden Lessons From Steve Jobs

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

What could you possibly excel at, simply by doing it consistently, repeatedly, and persistently?

“I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for perfection is God’s business.” – Michael J. Fox