As I said in the previous post, things tended to come easy to me. I have to admit, that I never pursued excellence enough to push myself, to challenge myself. After all, as Thomas J. Watson Sr. said “The formula for success is quite simple: double your rate of failure.” I definitely did not invite failure and therefore I did not invite success, not in the way I invite it now.
I had said that I thought that if I had known what I know now, I think I would made different choices. Of course, this is probably true of anyone, I suppose. The reason I feel secure in this knowledge is some events that happened in my life.
One such event was the Electromagnetic class in year 2 or 3 of university. It was a tough course. I had been on the dean’s honor’s list every term and I was determined to stay there. The course felt impossible for me. The professor was tough, a no-nonsense kind of guy. There were 3 tests and the final exam. On the first test, I received an amazing 2.5/40. No, that is not a typo. I got 2 1/2 out of 40. I did not understand the subject, as was obvious. I was used to doing very well in school. I was usually good at tests, but there was that 2.5 staring me in the face, mocking me. I did two things. First I laughed. I laughed at the sheer absurdity of it and I figured it was better than crying. Then, I did something different. I made a decision that day. I was not going to let this course beat me. I was going to get an A, I saw it clearly in my head. I actually choose to practice, without knowing what I know now. I spent countless hours, going through my notes, studying the text book and doing every single question in the book. I practiced and practiced and practiced. The next test came and I felt confident. I had prepared so much and the test was such a pleasure. I actually finished in half the time. I spent the next half checking my work and dressing up and color-cordinating all my graphs and drawings. I spent the third half… just kidding… I wanted to check if you were still with me. I got 40/40. I did that on the next test as well and on the final I got 99%. The professor gave me an A and actually found me and told me how much he really wanted to give me an A+. I was so close. (He had only given out one A+ and a handful of A’s) This was one of my brushes with excellence.
Another such event was when I took a project at the Publich Health Agency of Canada. It was an amazing experience putting myself in the CNPHI project. I took on this assignment to build a software prototype. It was myself and a friend working on the project, with another friend leading the venture. We had 6 weeks, very little help and the clock was ticking. I believed in us and just did my part step by step, bit by bit, even though this could potentially have been out of my league. We worked 20 hour days on many days and pulled it off beautifully. We won the project and the project is still going strong. Of course I am no longer there, I am here. 
There are a few other glimpses of my utilizing the art practicing to the heights of excellence, but most of the stories in my life end with my choosing good over great. The last story I will share with you is about Chuti and I. In 2010, we will have been a couple for 20 years. We started when I was 15 and this relationship is a work in progress, I would call it a work of art, where we are striving for excellence every day. Of course, prior to the last 3 years, the excellent choices we made regarding our relationship stemmed from the absolute committment we made to each other and so we made those small decisions daily, practicing well to build a great foundation. I am truly excited about the next 20 years, because now our daily practices are much more delibrate, driven by the vision we are created together of what we want, mainly due to the books and cds in our lives.
