“Excellence: Skill or Attitude? ”

A gentleman once visited a place under construction where he saw a sculptor making a statute. Suddenly he noticed a similar statute lying nearby.


Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same kind?"


"No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage."


The gentleman examined the statute and found no apparent damage… "Where is the damage?" he asked.


"There is a scratch on the nose of the statute," said the sculptor, still busy with his work.


"Where are you going to install the statute?"


The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.


"If the statute is that high, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.


The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I know it and God knows it!"




Moral: 


The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. 


Excellence is a drive from inside, not outside. 


Excel at a task today – not necessarily for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction. 


Remember, "Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude." – Ralph Marston