Once in a blue moon, I have the privilege of coming across a person who hasn’t had things going his way in life, but who will not allow unfavourable circumstances in life to knock him down. I have recently been in conversation with one such person. And I’m awed at his resilience.

He does not have a wealthy background, never had an opportunity to attend college, has a very meek demeanor that makes him a subject of oppression in the workplace, and has financial commitments to ensure his family is secure (but which hinder him from pursuing formal programmes for self-development). Most others would have given up by now.

But one thing sets him apart from many others like him – he knows he’s good, and he wants to be even better. He has never given up on what sometimes seemed like futile attempts to further develop himself and reach for his fullest potential in life. If you watched him consistently, you’d see the fingerprints of determination, relentlessness, and devotion all over his life.

He works in an ordinary place, but performs extraordinarily. He does things which others would not normally do, because these things are beyond the specifications of their jobs. But he does them because he knows these are marks of vocational excellence. He’ll most probably not get a promotion for doing these things – in fact, he has never had a promotion before because he does not have a university degree – but he does them because he is committed to personal excellence and the good of others.

For every one such person I meet, I come across many others who are just so easily beaten down, who suffer from justificationitis, who have thousands of excuses for why they cannot make it in life. They either have no time, or are weak in languages, or are from less developed countries and never had opportunities for good education, or don’t have the money, or don’t have the intelligence. There’s always a valid reason to not excel.

When a person is not committed to excellence, he hasn’t just shortchanged himself; he has shortchanged his neighbour as well. His excellence would’ve otherwise been a blessing to someone else. But in wasting time, in giving up, in relenting, in compromising, he has failed to optimise his potentials which would have otherwise served humanity for a better cause. Of this charge, he has no excuse.

This person I know has not yet “made it in life”, if you need to know. But so what – he’s being the best he can be. And he has inspired me deeply. And he deserves to be called excellent. Because he is.