CREED NUMBER 5: I am raising the bar

I am raising the bar - Israelmore Ayivor

“People of excellence go extra mile to do what’s right” – Joel Osteen

“A bar” in the sports discipline call “high jump” is a piece of rod, wooden or plastic which is used to determine the maximum height a person can jump up to. In high jump, the bar is placed at a level between two poles and is raised inch by inch after each successful jump until the optimum altitude or height is determined.

The journey to excellence is just like participating in a high jump and for that matter requires that a person yearning and working for success works hard to raise his personal standards after each and every attempt or effort.

“Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s level”- Jack Nicklaus (Professional golfer)

There are people who cannot go higher in their endeavours because they do not know they can be better. As an aspiring achiever, never leave yourself to be fooled by complacency. Dare to ask for more, raising your level each and every day!

“If you are any good at all, you know you can be better”- Lindsay Buckingham

A student who is always content with his average grade marks will not be enthusiastic about improving that level to a higher height. To move from the hut of mediocrity into the edifice of excellence, you have to be fully convinced and readily prepared to raise the bar for yourself and others as well.

“In today’s global economy however, it is important to raise the bar of excellence even higher. Today’s student must be prepared to compete effectively on the international level”- Kenny Merchant.

A brief research into the history of high jump records from the past Olympic Games forms the basis of this concept. It reveals to us a tremendous knowledge that should tell us that today’s excellence is tomorrow’s mediocrity. Ask why? It is because every high jumper comes and employs new techniques to break existing records and set new records as evidenced by the height of the bar going up and up and up over decades.

“Start early and begin raising the bar throughout the day”- Bruce Jenner

The sports skill started collectively in Russia and America where partakers used a routine method by running “straight on” to the bar and jumping over it and the first record booked in the 19^th century was 1.68 metres height.

Later in the 20^th century, the skills changed and consequently, the records also changed. Michael Sweedney, American, introduced a new skills called the “Eastern cut-off” exercised by taking off like a scissors, extending his back and flattening out over the bar. A constant practice of this skill set him to break the existing record, raising the bar to 1.97 metres in 1895

“Do your best and be a little better than you are”- Gordon Hinkley

In the year 1912, another American named George Horine also brought a skill called the “Western roll” and increased the height of the bar to 2.01 metres. He did this by approaching the bar diagonally and using his inner leg to take off while the outer leg was used to thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar.

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way”- Booker T. Washington

Cornelius Johnson improved Horine’ technique and raised the bar 2.03 metres higher in 1936. Next came Charles Duman’s who practiced “Straddle technique” over and over and raised the bar to a height of 2.13 metres in 1956.

John Thomas was also among the record setters in the Olympic Games and lifted the bar to 2.23 in 1960 after which Valeriy Brummel kept the record title from 1961 to 1664 and raised the bar to a height of 2.28 metres and a later got into a motor accident that ended his career.

Another technique that became popular from 1968 till today is the “Fosbury flop” practiced by Dick Fosbury by directing his body over the bar, head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing himself in a fashion which would likely have broken his neck in the old sawdust landing position. He used the “Fosbury flop” to raise the bar and won the 1968 Olympic game despite he couldn’t break the existing John Thomas’s record.

Vladimir Yashchenko used Charles Duman’s 1956 “Straddle technique” to raise the bar to lift the height once more to 2.33 metres in 1977 and later to 2.34 metres in 1978.

Today, the current record was set in 1993 by Javier Sotomayor, Cuban who raised the bar to 2.45 metres which other high jumpers are promising to break soon.

What should learn from the records?

• 1.      Some of the record breakers used personally generated skills with which they practiced and emerged. Take time to develop your own skills to raise your bar.
• 2.      Some of them slightly modified previously used skills to suit their structures and broke the records of those initial users. Learn from Booker T. Washington who said “Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way”. In other words, “excellence is doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well”- Thomas Peters.
• 3.      Past records became insignificant over time. As new records arrived, the previous records became mediocrities, confirming that today’s excellence is obviously tomorrow’s mediocrity.

“Life is like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance, you must keep moving forward”- Albert Einstein.

Every step you take with a positive intension lifts you into the mood for moving forward with your dreams. The only advice to take here is “don’t lose balance”. A very simple effort to change the level of your bar today is an obvious way of opening the doors for bigger lifting up of the bar tomorrow.

“One change always leaves the way opened for the establishment of others”- Niccolo Machiavelli

Always dream about creating new stories, rather than boasting about your past glories. Past glories are enough to make you focus on a better future.

“I like the dreams for the future better than the histories of the past”- Thomas Jefferson

As an aspiring achiever, there are specific steps to beware of as you begin to set yourself up for a higher bar. These are simplified in the acronym I.M.P.A.C.T as six (6) tools for raising the bar of excellence.

INFORMATION:

Albert Einstein said “information is knowledge” and stressed that its’ a tool for paving a broader way. Information is the light we use to find our dark ways out. When information comes, ignorance flees.

Information exists in two forms; the good and the bad. Information could be beneficial or detrimental. Good information properly used becomes beneficial while bad information used any how is strictly detrimental. Good information wrongly used is equally detrimental as the use of bad information.

Sources of information include the libraries, text books, lecture or lesson notes, pieces of advice, internet, and etc. One typical area where a good source of information is almost always used wrongly and produces a detrimental effect is the internet. This happens when users take advantage of this media to download dirty movies, pornographies and open unnecessary sites to appeal to their unwholesome egos.

MOTIVATIONS:

“People say motivations don’t last. But neither does bathing. That’s why I recommend it ever y day”- Zig Ziglar (American Motivational Speaker).

Everyone daring to lift the level of his bar needs to be motivated to do so. Two sources of motivations exist; extrinsic and intrinsic sources. You may receive motivations from people like counselors, Preachers, friends, relatives etc., and those are from extrinsic sources. However the other side of the sources of motivation that makes you retain all those motivations is the intrinsic source also know known as “self-motivation”. Self-motivated dreamers are those who have a very little to entertain about “inferiority intensions” under whose Lordship your tendency to give up becomes easy. Self-motivation is to get up and tell yourself that “yes I can… yes, I qualify for it”.

“Stay away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that”- Mark Twain, rather mount the shoulders of giants and you will see farther than them, raising your bar inch by inch.

Karen Miller exercised this by courageously saying “when someone tells me “no”, it doesn’t mean I can’t. It simply means I can’t do it with him”. This is a great saying to relief signs and symptoms of intimidation and inferiority that kept people static for ages now. Tricia Cunningham sent an advisory note to all “naysayers” saying “the individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it”

Join groups that inspire you positively and motivate your to take on the future with courage.

POSITIONS:

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seats of the scornful…. He shall be like a tree planted beside the rivers of waters…” Psalm 1:1, 3.

Position describes where you put yourself and where you put yourself is by far a very big tool to create who you become. Everywhere you stand, or sit or walk produce something out of you and that something is a product produced by the position.

A student cannot be depositing himself at “fan fairs”, “night clubs” and “dating corners”, etc. when his friends are learning in the classroom and still expect to have the same level of bar as they have. Wherever you put yourself gives you whatever it gives.

I was watching a football match between Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC years back and I happened to discover through that game the major role that position plays in determining our success. It all happened when Chelsea played their optimum skills and earned 60% ball possession against their opponents’ 40%. However the end result yielded three goals against the dominant Chelsea team. What really made the team to lose was the miss-position of their goal keeper which made them conceded the goals. The ambitions of the 11 men in the blue jerseys sunk narrowly as this number 11 blue jersey bearer almost always deposit himself on the “off-side position” and whenever the ball is being passed to him, the whistle blows and the flag goes up.

Are you putting yourself in the right position or you are always “off”? Remember not every position welcomes victory!

ATTITUDE:

“Your attitude, not your aptitude determines your altitude”-Zig Ziglar

Psychologists define attitude as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can include how you evaluate people, how you address issues, how you confront other, how you respond to events etc. Your aptitude defines your natural ability or tendency. Your altitude describes the heights of your bar.

As a matter of fact, your researchers also discovered that there are several different components that make up attitudes and relating them to this concept, we have a few as;

• a.       An emotional component: How one feels about a circumstance or an event especially that related to your past glories and present histories.
• b.      A cognitive component: What you think is real or factual about an incidence, be it a vision you dream to achieve.
• c.       A behavioural component: How your evaluations influence your actions.

An attitude could be explicit or implicit. Explicit attitude is the kind with which we are fully conscious of it and it influences our behavioural patterns in our awareness. Implicit attitudes remain unconscious and yet still also influence our sense of beliefs.

Based on few experience, we choose to evaluate things in certain ways. That is our attitude. Many people have negative attitudes that tells them that “it’s impossible” and it’s very unfortunate these are the people who remain static because their negative attitudes have an influence on their motion to raise their bars

CONSTITUENCY:

Constituency according to this concept refers to external or internal constituents or factors that support or rejects your nomination for setting higher standard. In politics you will identify that a stronghold constituency for a candidate is the area where this candidate obtains majority of the votes casted.

In this concept, your stronghold constituency is not a physical geographical location that gives you power to rule, rather the talents and skill constituted in you that makes you reign and believe it or not those talents are unique to you. 

You can’t live in the stronghold constituency of someone and sail through easily.

The whole world heard of many footballers like Ronaldo, Messi and Rooney. We can also testify of the talented goal keeping skills of Oliver Khan, Van der Sar and Dida, just to mention a few. The former list belongs to the constituency of footballers and the later, goal keepers. Just think of how ridiculous and awkward it will be for Ronaldo or Messi to decide that he is now going to the goalkeepers’ constituencies. Likewise Oliver Khan will also perform abysmally when given the chance to function in the later constituency.

TEAMWORK:

“Two heads are better than one” says Ecclesiastics 4:9.

Some said TEAM means Together, Everyone Achieves More. It is very true and nothing less! Team work has raised the bars of many folks in the world’s history;

The first to list here are Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, popularly known as Orville brothers who worked together and invented the first airplane though the sharing of mechanical ideas and skills to raise the bar globally as far as 17^th December 1903.

Next are John Wesley and Charles Wesley co-operate founder of the Methodist church, affectionately called the Wesley brothers. They worked together as missionaries and raised their bars high to a height difficult to attain even today! John Wesley died on 2^nd March 1791 at age 88 with over 40,000 individual sermons preached. Charles Wesley died on 29^th March 1788 with uncountable number of poems written and more than 6500 Christian hymns written. All these happened because of committed team work.

In 2006, the highest scientific award in pharmaceutical industry known as Discoveries award went to three scientists; Henry Davies Jnr, Margaret Van Heek and Kevin Alton for the discovery of Zetia. Zetia is a drug used to break down cholesterol level of patients and advanced “statins” which existed twenty years ago. Zetia was used to treat cardiovascular diseases and is 400 times potent than other best drug with the same desired effect. This is excellence through team work. Through this team work, Davies, Van Heek and Alton saved lives of millions of patients.

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome”- Samuel Johnson