Be Excellent to Each Other
Dear Collective,
I spent some time this week catching up on some films, and I ended up going back to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. If you haven't seen it in a while, it’s a total trip, literally. You’ve got two guys traveling through time just so they can pass a history exam and eventually save the future with their music.
It’s ludicrous, it’s silly, and I honestly think the sequel, “Bogus Journey," is better. But there’s a specific moment that really stuck with me. When they finally travel to the future and see the impact they’ve had, the world is looking to them for some grand, complicated wisdom.
And Ted says, “Be excellent to each other.”
It sounds almost too simple, doesn't it? It sounds like something you’d find on a cheap greeting card. But in this day and age, I think that simplicity is exactly what we’re losing. We look for complex solutions to our problems, but we forget the baseline requirement of being a decent human being in the room.
When we talk about "excellence" at the Collective, we aren't just talking about a heavy lift or a fast time. We’re talking about what Aristotle touched on:
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Excellence isn't a trophy you win once. It’s a habit. It’s the way you treat the person next to you when you’re both struggling through a hard set. It’s the way you handle yourself when things aren't going your way.
I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve been tested this week. I haven't always been at my best. I haven't always been "excellent." Even with this letter, it's coming out much later than I usually send it. That’s not me being excellent; that’s me falling short of the habit I’ve tried to build.
But here is the wisdom in the mess: The moment you recognize you haven't been excellent is the exact moment you can start being excellent again.
We have an opportunity every single day to be better toward one another. The moments when we feel like we don't have to be ourselves when we’re tired, frustrated, or running late are usually the moments where it matters the most. Excellence is a choice we make in the "uncomfortable" zones.
Being excellent to each other is a habit we have to practice until it becomes our default. It’s how we turn this neighborhood into a masterpiece.
With Strength and Wisdom,
Charlie, We The Collective Fitness