Creating Excellence
Shawnigan Director of Athletics Mr. Tim Murdy knows a thing or two about achieving excellence. Over more than three decades of coaching, he has guided teams to championships in multiple sports at multiple schools, and recently received the Canadian Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association’s Dave Rozdeba Award for Athletic Director of the Year. Mr. Murdy has put together some thoughts about how to create excellence in yourself and in others.
Going through some of my old notes recently, I came across some points and quotes about how to create excellence in yourself and in others.
Excellence is exceeding the goal, doing better than expected, delivering your best no matter what you are doing.
A quote which is sometimes attributed to legendary American football coach Vince Lombardi states that, “excellence can be obtained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, and expect more than others think is possible.”
Peak performers share many similar characteristics:
- Involvement
- Enthusiasm
- Positive attitude
- Energy
- Self confidence
- Good posture and appearance
Likewise, poor performers share similar characteristics as well:
- Procrastination
- Lack of focus
- Complaining
- Lack of organization
- Excuses
- Unhappiness
Moving yourself to excellence means having a passion and a plan. Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1869 and again from 1874 to 1880, said, “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”
To achieve success, one must have a goal. In setting a goal, consider the following steps:
- Identify the goal
- List the benefits
- List the costs
- List the obstacles to overcome
- List the people who can help
- Develop an action plan
- Set a date for accomplishment
Benefits of goals:
- Know, be, do, and have more
- Use your talents fully
- Make better decisions
- Be more organized and effective
- Be more enthusiastic and motivated
- Accomplish uncommon projects
On the subject of focus, Dr. Gerald Jamplosky, a psychiatrist, graduate of Stanford Medical School, and founder of the Center for Attitudinal Healing, says, “Make a strong commitment to involve our lives only in those pursuits that deserve our best effort.
Action steps:
- Take 100 percent responsibility for yourself
- Remember – tomorrow never comes
- Dream big dreams
- Visualize yourself accomplishing your goals and plans
- Form partnerships with those who can help you achieve your goals
- Have a passion for excellence
- Celebrate accomplishments
- Never! Never! Never Give up!
Don’t make excuses. The Irish playwright and critic, George Bernard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want. If they don’t find them, they make them.”
Success blockers:
- Negative thinking
- Not accepting feedback
- Giving up too easily
- Shifting responsibility
- Fear of change
- Saying “I can’t”
Giving up too easily is a trap that athletes fall into. The cure for that is perseverance. Circling back to Vince Lombardi, he said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
Excellence is the quality success-minded people seek in everything they do. Regardless of what you do, strive for excellence.
Please click here for more information about Shawnigan’s athletic programs.
Tim Murdy has coached high school rugby for 34 years, including 17 years at Shawnigan. He has coached three different schools to a total of 16 provincial boys’ XV championships and six provincial boys’ sevens championships, including 12 XV titles and five sevens titles at Shawnigan. Beyond the high school level, Mr. Murdy has coached in the provincial, national, international and professional ranks. Among many other honours, he is a member of the BC Rugby Hall of Fame. In addition to rugby, Mr. Murdy has coached wrestling, ice hockey, basketball, track and field, and football.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
