Excellence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Excellence (disambiguation).

Excellence is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards. It is also used as a standard of performance as measured e.g. through economic indicators.

In modern public relations and marketing, "excellence" is a much overused buzzword that tries to convey a good impression often without imparting any concrete information (e.g. "center for excellence in ...", "business excellence", etc.).

History

The Ancient Greeks had a concept of arete which meant an outstanding fitness for purpose. This occurs in the works of Aristotle and Homer.

Another related concept was eudaimonia which was the happiness which resulted from a life well-lived, being prosperous and fulfilled. The equivalent concept in Muslim philosophy is ihsan.

Practice makes perfect

Studies have shown that the most important way to achieve excellent performance in fields such as sport, music, professions and scholarship is to practice. Achievement of excellence in such fields commonly requires approximately 10 years of dedication, comprising about 10,000 hours of effort.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Karl Anders Ericsson (1996), The road to excellence: the acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports, and games, ISBN 978-0-8058-2231-1 

External links

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