I cannot count how many people I see letting their life waste away. I have found myself at times in the same position; a very sad place to be. Countless numbers of people sidestep opportunities because of personal limitations that we think will keep us from reaching our goals. We discount our abilities and fail to take forward steps because we are used to seeing the end results in other people; failing to understand the work it took for other people to achieve their desired results.

You can in fact raise your standard of living. You can do this by committing to excellence. The hardest part for many people is figuring out what it is they want to pursue, but once they do, it’s all about focusing on doing that.

I was inspired to commit to excellence in my own life and in businesses that I run. As an educator, I’m constantly learning, absorbing fresh ideas and exercising my mind. I was listening to a presentation done at a local conference and his theme was raising your standard of living by committing to excellence.

The presenter told a story of his grandma and her incredible cherry pies. She would bake tons of cherry pies and every time he would go over her house, he would see cherry pies on the stove top, on the window sills, and on the tables. There were a great deal of cherry pies. Though he loved his grandma’s cherry pie, he had two questions for her. The first, “Why does she only bake cherry pies when she obviously had a talent for baking pies and could presumably bake other pies really well too?” The second was: “Why does she give 90% of them away?”

He sat down with her one day and had a heart-to-heart; asking her these questions straight forward. Grandma, in her wisdom responded, “you agree that I make a darn good cherry pie, right?”

The boy said, yes, of course!”

What I’ve learned in my life experience is that if I focus on making the best cherry pie possible and give away the best thing that I have to offer, other people enjoy my contributions and then make me the best apple pies, peach cobbler, chocolate mousse, and many more. When I give away the best pie I can make, I get to enjoy the best of all other pies out there!Grandma

And it then dawned on the boy…

This was the hard hitting revelation that resonated with everyone listening to the presentation in the room. The symbolism was that when you perform what you do to the best of your abilities and give that away, you get in return much more than you could have ever done on your own.

This is done by focus and COMMITTING TO EXCELLENCE.  Focus on what you do best at work, business, investing, and life and you will inevitably raise your standard of living. So many people are on the sidelines thinking a more abundant life just isn’t for them and that where they are in life is their permanent destination.  Many times your fears hold you back, fogging your mind and keeping you from being everything you want to be.

The best advice I can give you is to stop looking back and take forward steps to commit to excellence in your area of expertise and enjoy life with a higher standard of living.

Chief Editor at CrushTheStreet.com
Kenneth Ameduri