In the Pursuit of Excellence

When I witness the grandeur of creations, I cannot but wonder how magnificent are the creators.  From the legendary Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo to the bright mind of Jerry Coyne, I often wonder what are the life of these people like.

I always believe that it takes an excellent person to produce an excellent output.  The magnificent end product must be the byproduct of not just a brilliant mind but also the sum total of a life well lived.  Thus I decided to explore many facades of good living to quench my thirst in this uncommon journey to discovery.

There's a saying, "Good life is the best revenge."  What constitute a good life?  For some it's the upward mobility.  Moving up the financial and social ladder is the most likely path to personal glory.  Thus many slog themselves in a never ending spiral to be at the top.  For years they diligently toil to have a piece of the pie to be devoured some day in the future.  The irony is, when they reached at where they want to be, they realized that they actually had made it to the peak without the chance to enjoy the scenery along the way.

Many had forgo the most important aspect of living; which is the care for their health.  We all know this all too well.  In the pursue of a demanding career, we overlooked the importance of proper nourishment and the all too familiar need to sweat.  By not taking care of our body we arrive at our destination rich in material gains but ail in physical well being.

Many times I met 'excellent' corporate executives who burn the candle in both ends to make sure their organization thrive but they themselves suffer from personal neglect.  This is not the real pursue of excellence, it's another form of sadistic indulgence.

The Arabs has a saying, "Al aqli sallam minal jismi sallam" - a sound mind comes from a sound body.  The body is a temple that harbors all the resources we need to be excellent.  Without the body there is nothing.  Not even a functioning mind to say the least.

Hence it starts with the body.  Within the scope of a sound body, the two most important aspects of care we can impose are diet and exercise.  How many of us knew about this all along but never got the chance to properly execute?  Countless are guilty of waiting until the last minute, until the twilight of their lives to take action.

I spent more than 3 years researching about diet.  The span of my research ranges from the Atkins Diet, the Ketogenic Diet,  The Zone, all the way to the timing of the meal in the 8-hour Diet.  The summary of it all is as much as possible avoid sugar and eat between either in a 8-hour window up to 21 hours of intermittent fasting.  Look it up for yourself, once you understand food consumption, your are one step closer in controlling your physical outcome.  It is not just about weight control, it's also about controlling your bio-chemistry and your hormones.  "Know thyself and the knowledge will set you free," said Socrates.  By knowing what and when to eat, you are one step closer towards personal excellence.

80% of our well being is due to food, the other 20% percent is exercise.  Many of us can't afford the commitment to an exercise  regimentation that requires tedious preparation and planning.  The easiest thing you can have is to walk the total of 10,000 steps per day; which is about 1 hour cumulatively.  You can even split the 1 hour to two 30 minutes walk or if you can't then have a four 15 minutes intervals.

Always bear in mind that personal excellence is an individual responsibility.  Others can give pointers but in the end the burden of action is the owner of the body.  Acta non verba - Deeds, not words.