Excellence is a horizon, and there's an ocean of inspiration that separates us from it. To reach it, we must dive in. In a time when most refuse to leave the shallows, we dive anyway. The exhaustion and vulnerability aren't obstacles to the pursuit, but the journey itself.
Yet, the truth remains: neither you nor I will ever reach that horizon. This reality shouldn't break our spirit, for in this relentless swim, something remarkable happens. Work emerges that not only inspires, but points beyond itself.
Talent and technique can be practiced, honed, refined, perhaps even mastered. But excellence? Excellence slips beneath the surface the moment we think we've grasped it.
And still we strive for that which we once believed would never be within our reach.
We reach because excellence calls out the best in us. Our sharpest ideas. Our most daring work. Our deepest reservoir of creative energy. And the moment we deliver—standing back to dare call it finished—we've redrawn the line in the sand. What was exceptional is now expected. The horizon has shifted because we moved toward it.
This tension is the common thread of the creative life. We are never done. We are never satisfied. Not because we are broken, but because we were made to reach for more than we can hold.
Settle for the mediocre, even once, and excellence is no longer an option. Our work no longer impacts. No longer inspires. No longer demands attention. It drifts into the shallows. Forgettable. Safe.
But every new project is an invitation to dream again. To dive deeper. To swim out further than we ever thought humanly possible.
This is the pursuit: not arrival, but the endless journey, and the work we produce along the way.
This headfirst plunge is not for the hesitant. It demands we swim against the current of the expected. But this is the only way to create the work that truly lives.
Will you watch from the shores of the ordinary, or dive into the depths of excellence?