The Timeshare Beat: Jerry Sikes; With Regard to Excellence, Part 3

EXCELLENCE (Part 3)

"Always remember there are only two kinds of people in this world, the realists and the dreamers.
The realists know where they're going. The dreamers have already been there."
- Robert Orben -

In Excellence (Part 1) I told of how, on my flight home from the 2005 ARDA Conference, I was looking through the late spring issue of Sky Mall and came across some statements about excellence that caused me to rethink the term. The first of those statements was...

Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise

That second statement was:

Excellence is risking more than others think is safe

Next in line was:

Excellence is dreaming more than others think is practical

Man Of La Mancha was a major hit on Broadway and one song from that show (lyrics Joe Darion - music by Mitch Leigh) ‘The Impossible Dream’ tells all about the practicality of dreaming. The opening lines are almost unforgettable.

To dream the impossible dream,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to bear with unbearable sorrow,
to run where the brave dare not go.

Would dreaming the impossible dream be something like taking a thought beyond where others think is outside the mainstream? Is the word impossible simply a reflection of the box a stable society attempts to use to maintain convention? We all know terms like ‘Don’t rock the boat’ and “Maintain the status quo”.

Walt Disney may have been the epitome of a dreamer. He once said: "Somehow I can't believe there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C's. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy and the greatest of these is Confidence. When you believe a thing, believe it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably." On Courage he said: "Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk-- especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going-- pioneering and adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity."

Somewhere between 400 and 500 horses were nominated for racing's 2005 Triple Crown. Twenty of those horses went to the post at the most recent Kentucky Derby. Many dream of a Derby winner, be they the breeders, owners, trainers, or jockey. Nine years before she was born her father, Hal Price Headley had bred 1917 runner-up Ticket on the 4,000-acre Beaumont Farm located in eastern Fayette County Kentucky. Three years ago 86-year-old Alice Chandler almost saw the dream she inherited from her father go up in smoke. Alice had built up the 286 acres she inherited in 1962 into the 1,100-acre Mill Ridge Farm however, Kentucky breeders were hit hard in 2001/2002 when brood mares began losing fetuses and having stillborn foals in near-epidemic numbers. In 2002 Mill Ridge Farm lost almost 25% of their foals.

Only foals born in 2002, as three-year olds, are allowed to compete for the 2005 Triple Crown beginning with the Derby. What are the odds that one of the Mill Ridge Farm foals that survived would go on to start in the Kentucky Derby and become the 1st time winner for the 89 year old breeder Alice Chandler, owner Jerry Moss, trainer John Shirreffs, and jockey Mike Smith. Well, those odds at post time were 50 to 1. Not one of these people gave up their dream because others thought Giacomo was (at best) an also ran. Against all odds, this son of Holy Bull and foal of Set Them Free achieved excellence on the ‘First Saturday in May’ at Churchill Downs.

FINAL THOUGHT

To achieve excellence you must bring awareness to the dreams that live deep inside of you. You must let them surface even if others think them impractical. As Walt Disney indicated, we must have the courage to defy those who would give all the reasons that our visions, our dreams, are without merit.

My Pop taught me that if I could envision it, I could achieve it. If I have achieved any excellence in my life (to date) it is because he encouraged me:

To dream the impractical dream - to fight those who would be my foe - to bear with unbeatable courage, and to go where the good enough would not go.

JS 5/05