By Brian Hurlburt, Magnifying Excellence Podcast Host

Excellence is a journey, not a destination.

If there is one thing I have learned in the initial five episodes of the Magnifying Excellence Podcast, it’s that is the overriding philosophy.

Hall of Famers Greg Maddux (baseball), Napoleon McCallum (college football) and Bill Walton (basketball), entertainment icon Susan Anton and the top pitching coach in Major League Baseball, Mike Maddux, graciously shared their time, energy and top tips on the way to Excellence.

So, here are the Top 5 Tips for Excellence from our first five episodes in both written and audio form.

Top 5 Tips for Excellence

Greg Maddux – Be Honest with Yourself When Assessing Challenges

“The first thing I didn’t lie to myself. I think it’s very important to not lie to yourself. I’m not afraid to look weak by saying I was nervous and it got the best of me. I knew that was why I lost. And, I want to correct it. I want to fix it. So, you have to be honest with yourself to tell yourself the truth.

CLICK TO LISTEN TO GREG’S FULL EPISODE

Napoleon McCallum – Write Down Your Goals

“I think it has been said a lot of times, but just because it’s said a lot of times, it doesn’t mean it’s less true: you’ve got to have goals. You have those little steps that are easily and steadily achieved that inspire you to go to the next level, to achieve the next goal and help you get to what your ideal of excellence is. And then as you reach that level of excellence, then you have to re-examine what excellence is for you.”

CLICK TO LISTEN TO NAPOLEON’S FULL EPISODE

Susan Anton – Thoughts Create Our Actions

“So, Excellence is to me is a way of being it’s the way you are being at all times. And you are intentional about having a mindful attitude because I believe absolutely that our thoughts create our actions, which create the results of our lives. And so it starts with our thinking, how are you thinking, are you thinking positive about people? Are you believing in the best for yourself? Are you living your truth or are you trying to live somebody else’s truth? And I think that life is the opportunity to pursue excellence as a human being, not a do-ing a BE-ing.” Anton also believe being curious is a driving force on the journey of Excellence.

CLICK TO LISTEN TO SUSAN’S FULL EPISODE

Bill Walton – Be Ready to Absorb Life

“Live a life of curiosity, a life of exploration, a life of experimentation so that you can be ready and that you can absorb all these things. Cause you’ll never learn what you don’t want to know. So many of life lessons like it takes talent to get to the top. It takes character to stay there. Never measure yourself by what you haven’t done, but rather by what you could have, or should have been able to do those who were not willing to risk going too far, really never know how far they can go. Talk is cheap, but vision is true and there are no rewards for settling for something that you don’t want.”

Click to LISTEN TO BILL’S FULL EPISODE

Mike Maddux – Bring Your Best Everyday

“You’ve got to bring your best every day. How do we do that? Well, be prepared for the day, whatever your day is, whatever your profession is, get up with a good attitude, a positive attitude. That’s going to get you much better feedback than a negative attitude. So you have to find what’s good that day and capitalize on it. If it’s not all good that day we’ll, let’s make it better for tomorrow, so that all your strengths play up and your weaknesses play up to your strengths.”

CLICK TO LISTEN TO MIKE’S FULL EPISODE