Excellence does not mean perfection.

Have you watched some of the March Madness basketball games this year? I only watched a few, but WOW, the UConn comeback against Duke in the Elite 8 was unreal!

The UConn Huskies were down 19 points at halftime. At this point in the history of the NCAA tournament, teams down by 15+ points at halftime against Number 1 seeds were 0-134. No team had ever come back from that many points. Ever.

UConn kept playing their game. They never gave up on themselves. Slowly, they chipped away at the lead until they were 2 points down with a few seconds left.  A freshman, Braylon Mullins, who was 0-4 from 3 point range launched a long shot and sank it to win the game!

Even when the shots weren’t falling and things weren’t going their way, the UConn Huskies kept showing up and focused on the next play. When things were getting ugly, they kept going.

Brad Stulberg says “Excellence does not mean perfection. It means refusing to quit on yourself when the situation looks hopeless.”

I think everyone has found themselves playing from behind at some point in their life. It makes me wonder, what could happen if I focused on the one next move and refused to give up when things are not going my way?