Inspiring excellent living

In Pursuit of Excellence (GEM Enterprises, Lagos; 2015) written by Ayo Lawal is a manual for those who wish to attain excellence, fulfilling God’s purpose for creating them, and maximise their full potentials.

In this inspirational and motivational piece, Lawal uses simple language authoritatively, which gives the reader the push needed to realise and live his inbuilt (God-given) gifts. He also gives the reader examples of “uncommon achievers”, as he calls them to include, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, “who took the magnificently powerful step of raising their standards. They had great success and made the great impact during their times”.

The author says the reader must embrace the principle of excellence or quality. He describes excellence as a law that must be obeyed for one to succeed. Lawal reiterates that life is a journey to a preordained destination when lived in accordance by the will of God.

With practical examples from the Bible, he gives the reader an insight to what heavenly vision entails. According to him, “it involves God speaking to you directly, as he spoke to Noah, Moses, Gideon and Paul”. He writes about how these characters were given a clear sense of purpose to do the will of God.

According to Lawal, there are some key points the reader should observe in his pursuit of excellence. First, there is a ‘green light, which says YES. It is a vision that speaks peace. Secondly, there is a red light that says STOP. Here, Lawal says the reader should be mindful of obstacles as they come in different shades and may not be in accordance with the plan of God. These obstacles include ambition, impression, imagination and so on.

The author says greatness is buried in one’s gift. He says the reader must first realise his gift and work towards achieving his dreamed destiny. Lawal points that sometimes, our gifts are the least things we could ever imagine.

“Excellence is a prize with a price tag called responsibility; we must accept responsibility for our gift if we must experience greatness, no room for excuses”.

He constantly reminds the reader that destiny is not by chance but by choice.