The difference between high performance and excellence

I ask myself a question! As a ‘high performance swimmer’ am I a high performance individual and did I or do I ever reach excellence. If the answer to that difficult question is yes, then when did I achieve it or when do I achieve it! One obvious answer was perhaps when I set my first ‘world record’ but then again I did not break the world record, make of that what you will! So, the answer must be when I first shattered the world record, however, I fear not!

The term high performance and excellence are very often used together and interchangeably but they may be very different references that relate to an outcome, or is that not true! Indeed, ‘high performance’ relates to what is done when racing at and arguably performing beyond the edges of human possibilities (as we may have personally witnessed from time to time); ‘excellence’ then refers to the way things are done; the attention to detail and the ability to respond both physically and mentally (physiological & neurological) to ‘circumstances and opportunities’ no matter what the age or current ability of the performer.

Is this the fundamental difference between the two references and, if this is correct to conclude, is ‘high performance’ restricted to a favoured few, if so, this may be good news as ‘excellence’ is achievable by everyone all of the time, though very seldom actualised. If actualised more often, can we not all achieve high performance, as surely we can assume this must be the case; in the hypothetical sense, then we would have a greater mass of high performance individuals in narrowing the attainment gap or, does the summit only have seats for the favoured few – ‘raising standards and all that’!

I wish I’d have reached the end of the pool first more often, indeed, I wish I could achieve high performance at work every day. Is this winning! A hungry ambition and drive for success of course but I now realise that success lay in the detail and that winning too is in the detail and in the pursuit of detail lies excellence. Winning is not usual, it’s not normal, it’s extraordinary. If this were not true, then we would all win all of the time so, relish and remember these extraordinary moments and strive in the ‘detail’ to achieve them again and more often, for in the term ‘champion’ lies consistency.

I now understand that excellence was what I hoped to achieve every day when training and competing and that ‘detail’ allowed me to become a high performance athlete (well swimmer, generic term) and, now with my work, I understand that even if a desired and targeted outcome is not achieved then I have to be satisfied with excellence for it is innate.  Sport, education, business, it’s all the same and just about connecting the dots. That’s what we strive for at Sports Communication Group Ltd. and ‘The Nick Gillingham Swim Academy’. 

Nick Gillingham tutors for Independent Coach Education's swimming courses for teachers. Details are here.