What does it mean?

What does it mean to be the best? Does everyone want to be the best? Is being your best something you should always strive to accomplish?
In my world, in my head I want to become better and better at what I do - be that singing, teaching, or interacting with my fellow man/woman. So what is required of someone who wants to be their best at something?
I think you are required to go further and think more quickly than the person below you. You cannot accomplish superior things with inferior drive. I am pretty sure this applies to music. Somewhere along the line you have to make a decision - do you jump in with both feet, putting your best effort into everything, going above the call of duty on every occasion or do you decide to be content with your current location?
I have, in the last 5 months, made the decision to go further than I am now. I push myself and I grow with every rehearsal, every piece, every struggle, every mistake. I am giving more than I have ever given before. But, I only do it because it is a committment that I decided I had to make in order to satisfy the inner soul of me.
As a result, I am ready to go on to bigger and more complicated things. Things I don't get. Things that cause me to lose sleep. To practice until I cannot see straight. I want to find the pinnacle of "try" for a chorister of my calibre. I refuse to be stopped, weighed down, criticized, or laughed into complacency.
I think, and I think rightly, that it is time for our Chamber Chorus to move on - and up. If you cannot cut it - and I'm not only talking vocally, I'm talking completely - using more time than you think you have - working harder than you think you can and sometimes harder than you actually want to work on any given day - I think that if you cannot do that then you should be content with doing less. That's okay. It is a choice you make - it is not one that is thrust upon you. And, it is a valid and perfectly acceptable choice.
When I marvel at the two things that I do and love doing- teaching and music- and I am enticed, charmed, romanced, and excited about both of them after a period of 40 years I am once again amazed at the absolute rightness of my choices of career and avocation. I am ready - let's move it on up - bring on the lions - I intend to slay them.