Simple. Not Easy

Being excellent is not hard. In fact, it’s really fairly simple. It’s just not easy. You have to train yourself to be excellent because it doesn’t just happen. Those who are excellent, are so, not because they are smarter or more talented than you are, but because they have figured out that excellence isn’t automatic.

Three Components

There are three elements that excellent people practice, regardless of the endeavor. First, it begins with motivation—a desire and commitment to be excellent. If you don’t care to produce anything more than average, you will never be excellent. A mindset of “just do enough to get by,” or “until I don’t feel like pursuing it,” is a surefire way to blend into mediocrity.

However, because the work you do is so challenging and requires a lot of effort, you will soon find yourself miserable, if you choose this path. It’s no fun being in a profession that demands excellence if you do not have the drive to be and do so.

Then it moves to a belief that what you do really matters. Your work contributes to the success and well-being of others. Period. But if you don’t believe it, you won’t act on it. Your clients really appreciate it when you care enough about their life and their business that it drives you to deliver the very best you have to offer. And if you don’t have external clients, you certainly have internal clients.

If you’re not sure how your work matters, ask your clients about what is important to them. They will tell you how your work contributes to their vision and goals. In fact, you may hear how you could provide more value than you do now.

Finally, you create habits and routines so that excellence is the default for how you approach your work. You don’t begin each project as if it were the first time. Excellence isn’t a one-off exercise where you hope everything will work out. You have first steps, interim processes and completion reviews to ensure high quality work. By using technology and processes, combined with your knowledge and experience, excellence becomes a matter of course. You expect it from yourself and you become known by your excellence.

Next Step

Of these three components of excellence, which one should you be more attentive to? Your motivation? Your beliefs? Your routines? For me, it’s routines. I get them in place, then I either forget, get distracted or don’t have the discipline to follow through. When my routines falter, it’s really frustrating, especially when I have the motivation and beliefs in place.

Let me know what you tend to falter. I’d love to hear from you. Just remember—excellence isn’t automatic.