“Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity.” ~Warren Bennis
At different times and with different clients when I ask them if they believe they are achieving excellence, too often I hear… No, I wouldn’t say excellence, BUT we’re better than we were 2 years ago!
Each time I hear this my first thought is this, “What if you were mediocre 2 years ago?”
Does that simply mean that now your one or two steps above mediocrity? Would you be okay with that?
Comparing yourself to what you did 2 years keeps you trapped in the past. It prevents you from taking risks (so you can feel safe) and could be keeping you chained to average or even poor performance.
But What If…?
But what if you were doing really well one or two years ago? What if you felt like you had hit your stride and were really excelling? That would be great…right?
Maybe not, you see comparing yourself to that point in time only tells you what you were capable of two years ago, not what you’re capable of achieving today. it still doesn’t help you achieve your optimal level of excellence now.
Why? Because you’ve obviously gained more experience and more knowledge (i.e. wisdom) to be even better than you were.
Your Customer’s & Your People Don’t Care!
From your customer’s perspective, they don’t care what you did for them 2 years, 6 months, or 6 days ago, they only care what you do for them TODAY!
Dwelling on your position in the market from the past, will be the kiss-of-death for you and your organization in the present because people have very short memories.
As a leader, same thing goes for your people. They don’t care what you did for them them 2 years or 6-months ago, they only know whether you’re giving them what they need to be excel today.
Achieving Excellence
Achieving excellence means you continuously push yourself beyond where you feel comfortable and into new territory. It means you consistently make decisions to push the boundaries of your comfort zone to expand it!
It means that you embrace change, new ideas, and your fear.
Notice I didn’t say ACCEPT change, fear, and new ideas, I said EMBRACE change, their is a big difference between the two.
One means you acknowledge it and the other means you welcome it with open arms.
So are you achieving excellence? If not here’s a few thoughts:
6 Thoughts on Achieving Excellence:
- Excellence is not a place you arrive at. If it was, you wouldn’t be there very long because as soon as you stop striving for excellence…you lose it!
- Excellence is a state of mind (your beliefs) that needs to permeate every crevice of your business and your life.
- It takes less than a nanosecond to decide to “be” excellent (that’s step 1).
- Once you decide simply start acting with excellence in everything you do (and that’s step 2).
- And when you get stuck (not if, but when) simply ask yourself this question: What would an excellent (leader, sales person, parent, teacher, husband, wife, partner, human being, etc.) do in a situation like this?
- And then as Nike says, JUST DO IT!
So there you have it just a few tips to help you achieve more excellence in your business and your life!
Nowwwwwwww go “be” excellent!
