The Habit of Excellence
Here is a T4D I wrote back in the spring of 2003 just after returning from my very first around the world training trip.
Back from my trip around the world… what an experience, London, Sydney, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand….and back home to Salt Lake City. Team Building around the world has taught me many things… here is just one of them. Everyone everywhere is dealing with many of the same things we are…both personally, and professionally. How to find meaning in their work, how to motivate their less motivated co-workers, how to stay motivated themselves, how to balance family and work, how deal with difficult and challenging personalities, how to deal with rapidly changing market conditions, how to play by the rules, deal with the government restrictions, and build a great business culture….and on and on it goes.
The constant pursuit we must all make is not for any one thing…. for obtaining any one thing will not bring happiness or success…unless perhaps that one thing is “Excellence”. Excellence being defined as “Doing the very best you can do, in the situation you find yourself, with the resources available to you.” Pursuing excellence does not always mean obtaining or achieving your desired goals…though you might. It does mean that even if we don’t realize the goal, if we pursued it in the spirit of excellence…then we did all that we could, and in this there is great satisfaction and no regrets. Allowing us to never waste energy on regret or remorse, excellence then empowers us to quickly assess where we came up short and focus on moving forward quickly once again. The pursuit of excellence then is its own never ending reward.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle
“Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” -Dr. Dorothy Height
“The common denominator of success — the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful — lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.” - Albert Gray
The Habit of Excellence…hmmn, maybe Excellence should be a cigarette?
Kirk Out