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“Excellence Is Not An Act…But A Habit.”How do we instill the
desire to do our best in ourselves and others? One way is through
competition. Healthy competition challenges us to reach new
heights and helps build the desire to do our best every day. Such
competition should be focused internally instead of just
externally. It encourages us to compete with ourselves rather
than others and enables us to be team players. Competing against
ourselves will allow each person on the team to emerge a winner--even
if the team loses.
In the book “On My Honor, I Will” by Randy Pennington and Marc Beckmon, state it takes five key principles to do your very best today and every day. These include purpose, commitment, responsibility, flexibility, and support. PURPOSE You must have a reason to do your best. An individual’s mission, like an organization’s, provides the overriding purpose against which goals can be evaluated. Doing your best for the sake of doing your best is difficult to maintain over long periods of time. Purpose provides direction and internal motivation. COMMITMENT You must tenaciously work toward your goals. Commitment is what occurs when desire and self-discipline come together. It is commitment that keeps you going in spite of discouragement, disillusionment and defeat. Desire comes from within, but the self-discipline required to demonstrate your commitment must be learned. Consider establishing a daily plan to help develop successful habits. The plan should include specific goals, both immediate and long-range, that move you forward. It should also include the activities you need to perform everyday to meet your goals. RESPONSIBILITY You must hold yourself accountable for your choices. Successful individuals understand cause and effect relationships; we reap what we sow. When we take personal responsibility for our successes and failures, we begin looking for “ways” instead of “outs.” We lose the ability to learn from our mistakes when we try to rationalize failure. Begin replacing excuses such as “They told me to!” and “It’s not my fault, because…” with winning phrases such as, “I made a mistake, but I have learned,” and, “It was my responsibility.” FLEXIBILITY You must be willing to creatively adapt to change. There are several phrases that shackle organizations and people to the past. One is: “We’ve never done it this way before!” Benjamin Franklin said, “Don’t look for the birds of this year in the nest of the last.” We have to be flexible enough to break with tradition if we’re going to turn obstacles into opportunities. When you face adversity, be flexible and open. SUPPORT You must have others on your team. A good leader can help make an organization great, but an organization is more than one leader. No matter how good a leader is, he can’t do all the work himself…other employees along with the leader make an organization successful. In your own fight to do your best every day, family, friends, co-workers, subordinates, and bosses are good sources of support. Remember, the successful organizations have leaders and employees working together as a team to improve themselves and maintain focus. Don’t try to “go it alone” or fail to hold up your end of the bargain. Try helping others as you’ve been helped. Leaders of integrity make certain they follow these five key steps. Consistently putting these steps in practice sets you on an exciting path of growth, development and success. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Joe A. Wilson, Executive Vice President of Training and Co-Founder of Wilson & Associates Consulting, is a retired US Air Force Colonel with over 27 years of honorable service. Joe holds a BS degree and a MA degree in Business Management and Procurement. He is a lifetime member of the Society of Logistics Engineers, the Air Force Association, and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. His website is www.wilson-and-associates.com and his office number is (813) 818-0150. He can be contacted via email at jwilson@wilson-and-associates.com. |
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