Achieving success in life, business, sports, et cetera is about mastering excellence. Success is about commitment, persistence, skill, confidence and execution. Vince Lombardi was quoted as saying, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field or endeavor.” So, no matter what your chosen field or endeavor, the question becomes: How do you master excellence?
In my experience, there are three key ingredients that, when embraced, create the foundation for mastering excellence.
Having the right attitude. Having the right attitude is a decision you need to make every day. Your attitude affects not only you but also the people around you. There are two ways you can look at virtually everything in your life. A pessimist looks for the difficulty in the opportunity, and the optimist looks for opportunity in difficulty. Frederick Langbridge reinforces the different views of an optimist and a pessimist in the following quote, “Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.”
Your attitude affects your body language and your behavior. Folks with the right attitude often appear strong, confident and happy. Folks with a more pessimistic view often appear haggard, unhappy and stressed. Having the right attitude gives you energy, and that energy is very contagious — being optimistic fuels better health. Even when the world around you seems to be challenging or crumbling, having the right attitude will reaffirm that you have what is necessary to face any challenge and create the right outcome for yourself. Your attitude has a direct correlation to your ability to master excellence in whatever you choose to pursue. There really is only one right option — embrace the right attitude.
Being goal oriented. Know what you want, why you want it, and define how to achieve it. Defining personal and professional goals will create a road map for your success. It is not enough to have a dream. In order to have a dream become a reality there needs to be a goal with defined action steps. Action is what makes things happen, and being goal oriented is an empowering process. As you achieve things from your list, you start to feel an energy building that will very quickly snowball. The more you start to achieve by being goal oriented, the more you want to achieve, and the more you know you can achieve.
The devil is in the details. Attention to detail is critical to mastering excellence, and it will make you stand out in comparison to others. Attention to detail means nothing goes unnoticed. It is paying attention to how you dress, how you behave, how you communicate, how you carry yourself, how you take care of your surroundings, how quickly and efficiently you follow up, and how you treat others. Make every detail meaningful and reap the rewards of success.
You have the ability to be excellent at whatever you pursue or endeavor, and being excellent is a choice that is 100% within your control. Decide today to raise your level of success by having the right attitude, by being goal oriented, and by paying attention to every detail.
Excellence and success go hand in hand!
Gordon J. Parkman is president of Achieve Results Consulting, LLC.
