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I love excellence. I think many people believe that excellence is something you work towards. I argue that excellence is something you are, something you practice every day, like brushing your teeth. Here’s a few ideas on how to Be Excellence every day.
1. Make others feel valued. Recently at one of my favorite restaurants, I witnessed excellence in action. A waiter caught my eye being excellence. He was engaging with all the patrons of the restaurant, not just his tables….all the tables. He was also joking around with the other wait staff and generally having a great time on the job. He was actively engaging both customers and co-workers making all of us in the restaurant feel valued.
2. Be true to what you believe in. Life and work moves so incredibly fast these days that sometimes integrity is lost in the shuffle. It can be rare to see someone stand for what they believe in a bold way. I always think of the movie, Erin Brockovich with Julia Roberts. The real-life Erin Brockovich was struggling to feed her children yet she boldly stood up for others. Luckily being excellence doesn’t require us all to go to those lengths, it can be as simple as slowing down and asking ourselves regularly if we are being true to what we believe in most. Maybe it’s as simple as recycling your water bottle to take care of the planet.
3. Take the spotlight off yourself. People who are considered being excellence are those who let others shine too. We may think a spotlight hog is highly successful but excellence is the leaders who aren’t afraid to let others succeed. As Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
4. Build your pride through gratitude. We all have things in life that we dislike doing. Those that take pride in all they do aren’t always whistling while they work. For example, I dislike cleaning and I especially dislike cleaning the bathroom. I remind myself however of a trip I took to Africa where I found myself not being able to use indoor plumbing at every village we visited. I quickly find myself overwhelming grateful for having a bathroom to clean and can shift to cleaning with pride and being excellence while doing it.
5. Honor joy. Have you ever noticed how many “Ugh, It’s Monday” quotes pop into your Facebook feed every Monday? Let’s face it, most of us aren’t feeling our best on Mondays but the quotes are usually funny and give us a chuckle. That is the key to being excellence….being honest with how we are feeling and still keeping our sense of humor even through difficult times. When we are being excellence we know not to sweat the small stuff. If we seek joy, the excellence shines through us.
Now over to you, what things do you do to Be Excellence?
