Excellence

Excellence.

The sound of that words makes me want to sit up straight and take notice. It actually means "very great merit or quality." If you do something with excellence, you're doing your very best, putting your whole heart into it.

We all want to hear folks tell us that we did an excellent job on something, especially when that job goes unappreciated most of the time, if it's not normally our responsibility, or when we just want to be validated.

Like when our elementary school teacher thought we did an excellent job on our writing page, with our letters written nice and straight. We might even get a gold star with an A+ written on it. With a smiley face too, if it was really good.

How do we know when what we are doing is done with excellence?

Generally speaking, when you look back on the task, do you feel like it's a job well done?

There are small household tasks like doing dishes, folding laundry, and sweeping the floor. It's easy to see visually how well we did. But most of the time, no one notices that kind of job unless you don't do it. So it may be considered lesser than one that would be perceived as "excellence" worthy.

There are work tasks like sending an email, writing a blog post, making a phone call, or connecting with a new client. You don't always know how folks will respond to those connections unless they tell you specifically how much they appreciate your work. That's why it's always nice to get feedback from folks to affirm you're doing an excellent job.

One of the issues we may run into is desiring to do something different, something larger than what we are already doing. In other words, we may not be satisfied with what we've done so far and are looking for something more meaningful or purposeful.

The first thing to do when that sort of thought arises is: Pay Attention. Take notes. Don't ignore the urge to start something new if that's where your heart is leading you.

But First. Look at how you are doing what you are already doing. Are you doing the best job you can irregardless of whether or not it's appreciated? Are those menial tasks getting done without procrastinating or are they being put off for another day when they really could get done right now?

In other words, are you doing all you do Right Now with Excellence? Can you answer unequivocally yes? No? Hmmm. Then you might have some work to do before you making a running start in a different direction.

Why, you ask?

Because how you do things now won't change how you will do things in a different place or venue. Your habits are ingrained, and if they aren't excellent, they won't be that way anywhere else either.

Take a good look at what you accomplish each day. If it's lackluster or half-hearted, try writing down why you feel this way. You may discover an underlying issue that needs addressing to help you get into a better mind frame with your work tasks. Once you discover what needs changing and implement that change so you can honestly assess excellency with your current work, then you may be more ready to move in a bigger, more purposeful direction.

Excellence really does matter, no matter what you do, whether it's for your home, your work, your kids, or yourself.

When you determine to have an "excellence" mindset in all of life's dimensions, you will find your world expanding and attracting the kinds of opportunities you're looking for, or maybe even better than you can think or imagine on your own.

Then you can give yourself a gold star with an A+, and if you really want to go all out, add a smiley face too, for a super job well done.

© 2012 by Dawn Herring