ATTAINING EXCELLENCE

When I was a kid, people would constantly speak in admiration of those who were excellent in

whatever they were doing. These could be students who achieved academic excellence, successful

business people, top athletes, celebrities, and so on. Envy aside, no one ever spent any time to think

about why or howthey were excellent. It was seemingly natural for most to just accept that certain

people were meant for excellence while others weren’t.

As I grew up, I started to form personal goals which I pursued fervently. I would set different goals,

generally anchored on academia and performance-related goals, since the country I lived in

(Singapore) was a meritocratic society. In the process of my goal pursuit, I would experience the

natural process of success and setbacks.

As I gained more experience and observed people who achieved excellence, I started to identify a

certain pattern that linked up successes – a pattern of certain principles and beliefs. And when I acted

in accordance to these, I would experience excellence in whatever I did – whether it was being on the

dean’s list, graduating as the top marketing student in my Business School, nabbing a job offer in a

Fortune 100 company against hundreds of applicants, delivering historical record-breaking results

when I was working there, creating my personal excellence blog which has tens of thousands of

readers after a short-span of months, getting overwhelming demand for my coaching services (which

currently has a waiting list of 3 months), and so on. As long as I keep focusing on these key principles,

results would be eminent.

If you have ever looked at the achievements of others and thought “Wow, if only I can do that!”, or if

you have ever wished that you can perform better, earn more money, make more friends, have better

health, achieve higher level of success, and so on, here’s the holler-out to you: You are capable of all

of that. Everyone has all the potential in the world to do whatever it is they dream of or want.

Following these key principles of personal excellence will go a long way in bringing you to excellence:

1. Have the hunger for excellenceYou need to want to achieve excellence. The emphasis here is on what ‘you’ want, not what others

want. Make sure the goal is something you set for yourself, because unless it is, chances are you don’t

really want it. And if you don’t want the goal badly enough, it doesn’t matter what you try to do since

the drive will not be there to keep you moving forward. It’s pointless to sign yourself up for something

and put in a half-baked effort, because a) it’s not being true to yourself b) it’s just wasting your time at

the end.This is why I always make sure I aim for the best in whatever I set myself to do.

2. Benchmark against the best

What is it you are working on? Who are the people who are the best in this area? What are the results

they have achieved? Set your targets to the same level as their best results, or even higher if you are

feeling up to it.

At the moment, I’m setting up my school of personal excellence for anyone who has a passion for

personal excellence. My long-term vision for this school is to be as big as the Xavier’s School in X-

Men. ;) (In fact, I have the picture of Xavier’s School up on my vision board since last year!) While this

vision may seem far-fetched to many, it’s a vision which I’m working towards and one which I have

absolutely no doubt will come to life given time and effort.

3. Believe that you can do itSelf-belief is paramount to every success. You need to first believe in yourself to get somewhere. If you

don’t have self-confidence, who is going to believe in you? If you have often experience low self-belief,

look back at the times when you achieved something, regardless of how big or small it was. From

there, build up your confidence and leverage it as you pursue your goals. As you begin to see results,

your confidence will increase over time, which will create an upward spiraling effect.

4. Build concrete strategy & plansEvery goal needs a proper strategy and plan for it to come to life. Setting a goal and not following

through with proper planning is like getting into your car to drive to your destination without knowing

how to get there or even having a driving license. Many people fail in their goals because they fail to

follow-through with planning. The bigger your goals, the more important that you invest proper time in

building your plan. I have written a 7-part Goal Achievement series on what it takes to successfully

achieve goals, which includes how to devise your winning strategy, create a robust plan, execute it

and review.

5. Learn from the bestHook up with people who are the best in the field and learn from them. They have the best practices,

insights and tips which will be extremely valuable in your pursuit of excellence. Rather than trying to

learn everything from scratch, it’s easier to leverage on the learnings from others and build on from

there. This will jumpstart your learning curve by a huge degree.

6. Do not limit yourselfDon’t be afraid to try every single thing that might take you to your goal. In fact, be more concerned

about the potential opportunities you might be missing out on when you don’t try something. Opening

yourself up to possibilities will enable you to pick up on things which might be fundamental to your

success.

7. Go all out; Work really hard

With every success, comes hard work. Without hard work, you cannot achieve results. People who try

to find the easy way out are kidding themselves if they think they can achieve excellence without

putting in hard work. If you observe around you, the people who seek out ‘get-rich-quick’ methods are

also the very people who don’t achieve much in their lives. Hard work is the universal quality that will

pay off in the long-term. Once you invest the due time and effort, the results will start coming in.

8. Focus your effortsOnce you have finished trying out every single thing that you can see, now focus your efforts in the

areas which bring you the most results. I subscribe to the 80-20 principle, where 20% of causes lead to

80% of effects you see in a situation. Focus your energy in the few key drivers of success which will

lead you to the results you want. This way, you will utilize your efforts more effectively, which can be

subsequently channeled into more value-added activities.

9. Be adaptable.Adaptability is one of the essential pillars of excellence. As you may already know, change is inevitable

– You can either cower in the face of change, learn to deal with it or even turn it into your favor. Be

ready for change at all times and develop a friendly relationship with change.

This also applies to changing your plans. Don’t be overly attached to your plans and be prepared to

alter them where needed. If there are certain things you are doing which are not very effective, be

prepared to improvise them or drop them totally.

10. Never give up.There is no failure except in no longer trying. Elbert Hubbard

Don’t ever give up. Remember that defeat never occurs unless you accept it as defeat. If a certain

problem is too big for you to handle, break it down into smaller pieces so it’s easier for you to tackle

them. As long as you keep trying, you will eventually achieve your goal.

A favorite story of mine is Sylvester Stallone’s rags-to-riches story of how he overcame overwhelming

odds in his life to be the international movie star we know him to be today. When he was a baby, he

was born with a half-paralyzed face due to birth complications, which led to a slurred speech. This was

the key reason why he was rejected thousands of times by casting agents. Because he never gave up,

he finally got his big break as the star of Rocky one day – and this only came after years and years of

relentlessly trying.

HOW TO ATTAIN EXCELLENCE AND BECOME GREAT IN LIFE

Everybody wants to be great in life, business, ministry, vocation or academics but hardly find the way there. I am always unhappy when people who should have become or should be geniuses today are still struggling very hard to get to their desired positions or destinations in life. In view of my observations and discontentment, it was laid in my heart to write on ‘excellence’ being the major key to greatness.

One major thing must be put into consideration. In fact, it is the central aspect of excellence and what is that? It must begin from your mind. You must fight failure and mediocrity in your mind before you can fight them in the reality. Vince Lombardi said; ‘your success in life will be determined more by the depth of commitment to excellence than by any other factor, no matter your chosen field’. Therefore, aspire as much as you can to be the best in your career or any chosen field you are involved. 

Brain Tracy, one of the foremost American geniuses and a philosopher also said; ‘no one is smarter than you and no one is better than you. If someone is ahead of you today, it is because he or she is doing something different from you. In other words, it is not impossible for you to achieve excellence in whatever you bargain for. Don’t you ever settle for mediocrity! An average performance is a limited performance.

Develop a passion for excellent performance. If you have not been taking the first position in whatever you’re doing, it is because you have been sleeping for too long. Wake up from Slumber! Performance is the only basis for promotion. Excellence is measured by action. A child who tops his class is not measured by his family background, nor race, nor psyche, but by the result of his performance in the class. And it didn’t just come by; of course it was followed by action principle. Oritson Swelt declared; ‘make excellence a life rule, to give your best to whatever passes through your hand. Stamp it with your personal character; let superiority be your trade mark’. Therefore develop an unquenchable passion for excellence. Become more committed than ever before to excellent performance. As the saying goes ‘whatever is what doing at all is worth doing well’. This is because people mind and even pay for excellent work or product or service. The world is full of mediocres, but the people in it appreciate excellent products, services or performance. This is the more reason why you can not afford to be a mediocre for life, so get up and get going. The world is really waiting for you!

Excellence is not attained by chance or heritage, it is an art that must be consciously achieved through a conscious and persistent effort. Among others, the following stand as major means through which you attain the position of excellence.

1. Think excellence: 

Everything in the reality has its thought antecedent; every action is a product of thought. Every battle in life is won or lost in the arena of thought. “As a man thinketh so is he”. Therefore, you must develop the mindset of excellence for you to attain excellence. In fact, this is the foundation. Think excellent thoughts always. By the time you think in excellent terms, failure thoughts would not be able to penetrate into you. Your life will always move in the direction of your dominant thought. You must break yourself free from those thoughts that limit you in life. You must emancipate yourself from those thoughts that will not move your life forward; thoughts of poverty, failure, sickness, pain, lack etc. don’t set any limitation in your mind. Don’t be limited in your mind, whatever becomes real in your mind, God will make real in your life. So, fill your mind with thoughts of excellence and success always, then you will always exhibit that in the reality.

2. Read books written by excellent minds.

Excellent minds are those great people around you that you can really acknowledge. When you read the books written by these people, you will begin to rub mind with them, you will begin to think the way they think, act the way they act; even some of them who have died their books still transform lives for the better, even the generations after them, like Napoleon Hill, Keneth Hagin, Norman Vincent Peal, (of blessed memmories) and others who are still alive like Dr Mylse Munroe, Bishop David Oyedepo, Brain Tracy, Jim Rohn, Dr Robert Schuller Rev Sam Adeyemi, Anthony Robins, Robert Kiyosaki and Dr Mike Murdock my Daddy (Pst. E. A. Adeboye) and so forth. These people have been there, they should be able to tell you how to get there. Reading according to research affects your thinking, and your thought directly or indirectly affects your performance. So, when you don’t read excellent books how will you have excellent thoughts. Readers are leaders, committed ones are great leaders.

3 Identify your key area of optimum performance. 

You must be able to identify an area through which you can perform to your best ability and be recognized. Like my humble self, I can sing, write, act on stage do several other things according to my gifted ability, but I found out that writing brings out the best in me much more than other gifted areas because people are being blessed and they always respond positively beyond measure to my writings with great transformation in their lives upon reading my articles or write-ups.What I am trying to express here is that’s you must clearly identify one skill that can help you most, then concentrate on it, develop your skill and update your knowledge inline with it.

4. Desire it intensely. 

This is the core aspect of excellence. What you don’t desire, you don’t get, and even when you get it by serendipity you don’t value nor respect it. You must desire excellence intensely. That is when it can be accepted by your subconscious mind. Then you subconscious mind upon reception can now direct thoughts towards your conscious mind and then bring it into its physical reality.

Having said all, can you now see that you too can attain the position of excellence in your field of endeavor if you can think in terms of excellence, read books by excellent minds, identify an area at which you can perform at the optimum level and desire it intensely! Nothing can stop you if you can do all these.

8 Timeless Tips To Achieve Excellence in LifeAfter years of pursuing and studying excellence, I have learned several key, timeless tips to achieve

excellence. These tips have continuously brought in results in whatever goal I seek. For one, they’ve

helped successfully develop my passion into a full-time career within a short span of 1.5 years. My

blog, The Personal Excellence Blog, is read by thousands of people every day and has been featured on

prominent media such as CNN. I’ve founded my training school, The School of Personal Excellence,

where I coach and train individuals to achieve excellence in life.

In this article, I’ll share 8 of my timeless tips to achieve excellence:1. Have a goal

“In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are.” – Arnold H. Glasgow

How true is that? Have you ever seen people play football without knowing where the goalposts are?

They’ll be running up and down the field the whole time with the ball and not scoring any goal! Likewise,

we need to set our goals for us to move somewhere.

Don’t let your goal be just any goal to. Make it a big, bold and audacious goal – one which will truly excite

and inspire you. It’s pointless to have a goal that will automatically be achieved without much of a fight..

2. Do what you love

“You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream.” – John Eliot

If I’ve been doing things I hate all this while, I wouldn’t even have made any headway in them. The reason

why I’m continuously inspired to write and bring The Personal Excellence Blog to greater heights day after

day is because I’m passionate about what I’m doing. I’m passionate about achieving excellence. I’m

passionate about helping others achieve excellence. I can do this day after day, for the rest of my life

without even getting paid for it. If I have tried to do something else, say become an accountant or an

engineer, I would never have lasted. There’s nothing wrong with those occupations, just that they aren’t

what I’m passionate about.

What are you passionate about? What do you love to do? Pursue that, and let the love of what you do

drive you to greatness.

 3. Have a strategy

Strategy is more than just planning. A plan is simply what you are going to do. Strategy is like your

blueprint for success; the secret keys that will guarantee your victory. A more layman term for strategy

would be “working smart”.

Every goal has its own set of strategies to guarantee its victory. In all my goals, I’ll always spend proper

time to develop a strategy. What are the obstacles I’ll face? How can I overcome these obstacles? What

is the best mode of action to achieve this goal? How can I achieve this goal faster and better? How have

people who achieved this goal done this? These are some questions I consider. And once I develop my

strategy, I set out to achieve my goal. Undoubtedly, strategizing helps me achieve my goals with ease.

4. Study the successful

There’s no matter way to succeed than to study the successful – those who have been here, done that.

When I first started The Personal Excellence Blog, I studied the A-List bloggers, such as Steve Pavlina,

Darren Rowse from Problogger, and read a lot of materials by them. I also read other big sites such

as Copyblogger and Yaro Starak’s Entrepreneur’s Journey. Because of that I’ve learned a lot on what I need

to do to have a successful personal development blog. Even today I continue to study and learn from

bigger bloggers so I can grow quickly.

Who are the people who are successful in the goals you want to achieve? What have they done which

has enabled them to succeed? What can you learn from them?

5. Overcommit your resources

Goal setting is about getting from point A to point B. When we set goals, we have in mind a set of things

we need to do. If we complete these XYZ set of things, we will naturally achieve the goal. Right?

Wrong. When we are creating our plan, we are doing it from the point of view of someone who has never

achieved the goal before. So how would we even know these XYZ things are what we need to achieve

the goal? They are nothing more than just assumptions of what it takes to achieve the goal. It might be

50%, 60% or even 70% accurate, but we have no way of knowing if it’s 100% accurate. Most likely it’s

not, else we would already have achieved the goal long ago, wouldn’t we?

So when you set out for our goals, it’s important you overcommit your resources. Come up with what you

think you need to achieve the goal, then double it up, or even triple if possible. That way, you can be

almost certain you will achieve it. Even if your original estimations are right and there are no need to up

the efforts, then you’ll be exceeding your goal when the results are out, which is more than fantastic.

6. Keep reading

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them. ” ~ Mark

Twain

The more you read, the more knowledge you gain. There is no end to what you can read. Seth Godin,

best selling author on Business Week and New York Times, buys 400 new books every year, and

probably reads a lot more than that. Lately, I’ve been frequenting the local library to borrow books and

enrich myself. The book I’m currently reading is “How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to

Be” by Jack Canfield, and it’s a great read.  With the wide availability of information on the internet,

there’s even more reason to read now than ever.

7. Work hard

There’s working smart (tip #3 – Have a strategy), then there’s working hard. In order to succeed, you

have to both work smart and work hard.

And working hard really isn’t all about toiling and sweating and dreading what you are doing. If you are

doing what you love (tip #2 – Do what you love), then it really isn’t work at all. I work hard day in day out,

writing new articles my blog, coaching others and building my business, but that’s because I love what I’m

doing so much that I can’t get enough of it. It doesn’t even feel like work. It feels like I’ve won the lotto,

except that it’s a lifetime lotto. :D

Are you working as hard as you could? How can you put in more effort in what you are doing? The more

effort you put into your goals, the more results you will see.

8. Ask for feedback

Feedback gives us a different perspective – one which you cannot see because you are looking from your

point of view. I’ve learned a tremendous lot from my readers’ and clients’ feedback, which in turn helps

me to write better articles and be a better coach day after day. All of us have blind spots we can’t see and

these blind spots are exactly what’s preventing us from achieving results. The more feedback you get, the

more aware you become, and the better you will become.