STEPS TO EXCEL..!!
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 & so on. Envy aside, no one ever spent any time to
think about why or how they were excellent. It was
seemingly natural for most to just accept that certain people were meant for
excellence while others weren’t.
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 & 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 :
Step 1 : Dream it
Everything begins in the heart & mind. Every great
achievement began in the mind of one person. They dared to dream & to believe
that it was possible. Take some time to allow yourself to ask “What if..?” think
big. Don’t
let negative thinking discourage you. You want to be a “dreamer”. Dream of the possibilities for yourself, your family & for others. If you had
a dream that you let grow cold, re-ignite the dream..! Fan the flames. Life is
too short to let it go.
Yes, your dream needs to be
big. It needs to be something that is seemingly beyond your capabilities.
But it also must be believable. You must be able to say that if certain things
take place, if others help, if you work hard enough, though it is a big dream,
it can still be done. Good example : A person with no college education can
dream that he will build a $50 million-a-year company. That is big, but
believable. Bad example : That a 90-year-old woman with arthritis will someday
run a marathon in under three hours. It is big all right, but also impossible.
She should instead focus on building a $50 million-a-year business & she
better get a move on..!
The great achievers have a habit. They “see” things. They
picture themselves walking around their CEO office in their new $25 million
corporate headquarters, even while they are sitting on a folding chair in their
garage “headquarters”. Great free-throw shooters in the NBA picture the ball
going through the basket. PGA golfers picture the ball going straight down the
fairway. World-class speakers picture themselves speaking with energy & emotion. All of this grooms the mind to control the body to carry out the
dream.
One reason many dreams never go anywhere is because the
dreamer keeps it all to himself. It is a quiet dream that only lives inside of
his mind. The one who wants to achieve
their dream must tell that dream to many people. One reason : As we
continually say it, we begin to believe it more & more. If we are talking
about it then it must be possible. Another reason : It holds us accountable.
When we have told others, it spurs us on to actually doing it so we don’t look
foolish.
Every dream must take the form of a plan. The old saying
that you “get what you plan for” is so true. Your dream won’t just happen. You
need to sit down, on a regular basis & plan out your strategy for achieving
the dream. Think through all of the details. Break
the whole plan down into small, workable parts. Then set a time frame
for accomplishing each task on your “dream plan”.
Boy, wouldn’t life be grand if we could quit before this
one..! Unfortunately the successful are usually the hardest workers. While the
rest of the world is sitting on their sofas watching reruns of Gilligan's Island,
achievers are working on their goal achieving their dream. I have an equation
that I work with : Your short-term tasks, multiplied by time, equal your
long-term accomplishments. If you work on it each day, eventually you will
achieve your dream. War
and Peace was written, in longhand, page by page.
When you have reached your goal & you are living your
dream, be sure to enjoy it. In fact, enjoy the trip too. Give yourself some
rewards along the way. Give yourself a huge reward when you get there. Help
others enjoy it. Be gracious and generous. Use your dream to better
others. Then go back to No. 1 & dream a little bigger this time..!