Have you ever looked at the academic
achievements of others and said to yourself “Wow, if only I can do that!”, or
you have once said: "how I wish I can have better grades, top the class,
achieve higher level of academic excellence than my present status", and
so on. Here’s the simple truth:
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
helping you achieve that desired result you yearn for:
1. Have the hunger for excellence.
The emphasis
here is on what ‘you’ want, not what others want. Make sure the goal is
something you set for yourself. If the goal was set by someone else, chances
are high that you don’t really want it or you just keep struggling to keep up
with the demands of that goal. It doesn’t matter what you try to do, you won't
get satisfactory results if there is no drive to propel you to keep moving
forward.
2. Benchmark against the best.
What is it
you are working on? Who are the people that perform best in the field? 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.While this target may
seem difficult to achieve, it’s a target which has absolutely no doubt about
its fruition, if you work towards it. It's only a matter of time and quality
effort.
3. Believe that you can do it.
Self-believe
is paramount to every success. You need to first believe in yourself. If you
don’t have self-confidence, who will believe in you? If you often experience low
self-esteem, look back at the times when you achieved something, regardless of
how small or irrelevant they were. From there, build up your confidence and
leverage it as you pursue your goals. As you begin to see results, your confidence
will gradually increase. The strength to do more, comes from little
achievements in the past.
4. Build concrete strategies & plans.
Every goal
needs a proper strategy and plan to come to life. Strategies and plans are like
the foundation of a structure. 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 experience. Many
people fail in their goals because, they fail to follow-through with planning.
Thus, you must create a robust plan, review it and execute it.
5. Learn from the best.
Hook up with
people who are best in the field (course mates) 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 on your own from
the scratch, it’s easier to leverage on the knowledge of others and build on
from there. This will speed up your learning ability.
6. Do not limit yourself.
Don’t be
afraid to try every single thing that will help you achieve your desired
result. In fact, be more concerned about the potential opportunities you might
miss out on, when you don’t try something. Opening your heart and mind to
possibilities, will enable you try out things that may 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, by partaking in any form of exam malpractice,
are simply killing themselves if they think they can achieve excellence without
putting in hard work. Note: Excellence and good grades are two different
things. If you are observant, you will notice that those who seek for
‘good-grades’ by cramming and cunning method usually don't have means to defend
their acclaimed excellence in the long run. Hard work is the universal quality
that pays off in the end. Once you invest the due time and efforts in the right
way, the results will definitely show forth.
8. Focus your efforts.
Once you have
finished trying out every single thing you can, focus your efforts in the areas
which brings you the most effective 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 or learn to deal
with it. Better still, turn it into your favour. 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,learn to
adapt to various beliefs of your teachers and be prepared to alter yours where
needed. Trust me, the first key to failure is hating the teacher and (or) the
course. Also, if there are certain things you are doing which are not very
effective, be prepared to improvise or drop them totally.
10. Never give up.
Don’t ever
give up. Remember that failure never occurs unless you accept it as defeat. If
a particular course is too bulky for you to handle, break it down into smaller
pieces till it becomes easier for you to tackle. As long as you keep trying,
you will eventually achieve your goal.
Work on these
10 excellence principles in you, and start seeing yourself soar to excellence.
I’d love to hear from you personally, on how they work out for you.
