Summary: We achieve excellence when we habitually do a little more than required.Do you want to be excellent?
This seems like a daunting task, but it really isn’t.
We admire one who is excellent.
We imagine that he or she must be gifted with an “excellence gene” that somehow places this individual in a more rarified atmosphere than mere mortals.
With possible exception of history’s great geniuses, this view could not be further from truth. It will actually keep us from our own excellence because it erroneously places excellence in realm of heredity rather than volition.
Excellence is result of habit of excellence practiced over time. Excellence is grand accumulation of lots of little excellence episodes.
An “excellence episode” is any instance when you take a little extra time, apply a little extra touch, and extend a little extra effort to insure that your work is very best you can do.
This does not make your work perfect, classic, or timeless. It just makes it best you can do. And, over time, that will make it excellent.