Strive for excellence not perfection.

Somehow this was a lesson I learnt early on in life, much to the confusion of those around me. I realized on my own that by “settling” for something lower than perfection I was in fact able to get much more done. This is not the same thing as doing just enough to get by, however - I was still pretty interested in excelling. But somewhere along the line I decided that my definition of excelling meant working to my standard and not someone else’s.

As a competitive swimmer, my goal was always to better my times. A medal was a bonus but not the most important thing to me. My best and most memorable race had me swimming in a heat by myself (some administrative error where they didn’t realize till just before the race that the other swimmers had not turned up). So there I was with 400M to swim with no way of knowing how fast the swimmers in the next heat would be. All I could do was swim my best swim. And I did. I came out of the pool having swum a better time than I had ever done for that length swim. Did I get a medal? No. But I felt great about my time.

Perfection is an ideal drilled into people’s heads by cliches like “practice makes perfect”. The truth is, practice makes better. The more you do most things, the better you become but you may never reach perfect. In fact, for many it is this insurmountable obstacle of Perfect that keeps them from trying because they know they won’t reach it.

This rule goes hand in hand with Golden Rule #2, because your life may never be perfect but you can make it as good as you can by continually improving.

Add value to people’s lives and you will reap many rewards.

So many people and companies claim that this is their purpose - to add value to someone else’s life. But a careful (or not so careful) analysis often finds them wanting. Though they make this statement perhaps in their mission statement or values in the case of companies, their behaviour and standards reflect the reality - their focus is on their profits.

Little do they realize that focusing on the value they provide would in fact garner them even greater profits, especially in a world where customers have become so accustomed to the other side. Remembering that their purpose is to provide value would force them to evaluate each action and decision to see whether it adds additional value or at least does not reduce the value currently being provided. Of course, the argument could be that the profits are adding value to the lives of the stockholders, but then greater profits would add greater value so perhaps focusing on the value to customers would eventually increase the value provided to those stockholders.
In the case of individuals, so many people don’t really know what they are about. And suggesting that one focus on adding value to someone else’s life would meet with much consternation from those people that feel they don’t yet have enough value in their own life.

A story was written recently in the Jamaica Gleaner (I can’t remember which day and couldn’t find it online), about a man who has taken this rule as a way of life. He routinely provides to people in his community, money to kids for school, food to those that are hungry.  He does this simply to help them improve their lives and he reaps it all back. His business continues to run and support him, and he can see the positive results of his works. Could he have more money by not giving stuff away? Perhaps but his life is full and he is rewarded everyday.

The key to personal and financial success is to do something you’re good at and love doing.

Anyone that knows me reasonably well knows where I stand on this one. While you may be able to achieve some amount of financial “success” doing something you hate the personal side of it will be severely weakened. When you do what you love and are good at, you bring a passion and energy to it that spurs you to excel because you care. You will find yourself thinking about it when you’re doing other things, or even trying to figure out how to link those other things to what you love. So not only will you be happier but you will be far more productive. And that in itself could lead to even greater financial success.

So many people get locked into a job (not even a career) from an early age for a variety of reasons - it sounded good, they had “the subjects”, they got in, their parents did it, their friends were doing it, etc. Many of those same people have interests that have nothing to do with their work and seeing them in those activities you can see the difference in their energy. The same people who have to force themselves to work in the morning and then slog through their day, are bubbling over with enthusiasm as they devote themselves to their REAL interests.

At the suggestion that they follow their heart, they are often faced with a choice between two difficult alternatives: a future filled with their current misery or what feels like abandoning wasted time and starting all over. Though a difficult choice, those that have the courage to choose the latter end up more satisfied. Though the financial success may take a while (depending on the field), the passion and skill they bring will usually lead them in the right direction.

True security is found by committing yourself to improving one aspect of your life each day.

Wow, now that’s something people need to learn. If you take this approach then it becomes difficult to complain. After all your life today would be better than it was yesterday and that’s great. Too often we hear people complain about their life and how they wish things were different/better etc. But small steps add up so if they tried each day for some little improvement then their life would be better.

So where to start? Well you can always start with the closest - yourself. I have tried over the years to improve myself (not to someone else’s standard though) and I can definitely say that I am a different, better stronger person for it. I would be a little worried if I had remained the same person for decades. But so many people put no thought into who they are and whether they are who they want to be.

Or what about your health? Again small steps. Those people who try to do the crash diet thing usually have the hardest time because they are trying to dramatically change a lot of things all at once. If instead they focused on changing one small thing each day so that each day they ate healthier than the day before… hmm, the possibilities.

This rule has profound implications. Imagine someone who successfully improved their life in some way every day of their life. What a life that would be. Imagine what your life could be.

You are responsible for the happiness and success within your life.

Sounds simple enough, but this is a basic premise of life that people tend to forget. Humans seem to prefer to attribute blame or praise on other people or things for all sorts of events in their lives: “he made me so angry”, “you make me happy” and so on. This is not to say that people don’t contribute, obviously they do. But the control is not theirs.

You have within yourself the power to make your life the way you want it. Think of someone you know who always seems happy with their life. If you ask them about it, it is unlikely that they will claim to have had a perfect life. Everyone has setbacks, meets obstacles, encounters frustrating people but the difference between them and most people is that they recognize that they control what they make of all of it.

Anyone who has diligently read through this blog will remember my choice theory. Greeted by grumpy customer service agent? Don’t let it ruin your day. You can choose to react however you want.

As for success, well, that is definitely not controlled by other people. You have chosen to be where you are, so if you are not successful then maybe you need to evaluate what you are doing to prevent it, or what you are not doing to encourage success. We choose our path though we may not choose our circumstances. We all know at least one person who managed despite their “circumstances” to move themselves up towards their dreams of success.

So the next time you think about how much happier you could be if… or how you would be successful when… take a moment and remind yourself that you have a choice.