The value of excellence

Excellence or excelling in everything that you do is reversed for those who are willing to give more than is required of them. You will know you are pursing excellence when you arrive at your work place 15 minutes early and leave 15 minutes late. You know you are excelling when you are a keen problem solver and always on the look out for problems to solve. You will also know you are excelling when you are willing to stretch your hand and help your colleagues.

The opposite of excellence is mediocre, average or ordinary. You will know you mediocre when you are always passing the buck back and unwilling to be blamed for what is clearly part of or wholly your responsibility. You will know you are average when you are willing to settle for the status quo and refusing to exert yourself. You will know you are ordinary when everyone you hung out with including yourself is always complaining about the some old things, blaming the some old people and disappointed with some old situations.

The quality of work I do is completely under my control. I can continue to do sloppy and inefficient work or I can learn to excel. That is entirely up to me. How do you develop excellence then? There is 8 things you need to do to develop excellence as a value. Are you ready for the 8 keep reading and turn up at the same time tommorow and you will get the first four things you need to do?

The value of being reflective

Do you sometimes stop,think and look at where you have come from? Do you sometimes stop and enjoy the smell roses? Do you sometimes stop and take the people who really matter in your life for a meal or a walk? Do you sometimes stop and cheer someone else with a word or a song? Do sometimes stop and enjoy the journey.

Looking back every now and then helps you appreciate the progress you have made, the people who made it possible and the lessons to take forward in this journey of life. The best time to reflect I have found in my own life are early morning, at the start of season (every three months) and when attempting something new.

Sometimes I will reflect on the people I know, the once who are succeeding and the once who are failing and I would idolise the characters and values of the ones who are succeeding. In the some way learn lessons I should avoid from the ones who are failing. Sometimes my reflection is not actually for me but for a friend who needs encouragement.

Take time to reflect you will be amazed how some of the answers to the problems you are facing will begin to appear.

The value of endurance

When I was in college I used to head a society and I did lots of good things with the student union. If I was to do it again I would stop and enjoy every moment of it. You see the day I finish college I felt an emptiness that I could not really explain. What was weird was that I should have been celebrating but here I was feeling empty. The lesson I learnt from this is that the process of achieving something is more important that the actual achievement.

Really and truly it is in the climb that we really find and shape our selves. It is the trials that we lose what is not necessary for the journey to gain what will be valuable for other similar or greater journeys. In Scot Anderson book “think like a billionaire, become a billionaire” he tell how he was Watching a documentary on discovery channel and it showed the process of how new chicks get out of the egg. The chick starts to peck at the shell, a little at a time. It takes forever but keeps working at it and working at it. The mama hen just stands next there and watches

You might ask “why don’t you help?” I though “just kick the stupid egg so we can get on with the next show. You could have it out in a few seconds. By the end of the show the show they had an answer to the question. If the mama hen helped the chick get out of the shell, the chick would die, because as it is pecking at the shell, it builds up its calculation. Which increases its strength, builds up its endurance; it strengthens the muscles that it will need to survive once it is out of the shell. If mom helped the chick would die.

Like the little chick we need to endure some trial, problems and people. Remember it is in an endurance that we increase in muscle and strength for larger and greater things. Will you value endurance?

The Value of giving your best to your work and others

How many of you know some extra ordinary people out there? This weekend I was involved in helping to organize a four day event, and it was the first time rather than showing up for an event I was actually helping in the setting up and my oh my. There several things I learnt from this event, for sure that there is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the screens.

My purpose for writing this blog today to share a rare insight I learned this week. When you are working as a volunteer and the work that you are doing brings you satisfaction because you know you have given it your best. That is called brilliance. When you are working as a paid worker and you double check your work to ensure that everything is done correctly and neatly that’s called excellence.

In the end the person who is seen as an extra ordinary person must surely be the person who is willing to put the extra work. Nothing brightens my day more than dealing with a person who takes pride in what they do and goes the extra mile. For some reason when you are in their presence they actually seem like they want to solve a problem or give you the best of the service they are offering you. To tell you the truth i know companies would determine to pay top dollar for such a person.

Friends please determine to be an extra-ordinary person by ensuring that whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Tomorrow I will be taking on steps to take to become an extra ordinary person.

Christian Values- The value of living by faith

“Now faith- is to be sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see” Hebrew 11:1

What are hoping to achieve in life? Have you ever thought of leaving a legacy? What areas in your life do you think you can make a unique contribution to your community and the rest of humanity? A while back I asked Jamie an Irish friend of mine these some questions and I can recall several other people I asked the some question and the answer was;

“Andrew that’s a heavy subject”

One of the things that frustrate’s me more than anything in the world in is to know people who are living their lives on autopilot. Occasionally you hear them say they want to achieve this and the other but you never see them step out in faith and following the dreams that is knocking at their door and seeking to be fulfilled through them.

Have you ever stopped and wondered if there is anything you can do to make a difference in your community? Why are you keeping your community waiting? While the community is waiting, things are not getting better, take a leap of faith do something that will impact you life and the lives of others.

The four categories of values

Today I want to take a moment and acknowledge that everything I am and everything I will ever hope to achieve, attain or accomplish. I have and do because of Jesus Christ. I cannot do anything without the help of the Holy Spirit and God and Jesus. If it were not for their help and their grace on my life it would not be possible for me to get to where I am now. I just want to say thank you for the grace extended to me to hit my 26th blog. I am humbled by the grace God has given me to write and to inform the world the desires he has put in my heart.

The values that have brought fulfilment and meaning to my life have been my Christian values. The friendship that I know I can always relay on has been with the Holy Spirit. The strength that I get to do everything I have do so far and to write is from God. The words that bring life and meaning to every problem I have faced and will face are from Jesus.

Dear reader if you will find time and begin to develop an awareness of God. I assure you, you will be opening a door to an extra ordinary life. Friend I want you to think of this as the best information I have ever shared with you. Back to my topic the four categories of values are Religious values (Christian Values), Family values, Community values and Personal values. During the coming days we will be looking into this in details.

Living by values

What are values? Values can be defined as the things which are important to us and from which we consciously or unconsciously make or base our decisions. Values determine what we are naturally drawn to, how we spend our time, what action we take, how we map our world and the world around us.

Most people in life sometimes have their values violated and you will hear them complain about bad things that people have done to them. But they will not be able to clearly tell you why they feel bad. This is because they have not taken the time to define their values or things that they hold dear in their lives. It is like having pain on your body, and not being able to tell where the pain is coming from, because you don’t know the body parts.

Over the next coming weeks I am going to focus on different values my question to you is have you discovered your values yet?