10 Steps Towards Excellence

10 Steps to Achievement of Excellence

by Clark Staten

During each of our lives, we set within ourselves, patterns that help to determine the success or failure of our efforts. Psychologists tell us that we either consciously or subconsciously write "scripts" for our minds to follow. The content of these "thought processes" is believed to be self- determined and controllable.

Of course, outside influences or stimuli can have some measure of influence on the make-up of these thoughts and beliefs; ultimately the "scripts" themselves are composed of our preconceived and conditioned responses to our environment. Therefore, the individual reply to a negative experience or situation is controlled by each individual's personal ability to run the "right script" or "internal program" to allow that person to effectively cope with or manage the negative influence or circumstance. Conversely, positive influences and stimuli need to be translated into additional "input programming" to foster a sense of well being and confidence that will enable additional and greater achievement.

While this may seem a rather clinical and analytical approach to behavior understanding and modification, it is presented for the purpose of explaining that we CAN control our own destinies and the way that we respond to everyday conflicts and challenges. Additionally, it is the basis for setting productive patterns of achievement that will eventually result in excellence. In other words..... WE ARE WHAT WE THINK AND HOW WE PLAN!!

I. Decision Making and a Focus

The first step to planning a successful life and career is to analyze and decide what is really important to the individual who is making the plan. For some, this will involve making a great deal of money; for others it will entail the creation of a great work of art. The primary step must encompass the basic wants and needs of the person making the decisions, rather than the perceptions and wants of others. Far to many people have become failures because they aspired to fulfill the desires of others. Determining one's own fulfillment is the key to the future planning of one's life focus.

II. Goal Setting; the Path to our Focus

In order to understand or perceive any real progress or personal sense of achievement, an individual must ascertain certain goals. These goals must be determined by the individual concerned, as being significantly important to his/her overall best interest and part of a larger plan for accomplishment of their life's focus.

These goals may be large or small, seemingly significant to others or not; they must, however, exist with clarity in the mind of the person doing the planning. The goals should be written down and reviewed for thoroughness. Accomplishment deadlines should be set and honored. Establishment of a criteria list of acceptable outcomes should be undertaken. Otherwise, it becomes practically impossible to measure success or failure and thus provide positive or negative feedback to our personal sense of fulfillment.

III. Committment is the Key

The key to completion of goals and subsequently to achievement of our life's focus is committment. Without it, little has ever been accomplished in the history of man. Success often starts with the mere exsistence of the committment to change and improve. By committing ourselves to accomplish the goals that we have determined, we take that first step to the achievement of excellence. Committment is what transforms promises and hopes into reality. It is an internal adherence to personal integrity and accomplishment. Therefore, committment to our focus and completion of goals is paramount to excellence.

IV. Knowledge is Necessary

Achievement is based in knowledge.... of oneself, of the topic that we have chosen as our focus, of peripheral subjects that will help us to our goals. Learning is not always a formal process. Often, it is an aggregation of experiences that prepare us for further progress. While formal education is necessary and can provide us with the basic building blocks of knowledge, it is frequently not the prime contributing factor to excellence. The application of knowledge is far more important than the accumulation of it. However, the failure to be educationally prepared for any field of endeavor is a critical flaw in the overall plan for achievement. You must have the knowledge to recognize a true opportunity when it presents itself.

V. Failures will occur

Failure is inevitable for those that try to accomplish any given difficult task. It often is a method of learning about the things that don't or won't work. Thomas Edison was said to have failed hundreds of times during his invention of the light bulb. He, however, looked upon each failure as one more possible alternative on the path to ultimate success. This persistence of purpose is a hallmark of those that are extremely successful. Failures will occur in any circumstance; the winner is he/she who learns from these experiences and then renews his or her committment to excellence.

VI. The Cyclical Planning Process

Following failure or the achievement of a goal, the prudent achiever will stop to assess the results of that effort. This assessment should serve to facilitate the foundation for the a new round of goal-setting and modification of our focus. Constant measurement of our success or failures affords us the opportunity to modify or delete goals that do not serve our ultimate purpose.

A frequently encountered problem is that upon completion of a goal, people tend to rest "on their laurels" or participate in destructive behavior that is

...