When we are bold enough to seize opportunities and strong enough to focus on results over reasons, we are committed to excellence. Commitment to excellence is expecting success and being willing to do whatever it takes to reach our goals. It is easy to say we are going to commit, but, in reality, it is extremely difficult. Commitment to excellence happens when expectations for success and belief in PMA dominate our thinking and lead us to action.
Excellence is difficult to attain because it requires a lot of time and effort. It is not given to us but earned through our labor towards a set goal. To become excellent, we need to get caught up in being great, not in championships, profits or awards. Those things will come naturally when our focus is right.
I like the Greek term for excellence, Dia Phoron, because when we translate it into English it means “follow through.” Think about the people in your life that you most respect and love. They are the people that follow through for you. Success comes to us when we do what we say we will. Excellence is always a result of following through. It is a journey that never stops and requires perpetual forward movement. It is gained over time and achieved with consistency. In order to become excellent in any endeavor, a true and strong commitment is required.
We cannot have excellence without an extraordinary commitment that requires investment into the complete process of becoming successful. The sacrifices we make in our pursuit create opportunities that occur when we stay the course. These sacrifices become badges of honor when we succeed and reap the benefits from our struggles. A great example of this comes from the sport of football. Every player, past and present, has a love-hate relationship with two-a-days. In football, the preseason is marked by two-a-day practices that literally consume your life for two to three weeks. They are physically and mentally demanding, but prepare you for the season ahead. They are dreaded and loved. This barrage of practice is physically taxing, but pays dividends with the success they prepare you for in the upcoming season. Two-a-days are football’s small example of boot camp in the military. In boot camp,young people are trained to become elite soldiers. They are tested physically and mentally for an extended period of time to make them battle ready. It is tough, but every soldier will tell you it is vital and necessary. It is important that soldiers are “All In,” so commitment is tested in boot camp.
Our commitment to excellence is measured by our sense of accountability for ourselves and those around us. Successful people are accountable people with little patience for excuses. By taking ownership for our actions, we prove our commitment and deep rooted belief in what we are doing. We are invested in the process that leads to great things. We become focused on the task at hand and don’t accept failure as a matter of course. When we do fail, accountable people take responsibility, learn from the experience, and use it to get better. When we hold ourselves to a high standard, we learn to use temporary failure to our advantage in future events and never repeat the causes for our failure. This allows for constant growth and progress toward what we are attempting to achieve.
Leadership is a tremendous by-product of accountability. When we own our actions, we are leading by example. Others see how we do things and gain a healthy respect for how we handle our circumstances. Many get caught up in the wake of positive movement and follow the example. However, leading by example is not enough. We need to lead with our actions and hold those around us to the same standards. Great leaders hold others accountable and to the standards they set for themselves. Leaders do this by praising the positive and correcting the negative. This is how organizations become successful and sustain excellence. It is not easy because people don’t want to be held accountable all the time. However, people appreciate being held accountable at the end of the day because forward progress has been made. When teammates hold each other accountable, we have a chance for success as a team or organization. With accountability, we get collaboration happening and teammates help one another because success of the individual leads to success of the team. Leading through example and accountability is a selfless way to lead because you are helping others succeed with you for the good of the whole.
Commitment to excellence sets us up for great success and brings teams together. This commitment is an everyday thing that must be grown in order to increase in excellence. When this happens, we continually take positive action to become the best we can be.
Win with PMA 