He asks one what they’re doing.

“What does it look like?” he says with a sneer. “Hauling rocks.”

Unsatisfied with that answer, the passerby asks another construction worker the same question.

The workman doesn’t bother looking up. “We’re putting up a wall.”

Frustrated, the man tries one last time. “I say there,” he asks the next fellow, “can you tell me what you men are doing here?”

The workman puts down his wheelbarrow, wipes his forehead and says with a broad smile, “We’re building a cathedral.”

Here are three men, all doing the same job. One is hauling rocks. One is putting up a wall. One is building a cathedral.

This story says a lot about the attitude that each of us brings to our lives… or could if we were willing to change our perspective.

My primary occupation, for example, is creating and distributing advice / information. One reason I write is to meet my overhead and put food on the table. To that extent, I’m hauling rocks.

A greater objective is to build a publishing and media business. The more successfully we market ourselves, the more people we attract, the better our business performs. To that extent, I’m
putting up walls.

But the real objective of my creating and distributing advice is to help people throughout the world to achieve and maintain high levels of performance excellence. When I stay focused on that, I’m building a cathedral. (And, not incidentally, meeting my lesser goals, as well.)

Idealists will counter that achieving and maintaining high levels of performance excellence has nothing to do with building cathedrals. They are mistaken.

You can improve yourself, voice your opinions, or organize around a cause without a commitment to excellence. But you won’t effect much change in your community – or build an actual cathedral – without it.

Contrary to what some believe, performance excellence isn’t about “showing off nor showing up the other guy.”

Excellence is about pride, high-standards, and healthy self-esteem along with a commitment to being the best you can be. It liberates you from the crowded field of mediocrity allowing you to stand out, rise up and shine bright!

You can’t reach your potential or live life to the fullest if you spend your days making excuses, having or accepting low standards, and doing just enough to get by. No one can attain greatness by demonstrating mediocre behavior nor accepting it from the people they surround themselves with.

A commitment to performance excellence in every area of your life is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, black or white, young or old, handsome or homely, educated or not.

If you focus on excellence, and never make an exception, you will find in short order that the cream ALWAYS rises to the top.

Performance excellence is freedom, security and peace of mind. It allows you to inspire and help others, to do and be what you want. It enables you to follow your dreams, to spend your life the way you choose on your terms.

A commitment to excellence gives you dignity. It gives you choices and fills you with immense pride. That’s why every man and woman has the right – and I believe the responsibility – to pursue excellence and to become their very best.

When my advice empowers people, when it gives them direction, comfort, hope and peace of mind, I feel good about my work. I’m building a cathedral.

You can apply the same line of thinking to whatever you do.

I created the 100 Day Challenge to show you how to achieve and maintain high levels of performance and invite you to join a very special community of people who are all committed to a common goal — creating lives of excellence.

The choice is yours. You can haul rocks. You can put up walls. Or you can build a cathedral.

Come join us and let me help you build your cathedral.

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your thoughts on this post and come check out the most extreme performance acceleration program on earth!

Every action — every detail of our lives — has bottom-line repercussions, and it’s dangerous and derogatory to think of any of those details as trivial, unimportant, or inconsequential.

You may be familiar with the old nursery rhyme which teaches this principle to children:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Downplaying small details, dismissing them as minutia — can and oftentimes will sabotage the biggest goal or project you can conceive.

Ultimately, the key to quality and excellence in every aspect of our lives is doing little things correctly — all the time, every time — so that each action produces a quality result.

When every nitty-gritty detail is lovingly attended to, and each step in the process is given complete and careful attention, the result inevitably will be of the highest quality.


WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two cents on the importance of nitty-gritty details.

Practice is probably something you think you’re done with when you leave school or when you’ve stopped taking music lessons.

However, having or showing gratitude is also a fine art that comes with practice.

The best way to practice gratitude and giving thanks for being alive…is to:

• Accept 100% responsibility for your life.
• Behave like a gentleman and lady.
• Commit your life to excellence.
• Deliver exceptional results.
• Exceed expectations.
• Focus on solutions.
• Gracefully age.
• Honor your commitments.
• Inspire through your actions.
• Joyfully embrace each day.
• Keep your promises.
• Leave a lasting legacy.
• Model best practices.
• Necessitate high, uniform, ethical standards.
• Open your mind to new ideas.
• Passionately pursue your dreams.
• Quickly solve problems.
• Reciprocate and pay it forward.
• Showcase your talents.
• Talk lovingly.
• Undertake challenging tasks.
• Vote to protect and defend democracy.
• Welcome and embrace change.
• Zealously do what is right, good and noble.

There is a special kind of magic in the practice of showing gratitude.

It raises our consciousness, recharges our energy, enhances our self-worth, and strengthens our spirit!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two-cents worth on what it means to show appreciation.

Strategy 1: Adopt the Everything Counts Customer Service Maxim

Everything Counts is a maxim that sends a powerful message. It means that you see every customer interaction as an opportunity to retain a valued customer, increase your value proposition, build loyalty, or strengthen a brand.

It means that everything in your business counts from the friendly hello to the appreciative thank you as well as every little paper clip and detail in between.

Strategy 2: Take Care of Your Staff … So They Will Take Care of Your Customers.

Without the right staff and proper training to deliver great service, other plans and programs won’t amount to a hill of beans.

That’s why effective customer-focused leaders focus on employees first. Take care of your staff, and they’ll take care of your customers.

Leadership must put staff first, and staff, in turn, will put the customer first.

Strategy 3: Keep Your Promises

If you make a promise to a customer, keep it. The absence of this discipline is a stain on your company’s reputation that is virtually impossible to remove.

Take your promises and customer commitments seriously, because your customers do. Nothing annoys customers and fuels their lack of loyalty more than being lied to.

Strategy 4: Deliver Quality and Excellence

A commitment to quality and excellence breeds client loyalty. These things don’t happen accidentally; they are the result of careful planning and exceptional execution.

Quality and excellence create confidence and enhance your customers peace of mind; they function as an insurance policy against mediocrity and an assurance of profitability.

Strategy 5: Focus on the Customer Experience

Making people feel good about themselves and your company makes a more conducive environment for them to spend their money. Customer centered companies provide more than just a quality product, they provide a rich experience, too.

Apple uses an acronym of the company’s name to lay out the Steps of Service for their customer-centered program:

• Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome
• Probe politely to understand all the customers needs
• Present a solution for the customer to take home today
• Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns
• End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.

Apple’s entire customer experience, their service, quality, product design, and their brand attributes connects on an emotional level, keeping their customers satisfied and feeling well served and loyal. That loyalty can and will result in the capture of substantial lifetime revenue.

The companies that put customers first win much more than loyalty; they win advocates. As passionate advocates, customers jump on the bandwagon and freely recommend your company to friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

They purchase your products and services as gifts, and they provide unsolicited praise or suggestions of improvement because they believe in you!

What to Do Now? Share your two cents worth on customer service and having a customer-centered culture.

With that in mind, here are a few questions for you to consider:

Who looks you in the eye and says, “given your skills, you could do better…”

• “You are not using your strengths to really make a difference.”
• “What would happen if you committed your life to excellence?”
• ‘What are you waiting for?”
• “Could you set aside the fear and just go for it?”
• “Why can’t you do it faster?”
• “What are you afraid of, I know you’re holding back?”
• “You need to think bigger and step up your game?

It takes love, kindness, confidence and boldness to bring the truth to a friend you care about.

One final question…if you’re insulating yourself from these conversations and challenges, who benefits?

What To Do Now? Comment and Share your feedback with friends and colleagues. Most importantly, have the confidence to start challenging your friends and loved ones to give their best!

If you want a thing bad enough,

To go out and fight for it,

Work day and night for it,

Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it.

If only desire of it, makes you quite mad enough, never to tire of it,

Makes you hold all other things tawdry and cheap for it,

If life seems all empty and useless without it,

And all that you dream and you scheme is about it,

If gladly you’ll sweat for it, fret for it, plan for it,

Lose all terror of nature and man for it,

If you’ll simply go after that thing that you want,

With all your capacity, strength and sagacity,

Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinency,

If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt,

Nor sickness nor pain, of body or brain,

Can turn you away from that thing you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,

Then as sure as you live, you’ll finally get it!

What To Do Now? Click here to learn how to achieve all of your goals faster and easier than you ever thought possible.

It seems so obvious, doesn’t it?

So why doesn’t everyone do this?

I’ll get to that in just a moment.

The fact is, it’s always cheaper and smarter to do everything right the first time and here are a few reasons why:

TIME: Failure is more expensive in terms of time when you have to do the job over again.

MONEY: Money spent to fail, must be spent again to succeed.

REPUTATION: Your credibility decreases with each failure, making it more difficult to gain support or forgiveness.

PRECEDENT: Success sets a positive example and precedent for future accomplishment.

PRIDE: Taking pride in one’s work is impossible when you have to explain poor performance.

Now, let’s get back to the key question: Why don’t more people and organizations get the message that not only is quality cheaper to make, it is also way cheaper to sell?

It’s embarrassingly simple — it costs more right now, it takes planning right now, it requires commitment right now, and it requires change right now.

Doing things right the first time will ALWAYS be difficult, and it will always require a sustained commitment to quality and excellence.

Quality first, quality always and a commitment to things right the first time is the mark of greatness and the best part is that it’s FREE!

What To Do Now? Share your two cents worth on the importance of quality!

All around the world, a pervasive recession continues, but it is not universal.

It is an assault on mediocrity. Mediocre performers on a global scale are under attack and for a number of good reasons.

• They are almost always late for work,
• They are more than often unprepared,
• They demonstrate an apathetic attitude,
• They are undependable and inconsistent,
• They focus on problems rather than solutions,
• They do not innovate, take initiative, nor go the extra mile,
• They choose to make excuses rather than take responsibility,
• They do not add value; in fact they rob value from the customer,
• They constantly make mistakes that cost time and money to be corrected.

The facts are simple, in today’s economy these demonstrated behaviors put mediocre performers in a position of being UNEMPLOYABLE.

The jobs they had are NOT coming back and they must raise their game.

There are NO OTHER OPTIONS.

Let me be perfectly clear on this point, there’s never a good time to be mediocre, but a recession punishes those who are inflicted with this disease.

As far as employment opportunities are concerned, it’s cherry picking time for smart managers and entrepreneurs.

Why?

Top performers are in high demand now, as they have always been and companies do not have to settle for knuckleheads.

They lead in the cone of innovation. They focus on solving customer problems. They invent and innovate to create a better experience for customers. They constantly go the extra mile as a discipline and they are committed to excellence and doing things right the first time.

In doing so, they provide their own companies with new solutions and offerings. These professionals and their companies are never at the mercy of a downturn.

They are highly sought after, because no matter what, they are devising solutions and providing answers.

Therefore commit your life, career and every effort to excellence as a commitment to excellence and a massive dose of self-reliance are mandatory success requirements for EVERY profession.

To learn 52 remarkable ways to inspire excellence and drive results in your life and career, check out my latest CD program.

What To Do Now? Comment and Share your feedback with friends and colleagues.

And with this understanding in mind, it amazes me to see how many people:

- Listen to nasty music and think it won’t affect them.

- Watch bad images and think they will not be impacted by them.

- Lie, cheat, and steal and think that it will not undermine their reputation.

- Are late, unprepared and apathetic and think that it will not impact their income potential.

- Make excuses and blame others for their sorry state and think that it serves a useful purpose.

- Surround themselves with a lousy reference group and think that they will not become just like them.

- Gossip about and criticize other people and think that it does not demonstrate a lack of character.

- Expose their mind and soul to behavioral indecencies and really think that it will not negatively impact their results.

These people are delusional if they think that’s the case.

UNFORTUNATELY, far too many are OVER-EXPOSED to these behavioral indecencies which add absolutely no value to their lives.

In fact, by remaining exposed to these indecencies, they are in effect digging a grave which they may never climb out of.

THE SOLUTION

You must never forget that your mind thinks about what it is exposed too.

Therefore, consciously give serious and consistent exposure to whatever is:

- True

- Noble

- Right

- Pure

- Lovely

- Admirable

If anything is excellent or praiseworthy–expose yourself accordingly.

YOUR TWO-STEP CHALLENGE

Your challenge each and every day is twofold:

Step 1. Expose yourself to new ideas, to stimulating conversation, to positivity, to good–honorable people, to quality music, to healthy food, and…anything that is virtuous.

Step 2. Expose other people to your good character, sound judgment, and to your helpful nature.

You must expose people to the example you want emulated in society.

You must consistently expose yourself, your children, employees and friends to world-class ideas, and that is exactly why I created Everything Counts!

In this one-of-a-kind program, you will be exposed to:

- Excellence

- Quality

- Commitment

- Integrity

- Attention to detail

- The competitive advantages of speed

- Accountability and reputational collateral

- Best personal practices of the most product people that ever lived

and so much more…

Get your copy now!

What To Do Now? Get your copy of Everything Counts and remember to Comment and Share your feedback with friends and colleagues.

The Funky Street Sweeper

Most people are not hard acts to follow and that’s exactly why a commitment to excellence is the ultimate competitive advantage

Excellence is achieved via qualitative, not quantitative shifts in developing skills. Being part of a qualitatively different world or environment where excellence is expected and practiced is a key to achieving excellence.

The following quote from Martin Luther King beautifully demonstrates the meaning of a qualitative shift and how it pertains to personal excellence.

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Enjoy this video of the funkiest street sweeper in the world, Ziggy Dust.

The bin man spins, slides and twirls his litter stick as he collects rubbish around the streets of Hounslow, west London.

‘I love to see people smile when they see me dancing and the Council has been very supportive in letting me do my job in a different way,’ said Ziggy.

The moral of this message is simple: Find a calling and then deliver it with excellence and your own sense of style.

What To Do Now? Click here to get your copy of Everything Counts and remember to Comment and Share your feedback with friends and colleagues.

New Rules

The following is a serious message for people who want to prosper in today’s economy.

The revolution in information and communications technologies has fundamentally and permanently altered the domestic and international business landscape.

One of the most far-reaching consequences of these changes is a massive shift in the competitive balance of power.

For the first time in the history of commerce, five-person boutiques can take on multinational giants and WIN!

In one fell swoop, competition has become more ubiquitous, intense, unpredictable, democratic and, in one word, difficult.

And it is going to get tougher to generate competitive advantage by simply doing the same old things a little bit better.

Technological changes have ushered in an era of radical strategic repositioning.

Competitive advantages and profits will belong to innovators who transcend the existing parameters of competition.

Strategic repositioning forces competitors to play by the new rules of the game, rules that you yourself have largely devised.

By establishing these rules, you knock your competition off balance and create a temporary monopoly over the critical success factors for your industry.

Strategic Repositioning – Three Varieties

1. Create an entirely new industry.

Arguably the purest form of strategic repositioning is to construct an entirely new industry from scratch. But if you’re going to defy conventional wisdom-be committed!

Having a brilliant, timely and powerful business concept is a terrific starting point, but it is not enough to guarantee success.

You must look at the value you are offering and the infrastructure required to bring the concept to life. Trying to impose a radically innovative new concept on an existing infrastructure won’t work.

2. Reinvent how an existing industry operates.

The opportunities for creating new competitive battlegrounds are by no means limited to developing entirely new products or attacking new market segments.

Equally rewarding are the opportunities to those innovative enough to reinvent the way business is done within existing markets and industries.

Inevitably, your new formula will attract imitators. However, he who invents the new game and writes the first set of competitive ground rules usually stakes out a solid first place position; everyone else is relegated to playing catch-up.

3. Set the de facto world standard for an emerging industry that others are creating.

The next best thing to inventing a new industry outright is to create the standards everybody in that industry has to meet-or else.

This trick requires a heavy dose of luck, skill, and timing, but owning the DNA of your industry or market makes you “King (or Queen) of the Hill”-immediately!

Precisely because strategic repositioning goes against the grain of conventional business thinking, it will be increasingly important in both the current and future marketplace.

Leadership will be based on improvement that is not merely continuous and incremental but frequently nonlinear and exponential.

Years ago, much of this improvement was driven by technological change. But as old technologies become commonplace ones, a constant supply of ideas and approaches will be needed to gain competitive advantage.

Rather than slug it out for temporary advantage in well-defined markets, tomorrow’s winners will be creating entirely new industries, opportunities, and competitive space for themselves.

The key issue is simply this: Competing for existing markets is rapidly becoming yesterday’s game.

If you aspire to make any kind of impact in the new world of business you must realize that you are really playing an altogether different game-competing for the future.

The future dictates new rules. If you don’t write them, someone else will!

To learn how to “Strategically Reposition” your company in today’s economy, fill out the coaching form on this page and I will personally ring you within 24 hours.

Guido Daniele's Body Art

Daniele is a brilliant artist who has turned his hand to creating a wholly different style of painting which he dubs as ?Handimals?.

Rather than working on canvas, he uses human hands to produce these stunning animals -- like a Technicolor version of the “shadows on the wall” game.

The whole process takes up to ten hours -- and the models can’t even twiddle their thumbs…the end result is both surreal and sensational.

For your enjoyment, I have included a collection of Guido?s hand painting art. Check out his amazing creations which look like real animals and then visit his site and check out his body painting pictures.

Alligator by Guido Daniele

Eagle on two hands by Guido Daniele

Dog by Guido Daniele

Eagle by Guido Daniele

Elephant by Guido Daniele

Producer Mark Johnson

Playing for Change is a movement uniting people all over the world through music and inspiration. I absolutely love their mission and commitment to inspiring peace through music.

The film is unbelievably special and brings together musicians from around the world ? blues singers in a waterlogged New Orleans, chamber groups in Moscow, a South African choir ? to collaborate on songs familiar and new, in the effort to foster a new, greater understanding of our commonality.

Mark has also been instrumental in creating The Playing for Change Foundation which provides resources (facilities, supplies, educational programs, etc) to musicians and communities around the world.

Check out this compilation on the song: Stand By Me

The foundation is working with South African poet Lesego Rampolokenga to build the Mehlo Arts Center in Johannesburg, South Africa and building and supporting the Ntonga Music School in the South African township of Guguletu. In addition, Playing For Change is working to enhance and rebuild Tibetan refugee centers in Dharamasala, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.

Musicians around the world Playing for Change.

In the words of one of the artists featured in PLAYING FOR CHANGE, Vusi Mahlasela, ?The world is immigrating into a global village, the question is how much do you want to belong.?

Learn more about Playing for Change, their mission, and how they are inspiring people throughout the world to accomplish much more together than we ever can apart.

Perform in an outstanding manner.

I’ve always been impressed with the Socratic Method of teaching by asking good, sound, leading questions that challenge the intellect, so here’s one for you to ponder: “How does one create and sustain outstanding performance?”

First and foremost, you must live and die by the spirit of this rule:

“If you are not committed to delivering results that are profound, dramatic and superior – NEVER COMPETE!”

Let’s consider the ramifications of these 16 simple words. They remind me of something that Steve Jobs of Apple once said.

“It’s not enough to make your offer or performance great, it should be INSANELY great. Incremental improvements over your competition’s offers, or even your own previous offers, don’t cut it. You should shoot for TEN times better.”

Being outstanding means redefining existing standards of performance, and challenging existing paradigms of world best practices.

The Ritz-Carlton epitomizes what it means to create and sustain outstanding performance.

The Ritz-Carlton is the first and only Hotel Company to win the coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; in fact they are the first and only Service Company to win the award twice.

When you stay at the Ritz-Carlton, you get to experience and enjoy the finest service and facilities in the world. They have consciously developed a legacy, and a reputation for outstanding service and innovation.

The standards of service, dining and facilities set by the Ritz-Carlton serve as a benchmark for all hotels and resorts worldwide. In short, The Ritz-Carlton has set the standards by which everyone else must compete.

What follows are the Gold Standards, which serve as the foundational principals of the Ritz-Carlton. These Gold Standards drive outstanding results. They encompass the values and philosophy by which they operate and include:

• The Credo,
• The Motto,
• The Three Steps of Service,
• The Basics,
• The Employee Promise.

Credo

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.

We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambiance.

The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

Motto

We Are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen.

Three Steps of Service

1. A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest name if and when possible.
2. Anticipation and Compliance with guest needs.
3. Fond farewell. Give them a warm good-bye and use their names, if and when possible.

The Basics (20)

1. The Credo is the principle belief of our Company. It must be known, owned and energized by all.
2. Our Motto is “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” As service professionals, we treat our guests and each other with respect and dignity.
3. The Three Steps of Service are the foundation of Ritz-Carlton hospitality. These steps must be used in every interaction to ensure satisfaction, retention and loyalty.
4. The Employee Promise is the basis for our Ritz-Carlton work environment. It will be honored by all employees.
5. All employees will successfully complete annual Training Certification for their position.
6. Company objectives are communicated to all employees. It is everyone’s responsibility to support them.
7. To create pride and joy in the workplace, all employees have the right to be involved in the planning of the work that affects them.
8. Each employee will continuously identify defects throughout the Hotel.
9. It is the responsibility of each employee to create a work environment of teamwork and lateral service so that the needs of our guests and each other are met.
10. Each employee is empowered. For example, when a guest has a problem or needs something special you should break away from your regular duties, address and resolve the issue.
11. Uncompromising levels of cleanliness are the responsibility of every employee.
12. To provide the finest personal service for our guests, each employee is responsible for identifying and recording individual guest preferences.
13. Never lose a guest. Instant guest pacification is the responsibility of each employee. Whoever receives a complaint will own it, resolve it to the guest’s satisfaction and record it.
14. “Smile – we are on stage.” Always maintain positive eye contact. Use the proper vocabulary with our guests. (Use words like – “Good Morning,” “Certainly,” “I’ll be happy to,” and “My pleasure.”)
15. Be an ambassador of your Hotel in and outside of the work place. Always talk positively. Communicate any concerns to the appropriate person.
16. Escort guests rather than pointing out directions to another area of the Hotel.
17. Use Ritz-Carlton telephone etiquette. Answer within three rings and with a “smile” Use the guest’s name when possible. When necessary, ask the caller “May I place you on hold?” Do not screen calls. Eliminate call transfers whenever possible. Adhere to voice mail standards.
18. Take pride in and care of your personal appearance. Everyone is responsible for conveying a professional image by adhering to Ritz-Carlton clothing and grooming standards.
19. Think safety first. Each employee is responsible for creating a safe, secure and accident free environment for all guests and each other. Be aware of all fire and safety emergency procedures and report security risks immediately.
20. Protecting the assets of a Ritz-Carlton Hotel is the responsibility of every employee. Conserve energy, properly maintain our hotels and protect the environment.

The Employee Promise

At The Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies & Gentlemen are the most important resource in our service commitment to our guests.

By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximize talent to the benefit of each individual and the company.

The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and The Ritz-Carlton mystique is strengthened.

So what can you learn from the Ritz-Carlton?

1. Gold Standards are a model of simplicity, however they become a work of art once personally owned, employed and enforced.
2. Create your own Gold Standards or use these as a benchmark for delivering outstanding results.
3. You can choose the rules by which you compete and thus raise the performance bar for everyone else to follow.

So what do you do if your performance is not currently superior to everyone and everything else around you?

Easy. Decide to deliver outstanding results, and deliver them – starting right NOW!

Every opportunity offers a chance to perform in an outstanding manner. If you own a business or work for one, you must be able to engineer your performance so that is PROFOUNDLY superior, thus separating you from everyone in the marketplace.

Being outstanding is an outstanding goal to shoot for!

Is so, then here’s a guaranteed strategy that will work instantly for anyone, anywhere, in any profession.

Stop – right now, this instant by simply deciding to quit doing less than excellent work. What a profound idea!

Embrace this reality, mediocrity is a choice; it’s not always made consciously, but it is still a choice. You commit career malpractice every time you do things in a mediocre manner; every time you show up late for a meeting; every time you are unprepared, every time you do less than your best.

There is no inherent value in mediocrity, so there is no reason for people to stop and pay attention to you or your work.  Choose to never compromise your talent, quality and high standards; and you will never choose mediocrity.

Being the best has nothing to do with size, education, or bloodline; it has everything to do with decision, commitment, action, and persistence.

Excellence is a habit; a momentary happening; a crossroad where the body, mind and spirit all work together. Professional athletes call it being in “the zone” when their athletic prowess, experience and talent peak. Everyone has this potential to achieve excellence, even you!

Excellence in every endeavor requires that a price be paid; whatever you are willing to pay in sweat to find it and keep it in good working order.

Those who have legitimately reached the summit of their careers and relationships have worked harder and longer; studied and planned more assiduously; paid attention to the details; practiced more self-denial; and overcome more difficulties than those who have not risen as far.

The best part is that you can become excellent in a second — beginning right now. Start by visualizing yourself as the best teacher, artist, manager, coach, or parent that you aspire to become — and start acting the part. Put yourself in the best possible position to succeed; then perform your script exactly as it plays out in your mind.

It takes less than a second to raise your standards higher than they are right now.

You must merely decide to deliver world-class quality; but it takes a lifetime of passionate pursuit to maintain it — whether you are the concierge at a hotel, the manager of a small department or the CEO of an international firm.

Excellence is a guilty pleasure, as it builds confidence, enhances peace of mind, and creates a sustainable competitive advantage.

Why? Because most people are not hard acts to follow; and that’s exactly why a commitment to excellence is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Excellence is achieved via qualitative, not quantitative, shifts in developing skills. Be part of a qualitatively different world or environment, where excellence is expected and practiced is a key to achieving excellence.

Quality is the calling card of greatness.

This post began with a simple question: What is quality?

Quality is about love; it’s a passionate obsession with perfection. It is the result of good intentions, uncompromising standards, sincere effort, intelligent design, attention to detail and skillful execution.

Quality is the calling card of greatness; and it represents the wisest choice among many alternatives.

True quality is only achieved through continuous improvement in performance that ensures the highest standards of your products, services, processes and technology.

If you have any intention of being competitive, then quality — in the broadest sense of the term — must become an obsession. Dynamic, sustainable results will only be achieved through an obsession with quality.

High achievers are essentially scientists whose laboratories happen to be any of a variety of places — the kitchen, athletic field, courtroom, classroom, and boardroom.

They test assumptions, experiment with new concepts and ideas, and search through the minutia looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack that can take lead to a breakthrough and competitive edge.

In the pursuit of quality, high achievers bring a methodical, pragmatic and demanding approach to work. And, because these individuals only want to produce the best results, their personal standards are uncompromising.

In their pursuit of perfection, they pay rigorous attention to detail, expect greatness, and consistently deliver superior results. In their efforts to perform at the top of the game, they show no mercy to themselves or others. They understand that quality is a competitive weapon, and they use it with great authority.

The goal is simple: make your own and your organization’s name synonymous with quality. Strive to render ever more perfection to the form and function of your work.

Ensure that each and every aspect of your work receives a finishing touch. The final attention to detail must be given to the polish. Every single facet of quality must be polished and buffed in such a way that the end result exceeds all customer expectations.

I’ve saved the best part for last; a commitment to quality means never having to say you’re sorry!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two cents worth on what quality means to you.