EXCELLENCE…EVERYWHERE
One of the biggest ways champions set themselves apart is in their approach to the little things. Champions choose to compete and find ways to win in the small, seemingly insignificant areas most people ignore or neglect. That's a choice each one of us - including you, here today - will have to make for ourselves. How will you approach the little things today? The more you work to think and act like a champion, the more committed you become to the winning standard of performance that sets the champions apart, on the playing field and beyond. Simply put, champions are pursuing excellence...everywhere.
When you work to develop that kind of mindset - one that elevates the importance of whatever you're doing - it changes your perspective on and your approach to the little things. First, it increases your level of opportunity. Champions recognize that there are chances to compete and to win all over their experience. Whatever they’re doing, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant the task, they see an opportunity to validate once again who they are and what they’re all about, even in areas others have chosen to ignore or neglect. Those opportunities exist for you today, too, if you recognize them.
Second, building a champion’s mindset increases your level of responsibility. If increasing your level of opportunity allows you to see more clearly all the places you can compete and win, then increasing your level of responsibility allows you to see all the places you must compete and win. If you're a champion, choosing to compete and finding ways to win is the standard. It’s just what you do. That mindset elevates your level of ownership and accountability. There’s a high expectation - and with it a major responsibility - for you to live up to. You can’t accept anything less than excellence from yourself, even in the small and seemingly insignificant stuff.
This powerful combination - more opportunity and more responsibility - drives the champion’s pursuit. It clarifies both what can be done and what can't not be done. It also poses a few important questions you have to consider, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing today, about your own performance…
Do you recognize the opportunities to compete and win that are in front of you today?
Do you accept the responsibility that comes with a commitment to becoming a champion?
Some honest reflection on those questions might clarify just how worthy you really are of winning in the important areas of your life. The truth is, if you want to become a champion, you’ve got to do what champions do. That means re-shaping your perspective on and your approach to the little things. It means choosing to compete and finding ways to win, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. It means pursuing excellence...everywhere.