ATTAINING EXCELLENCE

When I was a kid, people would constantly speak in admiration of those who were excellent in
whatever they were doing. These could be students who achieved academic excellence, successful
business people, top athletes, celebrities, and so on. Envy aside, no one ever spent any time to think
about why or howthey were excellent. It was seemingly natural for most to just accept that certain
people were meant for excellence while others werent.
As I grew up, I started to form personal goals which I pursued fervently. I would set different goals,
generally anchored on academia and performance-related goals, since the country I lived in
(Singapore) was a meritocratic society. In the process of my goal pursuit, I would experience the
natural process of success and setbacks.
As I gained more experience and observed people who achieved excellence, I started to identify a
certain pattern that linked up successes a pattern of certain principles and beliefs. And when I acted
in accordance to these, I would experience excellence in whatever I did whether it was being on the
deans list, graduating as the top marketing student in my Business School, nabbing a job offer in a
Fortune 100 company against hundreds of applicants, delivering historical record-breaking results
when I was working there, creating my personal excellence blog which has tens of thousands of
readers after a short-span of months, getting overwhelming demand for my coaching services (which
currently has a waiting list of 3 months), and so on. As long as I keep focusing on these key
principles, results would be eminent.
If you have ever looked at the achievements of others and thought Wow, if only I can do that!, or if
you have ever wished that you can perform better, earn more money, make more friends, have better
health, achieve higher level of success, and so on, heres the holler-out to you: You are capable of all
of that. Everyone has all the potential in the world to do whatever it is they dream of or want.
Following these key principles of personal excellence will go a long way in bringing you to excellence:

1. Have the hunger for excellence

You need to want to achieve excellence. The emphasis here is on what you want, not what others
want. Make sure the goal is something you set for yourself, because unless it is, chances are you dont
really want it. And if you dont want the goal badly enough, it doesnt matter what you try to do since
the drive will not be there to keep you moving forward. Its pointless to sign yourself up for something
and put in a half-baked effort, because a) its not being true to yourself b) its just wasting your time
at the end.This is why I always make sure I aim for the best in whatever I set myself to do.

2. Benchmark against the best

What is it you are working on? Who are the people who are the best in this area? What are the results
they have achieved? Set your targets to the same level as their best results, or even higher if you are
feeling up to it.
At the moment, Im setting up my school of personal excellence for anyone who has a passion for
personal excellence. My long-term vision for this school is to be as big as the Xaviers School in X-Men.
;) (In fact, I have the picture of Xaviers School up on my vision board since last year!) While this
vision may seem far-fetched to many, its a vision which Im working towards and one which I have
absolutely no doubt will come to life given time and effort.

3. Believe that you can do it

Self-belief is paramount to every success. You need to first believe in yourself to get somewhere. If
you dont have self-confidence, who is going to believe in you? If you have often experience low selfbelief, look back at the times when you achieved something, regardless of how big or small it was.
From there, build up your confidence and leverage it as you pursue your goals. As you begin to see
results, your confidence will increase over time, which will create an upward spiraling effect.

4. Build concrete strategy & plans

Every goal needs a proper strategy and plan for it to come to life. Setting a goal and not following
through with proper planning is like getting into your car to drive to your destination without knowing
how to get there or even having a driving license. Many people fail in their goals because they fail to
follow-through with planning. The bigger your goals, the more important that you invest proper time
in building your plan. I have written a 7-part Goal Achievement series on what it takes to successfully
achieve goals, which includes how to devise your winning strategy, create a robust plan, execute it
and review.

5. Learn from the best

Hook up with people who are the best in the field and learn from them. They have the best practices,
insights and tips which will be extremely valuable in your pursuit of excellence. Rather than trying to
learn everything from scratch, its easier to leverage on the learnings from others and build on from
there. This will jumpstart your learning curve by a huge degree.

6. Do not limit yourself

Dont be afraid to try every single thing that might take you to your goal. In fact, be more concerned
about the potential opportunities you might be missing out on when you dont try something. Opening
yourself up to possibilities will enable you to pick up on things which might be fundamental to your
success.

7. Go all out; Work really hard

With every success, comes hard work. Without hard work, you cannot achieve results. People who try
to find the easy way out are kidding themselves if they think they can achieve excellence without
putting in hard work. If you observe around you, the people who seek out get-rich-quick methods are
also the very people who dont achieve much in their lives. Hard work is the universal quality that will
pay off in the long-term. Once you invest the due time and effort, the results will start coming in.

8. Focus your efforts

Once you have finished trying out every single thing that you can see, now focus your efforts in the
areas which bring you the most results. I subscribe to the 80-20 principle, where 20% of causes lead
to 80% of effects you see in a situation. Focus your energy in the few key drivers of success which will
lead you to the results you want. This way, you will utilize your efforts more effectively, which can be
subsequently channeled into more value-added activities.

9. Be adaptable.
Adaptability is one of the essential pillars of excellence. As you may already know, change is inevitable
You can either cower in the face of change, learn to deal with it or even turn it into your favor. Be
ready for change at all times and develop a friendly relationship with change.
This also applies to changing your plans. Dont be overly attached to your plans and be prepared to
alter them where needed. If there are certain things you are doing which are not very effective, be
prepared to improvise them or drop them totally.

10. Never give up.

There is no failure except in no longer trying. Elbert Hubbard
Dont ever give up. Remember that defeat never occurs unless you accept it as defeat. If a certain
problem is too big for you to handle, break it down into smaller pieces so its easier for you to tackle
them. As long as you keep trying, you will eventually achieve your goal.
A favorite story of mine is Sylvester Stallones rags-to-riches story of how he overcame overwhelming
odds in his life to be the international movie star we know him to be today. When he was a baby, he
was born with a half-paralyzed face due to birth complications, which led to a slurred speech. This was
the key reason why he was rejected thousands of times by casting agents. Because he never gave up,
he finally got his big break as the star of Rocky one day and this only came after years and years of
relentlessly trying.

HOW TO ATTAIN EXCELLENCE AND BECOME GREAT IN LIFE

Everybody wants to be great in life, business, ministry, vocation or academics but hardly find the way
there. I am always unhappy when people who should have become or should be geniuses today are still
struggling very hard to get to their desired positions or destinations in life. In view of my observations and
discontentment, it was laid in my heart to write on excellence being the major key to greatness.
One major thing must be put into consideration. In fact, it is the central aspect of excellence and what is
that? It must begin from your mind. You must fight failure and mediocrity in your mind before you can fight
them in the reality. Vince Lombardi said; your success in life will be determined more by the depth of
commitment to excellence than by any other factor, no matter your chosen field. Therefore, aspire as
much as you can to be the best in your career or any chosen field you are involved.
Brain Tracy, one of the foremost American geniuses and a philosopher also said; no one is smarter than
you and no one is better than you. If someone is ahead of you today, it is because he or she is doing
something different from you. In other words, it is not impossible for you to achieve excellence in whatever
you bargain for. Dont you ever settle for mediocrity! An average performance is a limited performance.
Develop a passion for excellent performance. If you have not been taking the first position in whatever
youre doing, it is because you have been sleeping for too long. Wake up from Slumber! Performance is
the only basis for promotion. Excellence is measured by action. A child who tops his class is not
measured by his family background, nor race, nor psyche, but by the result of his performance in the
class. And it didnt just come by; of course it was followed by action principle. Oritson Swelt declared;
make excellence a life rule, to give your best to whatever passes through your hand. Stamp it with your
personal character; let superiority be your trade mark. Therefore develop an unquenchable passion for
excellence. Become more committed than ever before to excellent performance. As the saying goes
whatever is what doing at all is worth doing well. This is because people mind and even pay for excellent
work or product or service. The world is full of mediocres, but the people in it appreciate excellent
products, services or performance. This is the more reason why you can not afford to be a mediocre for
life, so get up and get going. The world is really waiting for you!
Excellence is not attained by chance or heritage, it is an art that must be consciously achieved through a
conscious and persistent effort. Among others, the following stand as major means through which you
attain the position of excellence.
1. Think excellence:
Everything in the reality has its thought antecedent; every action is a product of thought. Every battle in

life is won or lost in the arena of thought. As a man thinketh so is he. Therefore, you must develop the
mindset of excellence for you to attain excellence. In fact, this is the foundation. Think excellent thoughts
always. By the time you think in excellent terms, failure thoughts would not be able to penetrate into you.
Your life will always move in the direction of your dominant thought. You must break yourself free from
those thoughts that limit you in life. You must emancipate yourself from those thoughts that will not move
your life forward; thoughts of poverty, failure, sickness, pain, lack etc. dont set any limitation in your mind.
Dont be limited in your mind, whatever becomes real in your mind, God will make real in your life. So, fill
your mind with thoughts of excellence and success always, then you will always exhibit that in the reality.
2. Read books written by excellent minds.
Excellent minds are those great people around you that you can really acknowledge. When you read the
books written by these people, you will begin to rub mind with them, you will begin to think the way they
think, act the way they act; even some of them who have died their books still transform lives for the
better, even the generations after them, like Napoleon Hill, Keneth Hagin, Norman Vincent Peal, (of
blessed memmories) and others who are still alive like Dr Mylse Munroe, Bishop David Oyedepo, Brain
Tracy, Jim Rohn, Dr Robert Schuller Rev Sam Adeyemi, Anthony Robins, Robert Kiyosaki and Dr Mike
Murdock my Daddy (Pst. E. A. Adeboye) and so forth. These people have been there, they should be able
to tell you how to get there. Reading according to research affects your thinking, and your thought directly
or indirectly affects your performance. So, when you dont read excellent books how will you have
excellent thoughts. Readers are leaders, committed ones are great leaders.
3 Identify your key area of optimum performance.
You must be able to identify an area through which you can perform to your best ability and be
recognized. Like my humble self, I can sing, write, act on stage do several other things according to my
gifted ability, but I found out that writing brings out the best in me much more than other gifted areas
because people are being blessed and they always respond positively beyond measure to my writings
with great transformation in their lives upon reading my articles or write-ups.What I am trying to express
here is thats you must clearly identify one skill that can help you most, then concentrate on it, develop
your skill and update your knowledge inline with it.
4. Desire it intensely.
This is the core aspect of excellence. What you dont desire, you dont get, and even when you get it by
serendipity you dont value nor respect it. You must desire excellence intensely. That is when it can be
accepted by your subconscious mind. Then you subconscious mind upon reception can now direct
thoughts towards your conscious mind and then bring it into its physical reality.

Having said all, can you now see that you too can attain the position of excellence in your field of
endeavor if you can think in terms of excellence, read books by excellent minds, identify an area at which
you can perform at the optimum level and desire it intensely! Nothing can stop you if you can do all these.

8 Timeless Tips To Achieve Excellence in Life

After years of pursuing and studying excellence, I have learned several key, timeless tips to achieve
excellence. These tips have continuously brought in results in whatever goal I seek. For one, theyve
helped successfully develop my passion into a full-time career within a short span of 1.5 years. My
blog, The Personal Excellence Blog, is read by thousands of people every day and has been featured on
prominent media such as CNN. Ive founded my training school, The School of Personal Excellence,
where I coach and train individuals to achieve excellence in life.

In this article, Ill share 8 of my timeless tips to achieve excellence:

1. Have a goal
In life, as in football, you wont go far unless you know where the goalposts are. Arnold H. Glasgow

How true is that? Have you ever seen people play football without knowing where the goalposts are?
Theyll be running up and down the field the whole time with the ball and not scoring any goal! Likewise,
we need to set our goals for us to move somewhere.

Dont let your goal be just any goal to. Make it a big, bold and audacious goal one which will truly excite
and inspire you. Its pointless to have a goal that will automatically be achieved without much of a fight..

2. Do what you love

You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream. John Eliot

If Ive been doing things I hate all this while, I wouldnt even have made any headway in them. The reason
why Im continuously inspired to write and bring The Personal Excellence Blog to greater heights day after
day is because Im passionate about what Im doing. Im passionate about achieving excellence. Im
passionate about helping others achieve excellence. I can do this day after day, for the rest of my life
without even getting paid for it. If I have tried to do something else, say become an accountant or an
engineer, I would never have lasted. Theres nothing wrong with those occupations, just that they arent
what Im passionate about.

What are you passionate about? What do you love to do? Pursue that, and let the love of what you do
drive you to greatness.
3. Have a strategy

Strategy is more than just planning. A plan is simply what you are going to do. Strategy is like your
blueprint for success; the secret keys that will guarantee your victory. A more layman term for strategy
would be working smart.

Every goal has its own set of strategies to guarantee its victory. In all my goals, Ill always spend proper
time to develop a strategy. What are the obstacles Ill face? How can I overcome these obstacles? What is
the best mode of action to achieve this goal? How can I achieve this goal faster and better? How have
people who achieved this goal done this? These are some questions I consider. And once I develop my
strategy, I set out to achieve my goal. Undoubtedly, strategizing helps me achieve my goals with ease.

4. Study the successful

Theres no matter way to succeed than to study the successful those who have been here, done that.
When I first started The Personal Excellence Blog, I studied the A-List bloggers, such as Steve Pavlina,
Darren Rowse from Problogger, and read a lot of materials by them. I also read other big sites such
as Copyblogger and Yaro Staraks Entrepreneurs Journey. Because of that Ive learned a lot on what I need
to do to have a successful personal development blog. Even today I continue to study and learn from
bigger bloggers so I can grow quickly.

Who are the people who are successful in the goals you want to achieve? What have they done which
has enabled them to succeed? What can you learn from them?

5. Overcommit your resources

Goal setting is about getting from point A to point B. When we set goals, we have in mind a set of things
we need to do. If we complete these XYZ set of things, we will naturally achieve the goal. Right?

Wrong. When we are creating our plan, we are doing it from the point of view of someone who has never
achieved the goal before. So how would we even know these XYZ things are what we need to achieve the
goal? They are nothing more than just assumptions of what it takes to achieve the goal. It might be 50%,
60% or even 70% accurate, but we have no way of knowing if its 100% accurate. Most likely its not, else
we would already have achieved the goal long ago, wouldnt we?

So when you set out for our goals, its important you overcommit your resources. Come up with what you
think you need to achieve the goal, then double it up, or even triple if possible. That way, you can be

almost certain you will achieve it. Even if your original estimations are right and there are no need to up
the efforts, then youll be exceeding your goal when the results are out, which is more than fantastic.

6. Keep reading
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cant read them. ~ Mark
Twain

The more you read, the more knowledge you gain. There is no end to what you can read. Seth Godin,
best selling author on Business Week and New York Times, buys 400 new books every year, and
probably reads a lot more than that. Lately, Ive been frequenting the local library to borrow books and
enrich myself. The book Im currently reading is How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to
Be by Jack Canfield, and its a great read. With the wide availability of information on the internet, theres
even more reason to read now than ever.

7. Work hard

Theres working smart (tip #3 Have a strategy), then theres working hard. In order to succeed, you have
to both work smart and work hard.

And working hard really isnt all about toiling and sweating and dreading what you are doing. If you are
doing what you love (tip #2 Do what you love), then it really isnt work at all. I work hard day in day out,
writing new articles my blog, coaching others and building my business, but thats because I love what Im
doing so much that I cant get enough of it. It doesnt even feel like work. It feels like Ive won the lotto,
except that its a lifetime lotto. :D

Are you working as hard as you could? How can you put in more effort in what you are doing? The more
effort you put into your goals, the more results you will see.

8. Ask for feedback

Feedback gives us a different perspective one which you cannot see because you are looking from your
point of view. Ive learned a tremendous lot from my readers and clients feedback, which in turn helps me
to write better articles and be a better coach day after day. All of us have blind spots we cant see and
these blind spots are exactly whats preventing us from achieving results. The more feedback you get, the
more aware you become, and the better you will become.