Deliberate

I grew up dancing, others grew up playing sports, writing, or just in general learning in their context. The next question I will ask rhetorically is rather simple and obvious, yet I ask it anyway. Does excellence come easily? Naturally, my dancing ability required no extra work :) . And it that's true, all the professional sports players would never need to practice a day in their lives. And being a genius is just genetic.

I don't mean to lessen the reality of talent or intelligence. Practice makes permanent, that's for sure. However, there are countless examples of people who found what they were good at and perfected it. It was because they found a way to consciously and continually improve. It starts with being deliberate, with paying attention.

I have two basic styles for writing on this blog. The first is basically a brain dump, or rush write. You can tell when I write this way, my thoughts don't always connect because I'm mainly just trying to get all my ideas down on 'paper.'

The second type is the kind where I have thought about the topic enough to plan what I'm going to say and how I'm going to say it. I usually start with a rough outline, or at least a list of points I want to make, and I rewrite my ideas until I am satisfied with how they come across. Sometimes after I post one, I will go back days later and continue rewriting it. Others, like this post start with a brain dump and then hopefully work their way into a decent post.

Naturally, all my posts could use a great deal more editing. My point is that things of quality take work and diligent efforts to plan, execute, analyze, and revise.

Another example: My job, in part, is "sales support." I'm somewhere between a baby-sitter and a manager. Lately, I've been working with our sales guy and trying to help him be more deliberate in his efforts. Not sales-y, or "pitchy," but helping him be sincere and competent. At work, we have the opportunity to learn and use a great continuous training system.

However, our coaches only come once a week. Then we have the tendency to forget, and so remarkably, we haven't really improved. Is it the system's fault? No. Are we working at the right things? I'd say we're at least half-way there, we just need to align our priorities again. Because of this, we are just at a temporary impasse until we allow and work towards change. Imagine, in the "continuous improvement" cycle - planning, doing, reviewing, adjusting - that over time, the graph moves upward, in little steps. This is, in my mind, how we can achieve the best 'results' as we learn and grow.

As we go throughout life, let us remember that conscious, deliberate actions, can help us improve. When we focus on building up the small and simple things, and remembering our goals, we can really excel.