Fresh Eyes

Pursuing excellence? Persistence is key to success

Inspiration is guaranteed each and every Olympics.

Watching the best in the world compete in so many sports is a powerful reminder of what it takes to excel.

It reminds us, as well, that if you're pursuing excellence of any type, being able to push over, around, or through the barriers you inevitably find somewhere on the road to your goal is an important part of success.

Here are a few pursuit of excellence thoughts from others who knew the path, too:

I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
Thomas Edison

Nothing at all will be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Samuel Johnson

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
Seneca

We will either find a way, or make one.
Hannibal

Sometimes difference counts and sometimes it doesn't

Egg buffet, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Some differences count in the final outcome.

And some differences don't.

I had no idea that eggs come in so many different colors - including light blue - but they do.

And if I want eggs for a photo, it's the visual interest of either strong differences or great symmetry that I want.

But if I'm making an omelet where the inside of the egg is what counts, then any of these fresh eggs will do.

What decisions do you have to make soon?

Which differences count in your final outcome, and which ones don't?

Problem-solving perspectives

Have a problem to solve? Or one you're trying to avoid?

How you approach a problem has a lot to do with how the problem-solving goes.

Here are perspectives from others on problem-solving...or not:

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.
Winston Churchill

Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
Henry Ford

Don't get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is still not a clear one.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.
Lyndon B. Johnson

When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.
Anthony J. D'Angelo

Coming in to shore

Coming in to shore, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Finishing a challenging ride, literally or metaphorically speaking?

And now, you're coming in to shore?

You might be surprised when you look back how much you enjoyed the challenge, and finding out what you could actually do when put to a rigorous test.

And when you're there, enjoy the victory and rest of shore time, as well.

For soon, it's back into the water to test yourself again...

Run. Eat. Sleep. Repeat...and get some fun in there, too

It's a process, originally uploaded by jcgr.

This humorous perspective on competitive runners' world is easy to remember.

It's not easy to do.

In addition to doing the basics well - whatever they are in your world - it's vital to make time for fun now and then, too.

Make sure you have simple ways to release, refresh, renew.

Not service excellence

Not service excellence, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Normally top-notch suppliers, one particular online store and one particular shipping company collectively created this particular customer experience.

It was very different from the great service they normally provide.

It's hard to say where things started to go wrong.

My guess is that it was when the package was packed.

And it's hard to say at what points the problem grew to become this way.

My guess is that there were multiple points along the way when someone chose not to correct it...or, well, worse...aggravated it.

Images of Jim Carrey in "Ace Ventura" as a shipping company employee who uses packages like basketballs come to mind.

It doesn't take much for things to go very wrong.

And that's about the same amount of time it takes for things to go very, very right.

Problem-solving with a long-term view

Problem-solving?

The process of problem-solving can be a problem itself, when viewed too close.

Here are thoughts on problem-solving, taking the long-term view:

The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.
John Foster Dulles

You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by
staying there.
Edwin Louis Cole

A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.
John Dewey

Speed up? Slow down? Lark, night owl? Give it a test

Do you do your best work when you work fast, or slow down a bit?

What's your best time of day (lark, night owl or hummingbird)?

How's your risk-tolerance? Do you work better when you take a few well-planned risks, or none at all?

Test a few of these assumptions - and you may find that your best work time and rhythms are different than you thought.

If you like to work slowly, speed things up for an hour. Does that make work more invigorating and productive, or does it just increase your error rate?

You do your best work late in the day, or you believe that's the case? If your schedule allows, try starting work an hour earlier one day to see what difference that makes.

Give your assumptions a workout - a test - now and then.

If nothing else, it will increase your flexibility, and may give you a lot more.

Here's what a few others have to say about the value of speeding up, slowing down and more:

A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he has done.
Cardinal Newman

Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Frederick Wilcox

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
T.S. Eliot

I want you to do it right as fast as you can, not fast as right as you can.
Arthur Collins

So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work.
Stephen Sondheim

I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window.
Steven Wright

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.
Elbert Hubbard

Let the numbers speak for themselves

Data and information - planning what you need to gather, getting it, analyzing it, using it for decisions - is part of the great game of business.

Some like the process of data gathering, and finding out what the numbers mean.

Others would rather try to make the numbers dance to the story they want to tell.

In the end, whether data will enliven and enlighten your business depends on your ability and willingness (or sometimes, courage) to see and take action on what the numbers really mean.

Here's a range of opinions about data, information, and using it effectively:

The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.
Sherlock Holmes

I don't see the logic of rejecting data just because they seem incredible.
Fred Hoyle

Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data.
John Naisbitt

Data is not information. Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not understanding. Understanding is not wisdom.
Unknown

Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
Charles Babbage

Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities - that's training or instruction - but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed.
Thomas More

No great marketing decisions have ever been made on quantitative data.
John Scully

Analytical software enables you to shift human resources from rote data collection to value-added customer service and support where the human touch makes a profound difference.
Bill Gates

Too often we forget that genius, too, depends upon the data within its reach, that even Archimedes could not have devised Edison's inventions.
Ernest Dimnet

Time for a learning tune-up?

For many people, it's September, not January, that feels like the start of a new year.

That new school year feeling - well, it's just hard to shake.

Pause for a quick review or tune-up of your learning plan for the year ahead.

Start here:

1. What skills or knowledge do you want to add between now and next September?

2. What skills or knowledge can you let go, if they're now out of date?

Sometimes to make room for new, we have to let go of knowledge we no longer need.

3. Are there things you must learn this year, like it or not?

Sometimes the learning we want to do brings with it prerequisites we're not very excited about. How will you fit that less interesting but necessary learning into your schedule?

Here's what others advise about the important subject of learning and mastery:

The too soft teacher reinforces the learner's natural wish to retreat and stay safe. The teacher must know when to let the learner struggle. Risk brings its own rewards.
Marilyn Ferguson

The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.
Dee Hock

What we want to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
G B Shaw

Treat people as if they were what they might be, and you will help them become capable of being.
Goethe

The germ of an idea doesn't make the sculpture that stands up. The next stage is hard work.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

All learning begins when our comfortable ideas turn out to be inadequate.
John Dewey