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“No one has a greater asset for his business than a man’s pride in his work.” – Hosea Ballou

If you truly take pride in your work, you can be a trusted employee. If you take pride in your word being your bond, you can be a trusted friend. Sometimes employers look for people who are best qualified for a job at the present moment, but they overlook the potential employee’s character traits. This is a mistake. Of course, you want to hire qualified/skilled employees, but not if they’re the wrong cultural fit for your organization.

You can teach an eager individual the necessary skill set as long as they are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of handling the job. It’s ok to invest a little extra time upfront for the right long-term fit.

What you often can’t do is get someone to change their nature. If they have a poor attitude, but are capable of doing the job, I wouldn’t want them on the team. Why would you want to potentially be around someone for 40 hours per week if they have a negative attitude? Why would you want to deal with the headache of working with someone who doesn’t care about the result of their efforts? If they won’t take pride in their work, don’t hire them.

We live in a time where it’s not uncommon to be doing more, but accomplishing less. Our lives are constantly in motion. Every day has “something” that we have to do, whether it’s for work, for the kids, with family and friends, or an obligation that you feel you need to accomplish to fit within societal norms. When we’re not busy doing this activity or that, then we’re spending more time than ever watching tv or trying to decompress.

We’re being pulled in five different directions. And when we try to fulfill everyone else’s needs, it feels like we’re going to be torn apart. So, we decide to hold off on our own ambitions. We “get by” and do the bare minimum to not lose our standing amongst our peers, co-workers, etc., but we don’t accomplish what is important to ourselves. Is that really how we should be living life?

Instead of doing what everyone else wants you to do, find what moves the needle for you. What gets you excited? What is actually important to you and how can you do more of that? What do you loathe doing and how can you do less of that?

How can you accomplish more by doing less? Can you focus on higher quality time and interactions instead of high quantities of meaningless action? Can you be more effective and efficient with your time?

Make sure that you are saying no to the trivial, so you can say yes to your most important/highest priorities. You’ll not only move the needle further, but you’ll feel more fulfilled.

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” –John C. Maxwell

You will make mistakes in life – a lot of them. But to overcome them and truly become successful, you need all three parts of John Maxwell’s quote above.

First, you need to admit when you are wrong. It goes a long way in the eyes of others when you acknowledge your mistakes. If you know you’re wrong, but don’t admit it, others will either think that you don’t see it or that you don’t want to admit it to them. Either way, those around you will look down on you for it.

Second, you need to be smart enough to profit from your mistakes. This doesn’t mean to profit literally, although that would be ideal. What Maxwell means is to learn from your mistakes and apply that newfound knowledge to not make those same mistakes again. Use that knowledge to propel you to new heights. If you keep making the same mistakes over and over, you either aren’t doing anything about the mistakes that you’re making, you are making the wrong corrections, or the actions you’re taking aren’t big enough to make a tangible difference.

Lastly, once you understand what you need to do, you have to be strong enough to actually do it. Knowing and doing are two different things. It is hard enough to figure out where to go sometimes, but the really hard part is what follows. You need to find the strength to do what must be done.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain

So many people, myself included, get bogged down by analysis paralysis. You see a big problem and don’t know how to tackle it. It can be intimidating. But, what Mark Twain describes above, and how he describes it, is exactly how we should approach the situation.

Break this complex problem down into smaller, more manageable problems. Rank the new, smaller issues in order of importance. Pick what matters most and spend all of your energy concentrating on addressing that issue. After that is completed, move onto the next one.

The only caveat I would make here is for small tasks that will take you less than 5 minutes to get done. Knock out all tasks that take less than 5 minutes to start building momentum. You’ll get a few “wins” under your belt and build confidence. Just make sure that as soon as you’re done with these that you get back to work on the most important task, NOT the one that is easiest.

Don’t procrastinate on what needs to be done. If it is important, prioritize it. Do this and you’ll be able to more easily tackle the big problems.

“A team that cares is made up of people who do their job to be the best they can be for themselves and their team. They pursue excellence and are always looking for ways they can learn, improve, and grow. They are humble and hungry and willing to be uncomfortable. They don’t settle. Instead they always challenge the status quo and chase greatness.

…if you want to be the elite of the elite, you have to be a transformational positive team member – someone who makes others better in the process. To be a great team, you not only want to do your job well, but also help your team members do their jobs better.” – Jon Gordon in The Power of a Positive Team

If you want to be on an elite team, you have to focus on what you control. It starts with your actions. If you have a positive attitude, praise your team members (in public), share constructive criticism with others (in private), and if you’re always prepared and following through with your own work, others will see this. If you truly have the right people on the bus and they are in the right seat (put in a position to do their best work doing something that they enjoy), then they will be motivated to make it work.

Look within first. Do everything that you can to help the team out. Build a culture of high performers who happily put the team’s needs ahead of their own.