For me Excellence is accountability, hard work, consistency, creativity and being purposeful.

I did say that we should not use the ‘I did my best’ card for our excuse, but we do need to give our best. Now that we know that we are accountable to someone, we can then manage our resources and energies to hit that target.

1) Do what is required of you.
There may be something that you are asked to do and you are not good at that, then aim to be good enough or to be slightly above average. Check your job description make sure you meet all of them. When I was asked to manage a store I have to be clear with what my job is. Organizing files is one of my weak spots but I do have to work hard to get the job done. My file organizing skills have plenty to improve on but it did made the ‘minimum’.

2) Do more than what is required of you.
After ‘covering all the bases’ start by going the extra mile. This includes learning more than you should about a particular topic, investing and honing your strengths, aiming a grade higher than what is expected. Work out being a specialist.

When I used to work at a store that sells salt water aquarium fishes I have to study everything I can get my hands at about the Marine hobby. This includes reading dozens of articles, magazines, books, forums and face to face interviews and even experiments. I want to know my craft. As students, this means also that you become better than just having high grades, add some extra curricular activities, find a life coach, improve your personality,  read helpful books (not junk books) on top of your text books. If your boss expects you to finish a project, finish it ahead of time and make friends in the process. When a client buys from you, add a little personal touch by engaging them in dynamic dialogues and by being available. The list goes on and on!

3) Do it with a team.
This is hard work. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is hard enough, collaborating with other people is even harder. But this is where excellence begins to happen, when you know your strengths and you play it out and you let other people’s strengths compliment your weaknesses.
I’m so blessed to be part of a team that compliments me. I’m average at file organizing but I have a great organizer as part of our team named Christian. Then there’s our leader, Joash, who has great networks of people that compliments our team.

4) Do what ‘they’ need.
Be outward thinking. As you think of other people’s concerns, situation and needs and as you find ways to connect with them and address them, you find yourself working for excellence. As a campus missionary, I need to study the culture of a particular campus, their music, fads, etc. This means listening to some of their music, watching some of the Trending clips in YouTube, researching about the effects of depression in the youth, studying and playing some of their games.

5) Do what God requires of you.
As a Christian, I believe I serve an excellent God therefore I need to be excellent. God gave his best for me in Christ, so I’m free to give my best as well. It humbles me to think that I can get to glorify God as I strive for excellence.

Colossians 3:23 NIV
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,..

1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.