“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
~Aristotle
I heard a great speaker this weekend who said that our lives (jobs, marriages, companies, families) are made or broken ‘in the daily’. That it’s not the big things that hurt or heal, accomplish or fall short. It’s how we live the moments of our everyday lives that matters.
Sometimes we’re fooled into thinking ‘excellence’ comes with shiny awards or public accolades.
I believe what it means is that excellence is not an accident.
It’s you getting up before dawn to go into the hospital to work. For years. It’s you scrubbing in (likely without scrub brushes these days!) according to your NICU policy because it really stops the spread of germs.
It’s you attending courses that add to the depth of your knowledge. It’s you taking the time to explain early intervention services to a parent when you were supposed to clock out an hour ago.
Sometimes we’re fooled into thinking ‘excellence’ comes with shiny awards or public accolades.
When really, it is you. You showing up and consciously doing your work day after day. This is not easy work. But it is profoundly important.
Here are 3 simple ways to add excellence to the ‘daily’:
1) Write Down a No Exceptions Item
Sometimes we make a list of 30 things to do in one week, but because that seems totally overwhelming, we complete 25% of 4 things instead of 100% of any of them! Can you relate?! I can!
Make a weekly No Exceptions Item. Before you do anything (before checking to see how many new evals you have, before chatting about your weekend, before you log into the computer) on Monday morning, take 10 minutes and write down your goals/projects/tasks for the week.
Then choose ONE thing you need to accomplish that week, even if nothing else on your list is accomplished.
For example, I may have a huge list of work for my week. But highlighted, starred and underlined is the ONE thing I will finish no matter what. No exceptions. No excuses.
Guess what?
That one thing always makes deadline. It’s been nearly posted on my forehead all week.
2) Use Colleague Support
My mentor has us choose an accountability partner from our group for the year. This seems too easy to actually work. But it does! We talk every Sunday for just 20 minutes. We review our 3-4 goals from the prior week and add 3-4 for the next. If there’s something really important going on, we may text each other mid-week for a little cheerleading.
And this doesn’t mean your colleague ‘beats you up’ if you don’t meet a goal. It means she listens and makes sure you tell her what the new deadline is – period. No excuses. No shame.
(And tell your colleague what your No Exceptions Item is. The support is priceless.)
You write objective, succinct, measurable goals for a living (including time frame, legible signature, time of tx, duration of tx, type of tx, time of documentation, whew!) – THIS should be a piece of cake!
3) Schedule Your Education
I can’t think of anything that adds more excellence to your daily work life than educating yourself. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money (heck, you get 2+ years’ worth of amazing Special Topic Calls the moment you join NANT for just $147/year. And that’s just one of your benefits! That’s easy math).
Or
You read articles, one of the many books we’ve recommended, or books you’ve found yourself. The key is education HAS to become a habit to build a level of excellence in any subject.
How do you do this? You schedule it.
The 2 neonatal therapists that I work with have scheduled time together every month to watch the recorded Special Topic Calls. They’ve also agreed to review a chapter at a time in the Developmental Care of Newborns and Infants book from NANN.
This is an awesome way to connect, learn and build your expertise in just one to two hours a month. The thing is, if you WAIT to have time to do this it won’t happen. Create the space.
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One thing I’ve learned is that I alone am responsible for the degree of excellence I want to achieve. I gave up the notion that it was anyone else’s duty a long time ago.
You are the leader of your life.
Seek excellence, yes. (And make sure you schedule it!)
You’re worth it.
