By Pastor M
The old prof had given the assignment two days before and was collecting the papers. As he turned his in, John thanked his lucky stars that he was one of those academically gifted students who didn’t have to work hard to get an acceptable grade. The next day when he got his paper back, however, he saw that his had been marked in red ink, ‘is this the best you can do?’ Knowing he had been busted, John quickly redid the paper and handed it in again.
At the next class, the prof. once more returned his work with the same comment at the bottom. This went on three more times until in frustration, John finally took his paper to the prof’s office and said to her, ‘I can’t do any better than this!’ At this the prof replied, ‘fine, now I can read it!’
SUCCESS ORIENTATION
I love that little story because it brings out the difference between two different orientations. A ‘success orientation’ is when we focus on merely being better than others, while an ‘excellence orientation’ is when we focus on being the best we can possibly be. A success orientation means you’re constantly measuring your work by what others are doing. It inevitably results in mediocrity!
The mediocre employee always arrives late to work, blaming the weather or traffic or some other bad luck. Once at the office, he takes a long time to settle down to work. He’s among the first to go for tea break and lunch, and among the last to get back to his desk. Even when he’s actually at his desk, he’s usually chatting on his phone or with fellow employees.
He does just enough to keep him from getting fired! He then wonders why he’s never promoted or why he never gets a better bonus at the end of the year. He invents a conspiracy theory that he is being backstabbed by his colleagues whom he claims are jealous of his success! Paradoxically, even though choosing mediocrity is easier, it doesn’t make us happier. It often results in stress, frustration and regret at unrealised potential.
WORK FOR GOD
The good book says ‘whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for God and not people’. That means that if you are a road sweeper, you sweep the floor as if you are Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, or Beethoven composing music, or Rudisha running 800 metres. You sweep the road so well that all the angels in heaven will stop for a moment and admire your work saying, “Wow, there goes an excellent sweeper!”
In his book, Excellence, John Gardner says, ‘Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them. They achieve it. They do not achieve it unwittingly by ‘doing what comes naturally’ and they don’t stumble into it in the course of amusing themselves. All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.’
This week, why not make a choice to be known at work as a person of excellence?
