1. Develop your Talent

We are at our best when we develop our talent. Michael Jordan could not be selected in
the university basketball team initially, till he trained rigorously to become a member of
the team and eventually the greatest basketball player of all time. Life is not about
discovering our talents; it is about pushing our talents to the limit and discovering our
genius. Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Excellence is not a skill.
It is an attitude.

2. Be passionate about your success.

Work is worship. Invest your attention, effort and time 100% in your success so you are
completely passionate and motivated towards realizing your dream. Lincoln lost eight
elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown but never quit
before he became the most admired president of the USA. Passion and commitment
drive us and anchor us during challenging times. Commitment enables us to maintain a
high degree of perseverance and achieve excellence. If one is committed, nothing is
impossible.

Arise, awake and stop not, till the goal is reached. It always seems impossible till it is
done. If you can dream it, you can do it. The most certain way to succeed is always to
try just one more time.

3. Never compromise on Integrity

When you have integrity, your word means something. If your actions are not aligned
with your words, people cannot depend on your word, integrity is lacking. A man must
be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong
enough to correct them. Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit
them. Nobody achieves excellence without acknowledging and learning from mistakes.
If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it. You can fool some of the
people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of
the people all of the time.

4. Follow High Standards in every thing

Standards of excellence are those that are flawless and impeccable. Do you complete
work on time meeting standards? Do you address discrepancies or concerns on the spot?
Being good is not good enough; we need to exceed expectations and continually raise
the bar for excellence. While competitors struggled to achieve less than 100 defective
units per million units, Motorola achievement of only 3.4 defects per million units made it
an undisputed industry-leader. Its practice was followed by others soon. A little delay or
defect is NOT ACCEPTABLE to a true professional. Never settle for mediocrity. Every job,
small or big, is important and doing well in everything is a must.

4. Follow the process for the best result

When work is assigned, find out the objective, the deliverables, the methodology, the
intermediate goals and milestones, the timelines, verification criteria. Nobody likes
failure. World rewards them who make the least mistakes while trying out the most.
Know your role and dependencies, understand the process, plan your day and execute
on hourly basis. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Plan meticulously to avoid failure at
any cost and execute it in disciplined manner so that you do it right the very first time.

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone
else. Act as if it were impossible to fail. Productivity is never an accident. It is always the
result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.

6. Be positive and patient

Maintain calm and positive attitude all the time. No battle is ever won with a negative
mindset. Be aware of your challenges and have a realistic action plan around that.
Pursue the plan with patience, care and skill. Rome was not built in a day. Never drop
your hat irrespective of your challenges. Take a break and attack the problem afresh.
You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range
failures

7. Be Self Aware

Self-awareness, particularly about the supports and structures (team-work) that bring
out our best, is key. With self-awareness, one is able to get oneself into the zone with
precision and accuracy. Pay attention and observe yourself to enhance your selfawareness skills. Listen to feedback from your seniors and customers. Focus on hard
facts and introspect. Be objective and always present ideas and opinions with evidences
as much as possible. Never certify yourself as we never have the luxury to judge
ourselves. It is important to maintain self-confidence but never be complacent. Past can
inspire us to do bigger things but cannot guarantee future success

When you are good at something, you will tell everyone. When you are great at
something, they will tell you.

8. Be Creative, Innovate and avoid waste

Creativity and innovation require openness and questioning. The belief that anything is
possible paves the way for creative thinking. There is always one better way of solving
problems. Throwing too much resources to a problem do not guarantee a solution.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody
else.

9. Be action-oriented

Do not think too much worrying about failures. Planning is not anything unless it is
followed up by action. Do not over-analyze, over-deliberate, procrastinate. Just do it.
Do not find fault. Find a remedy. The future depends on what you do today. Timeliness is
next to godliness. Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay
awake and do them.

10. Practice makes it perfect

Plan, do, check and act. Never let anything go without sufficient self-review. Aim for
Zero negative comment and 100% appreciation. Ask yourself if it meets the purpose
(effective) in the best possible way (efficient). If not, what alternative you can think of
and try those now to make it better every time. If you cannot measure it you cannot
manage it

11. Be consistent

Make achieving success a habit. Be consistent day after day, step after step. Don’t let
temporary obstacles keep you from showing up on a day to day basis. Pace yourself like
an athlete and learn to develop new habits by incorporating the behavior on a day to day
to day basis. Nobody remembers an one-film star like Vivek Mushran but everyone
knows Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan who started their career same time and kept on
acting for multiple decades. Similarly, hitting six sixes in an over could not guarantee
Yuvraj Singh a place in the Indian cricket team after 5 years due to lack of consistency.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

12. Contribute and Produce result.

Excellence is about contributing our best to the world while evoking others to do the
same. It’s about making our mark in the world, as we attempt to make it a better place.
Reflect at the end of day, what deliverable you produced today that would make you
proud after 3 years? If there is nothing much to think about, you have probably not
exerted yourself well to achieve something that can be considered excellent. Never
mind, do more to contribute more, contribute better and faster. Obstacles will come, but
focus on the goal and the result, not on obstacles. Use your job to improve society.