Over the course of my life and career I’ve lived by a few basic rules. Here I’d like to expound upon one of those. Regardless of work, school or life in general I ALWAYS give everything I have to everything I do. In sports terms I leave it all out on the field. I just don’t know how to exist any other way.
Here is how that manifests itself:
1) I deliver on my commitments – once I say I’ll get something done I will find a way to execute on time with a high-quality result. Sometimes that means I don’t sleep much.
2) I never ask my people to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. Unfortunately I’m sometimes disappointed that not everyone is willing to go full force – they’re okay with a ‘good’ result that could have been ‘great.’
3) I make mistakes because I tend to push myself to do new and challenging things at work, and I’m definitely not perfect. I mess up, take ownership, correct the problem, and LEARN. I tell people I will definitely make mistakes, but I’ll never make the same one twice. It’s amazing how many mistakes there are to make 🙂
4) I work very hard, and strive to be the “master of my craft.” I try to learn something new every day from the many smart people around me.
5) Not one manager who has ever hired me into a job role has been sorry they hired me. It’s a big source of pride because my goal is to add value wherever I go.
My advice to everyone I mentor is to find your passion, love what you do, and go 100%. Don’t half-ass anything in your life, but be choosy about what you do to ensure this is possible without completely exhausting yourself. It’s way better to create fantastic results with 3 projects than mediocre results with 10 projects.
My favorite book:
is a fantastic example of figuring out and focusing on what’s really important to achieve success. I freely admit I’m kind of a math geek; plus I love sports so this book really resonated.