Be Outstanding in Your Field

The primary goal of each official should be to be the best at their position.  We need to own our position and take responsibility for any action that occurs in our area of responsibility.  Then, we can “venture out” to help crew mates when needed.  By striving to be the best in our position, it makes it easier to help others when needed.

How do we become outstanding in our part of the field—pursue excellence.  Most of us have probably been challenged to pursue excellence, not perfection.

A student was assigned to write an essay for his English class.  This student always made exceptional grades—straight A’s.  But, for this essay, he talked with some of his friends about what they were writing about and how they were writing their paper.  Now, these “friends” were doing only what they had to do—minimum effort. Just this time, the straight A student decided he would go along with the others and “just get by”.  When the grading of the essay came back, the exceptional student received his worst grade ever on any test or essay.  The student met with the teacher after class to express his disappointment in his grade and explained he would give better effort going forward. In the wisdom of the teacher, she told the student she knew that was not his typical work and that he did not give his best effort.

Excellence is NOT the absence of mistakes, but it does mean having faith and determination. Here is what excellent people do:  Excellent people exceed expectations; they go the extra mile, they do more than is asked, and they take extra steps in ensure the highest quality.  Does that mean I am always recognized as the best or get what I want?  No—but it does lead to the internal satisfaction of knowing we did all we could do to be the best. I also believe pursuing excellence leads to opportunities.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

In this verse, Paul challenges the Philippians to have these thoughts—true, noble, right, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy.  That leads me to believe that our thoughts lead our actions. Therefore, our thoughts are the first key to being outstanding in our field.

Exercising minimal effort will lead to a mediocre performance at best, but really going above and beyond the call of duty takes a conscious thought and effort.

 “You can run into mediocrity accidentally, but you have to purpose to be excellent." Joyce Myer