How Excellence Compounds
From Margin to Mastery to Multiplication
Last week, we discussed the difference between ambition and excellence as a motivating force.
Today, I want to discuss the four key steps that make excellence such a powerful force in our lives and the broader world.
Step 1 - Prioritize margin over everything else
In life, there are only a few truly finite resources. And yet, the entirety of modern life seems organized as a scheme to get you to mis-manage these.
Our time is bounded by the inevitably of our own death. While money can be re-made, in the moment, it is a limited resource. Our close relationships are slow to build and hard to replicate in short order.
Maybe it’s overcommitting to work, or kids sports. Maybe it’s using easy to access and widely available loans to over-consume. Regardless, if you don’t have open space in your life, you don’t have margin.
And until you have margin, very little else is possible.
Step 2 - Utilize your margin to pursue craft
What do you do with your new found space/resources? You have now created the space required to pursue excellence.
The way we pursue excellence is the same way any craftsman does their work - methodically, each day, they show up and do the thing. They build the chair, they prune the garden, they paint the landscape.
There is no uncertainty - they just do the next days work, trying to get a little better at each step.
Step 3 - Over time, align your vocation with your craft
Do you get to bring your best to your vocation each day? Our work will occupy the largest single use of time across our lifespan.
No job is day 1 perfect. But over time, we can craft our jobs to suit us even further. As you grow in the craft excellence, learn to identify and say yes to the projects and opportunities that allow you to bring that out in the workforce.
This does not mean you have to quit your job - it is more a function of evolving your role over time to fit you even more fully. (Unless you are in completely the wrong job, then you might need to change - but you probably already knew that).
When we get our role and craft aligned correctly, we will see a far greater impact to the work we are doing. This does not mean solely efficiency or productivity -
Step 4 - Build teams of impactful people
If you are in a leadership role, building teams of impactful people is the greatest force multiplier in the world. These teams consistent of individuals who bring a craftsman mentality to what they do - consistently working to improve. Their work is in alignment with their craft.
If you can help your people known how to pursue excellence and then assist them in applying that in the right role. A group of excellent, aligned individuals are nearly unstoppable. These are the teams that build the iPhone, design reusable rockets, change educational systems, etc.
Even if you are not in a leadership role, you can help shape it directly by being cognizant of your team and its alignment.
These four steps are a powerful flywheel. They create the conditions for flourishing to emerge and for impactful things to still be done. As well, they also help create conditions for sustainability rather than burnout.