MAXWELL ON BEING HIGHLY COMPETENT

The following comes from "The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player," by John Maxwell. I have blogged a few times that each year during the season that we give our players a book to read. We weekly assign a few pages for them to read and give them a worksheet to see what they got out of the section. This is one of the books that it is in our rotation. We want this to be a book that our players read at least once before they graduate from LSU.

Highly competent people have some things in common:

1. They are Committed to Excellence

John Johnson is Christian Excellence writes, " Success bases our worth on a comparison with others. Excellence gauges our value by measuring us against our own potential...excellence is available to all living beings but is accepted by the few."

2. The Never Settle for Average

To be mediocre is to do a job halfway, to leave yourself far short of the summit.

3. They Pay Attention to Detail

Dale Carnegie said, "Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves."

4. They Perform with Consistency

Highly competent people perform with great consistency. They give their best all the time, and that's important.

To improve you competence...

Focus yourself professionally: What is the one thing that brings together your skills, interests, and opportunities? Whatever it is, seize it.

Sweat the small stuff: Too many people don't take their work as far as they can. To do that, you need to develop an ability to get all the details right.

Give more attention to implementation: Since implementation is often the most difficult part of any job, give it great attention.