Excellence Starts Small

One meaning of excellence is "an excellent quality or feature"; excellent means "possessing outstanding quality or superior merit; remarkably good." Dictionary.com

My theory is "Excellence Starts Small". I have reason to believe that if you pay attention and strive to do very menial tasks in a remarkably good way, in the tiny details that majority may not seem to care about or pay attention to, such would naturally become a part of you, which then spills over into bigger things, until excellence becomes your very nature.

Parents, please train your children to have an excellent mindset. If you give them a task, follow it through and make sure it is thoroughly carried out. They may not like you for this but hey, you aren't (or rather shouldn't) look to your kids to be your fans; your primary role (in my opinion) is to guide them aright and mould their character to the best of your ability, which would have a knock-on effect on who they turn out to be in the future and in the long run, on society. If you ask them to sweep, make sure they don't just chuck the dirt out of sight but dispose such in the bin; if they are to do the dishes, make sure they do it well and be there to ensure they do so. Training your children aright would definitely save you a lot of heartache in the future. 

I'll cite an example of the detrimental effect being careless or rather, being too informal about certain things can affect our professionalism when need be:

The advent of the Short Messaging Service (SMS) can have a negative impact on our linguistic ability if we don't take care; I have observed such times without number. I know many resort to abbreviations to ensure their text for example, doesn't exceed a certain length to avoid being overcharged; I understand and have done so myself. But I have noticed with dismay how many have allowed this to spill over into all areas, including professional correspondences. I recall some years ago spotting 'thru' as opposed to 'through' on an official letter! Similarly, 'am' being used in the place of 'I'm', 'most happiest' instead of happiest.

Please, I am no English Language Policewoman 😆 neither do I intend to give the impression that I am perfect; far from it. We all make mistakes, but there is a difference between making an error and being pure mediocre. I wonder how many have lost various opportunities because they failed to pay attention to little things.

I believe a key ingredient to success is attention to detail; many that we regard as genuinely successful today I believe paid attention to developing this trait, or paid someone to do so.

I hope I've been able to:

1. Inspire you to pay attention to detail;

2. Convince you about the 'substance' behind my theory that: Excellence Starts Small! 😁

© Lydia Ndagilaya