What you do and how well you do it, eventually determines who you are and what you become. Yes, your work is what best defines you.
Your work is an integral part of your life and it has the most compelling impact on it as well. If you do world class things, you attract world class opportunities in your life & grow no matter where you are.
Doing work that makes use of your talents, abilities, and constantly improving yourself is a surefire way to success. Here we look at some of the ways you can do the best work and take yourself to the next level.
1. Excellence and High Standards
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Will Durant
The most successful people set high standards for themselves. They take pride in their work. They know that excellence in anything brings its own rewards.
Excellence is an attitude & successful people are constantly driven to achieve it. Others are happy with mediocre results.
2. View Work as an Opportunity
Successful people view their work as an opportunity to learn, grow and do great things. They are never afraid of the hardest challenges. They view tough tasks as opportunities to excel and improve their capabilities.
Your work is an opportunity for you to showcase your true abilities and potential. It helps you attract greater possibilities in your life. If you look at the top artists, professionals, sports persons, and great achievers in any field, they owe their success to their work.
3. Priorities & Focus
How you spend your time and day will eventually decide where you end up in your life. The best work requires attention and focus.
Identify and prioritise your day to finish your most important work. The best work requires ruthless prioritisation. There is a difference between doing everything and doing something extraordinarily well.
Meaningless things, distractions and low priority activities can wait. Focus your energies on the most difficult, but important activities for the day.
Follow a strong schedule and say no to anything that prevents you from giving your best. Great work requires focus.
4. Enjoy your Work
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs
When you have a lot of passion and love for your work, it shows in everything you do. It inspires others around you and everyone accomplishes more in the process.
As per a study by Gallup, only 13% people like going to their work. This is the reason why most of the people end up doing mediocre work.
The most successful people are those who have a deep connection with their work. They use their strengths, continuously learn and focus on doing meaningful work. Successful people are driven by their work and it makes them happy.
5. Face Up to Your Mistakes
Responsibility is never given to people, it is earned. Have you noticed how some team members take extra care to meet deadlines, client expectations and live up to their commitments? The others find it easy to pass the buck.
Mistakes are part of the learning cycle. It is important to admit mistakes, take the learning and keep moving forward. When you experiment, you make mistakes. But it is important to learn quickly, try again and eventually find a way that works.
Great work requires persistent efforts, massive commitment and taking responsibility for what you do.
6. Balanced Approach
Great work demands hard work, positive energy and extremely focused approach. All top professionals put in thousands of hours to improve themselves. They are always working, but do they get tired? Well, the most committed professionals and top achievers know how to unplug from work.
They have a morning routine, they go for a walk, meditate and spend time with the family. They spend time in the nature. It gets them in the right frame of mind. A balanced approach towards their work gives them energy to stay focused for longer periods than others.
7. Believe in Karma and Work Ethic
Do you believe in what you are doing? The way you do it reveals a lot about you. The top professionals believe in what they are doing. They believe in Karma. It is the law of cause and effect. They know what they put in the universe will come back to them.
The work habits of great professionals, scientists, artists, programmers and designers are all the same. Achieving genius in your profession requires extreme dedication and hours of work.
Pritchett writes, “the great men turn out to be all alike. They never stop working. They never lose a minute.”
8. Staying Centered
“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.“
John Wooden
There is no substitute to doing deep and meaningful work. When you derive pleasure from your work, you don’t let either praise or blame affect you.
When you put in your heart and soul into the things you do, it attracts great energy and blessings from the universe.
The top professionals are never distracted by the rewards, praise and blame, because the most important thing for them is the work they do.
9. Patience, Persistence & Positivity
Great accomplishments need great efforts and persistence. It cannot be achieved by everyone. There are often times when you have to deal with uncertainty, but the most persistent people are always the ones who find a way out.
Researchers have found that grit or persistence is more important in predicting success than intelligence and creativity.
Great work requires positivity and belief. It requires patient efforts in creating something remarkable and ultimately achieving the success you deserve.
Even the great companies like Apple faced many defeats and almost went bankrupt, before they succeeded. While it may take time, but the best work is always rewarded its due recognition.
10. Creating Impact
There is something strange about the work you do. It transforms you as a person too. Yes, your work can create a meaningful impact on things around you. We are living in times, when it is possible that small committed teams can create a big impact with the work they do.
In the digital age, it does not matter where you are, you can still do great work and build things that can shape the world. Your work can create much bigger impact than you can think. Your best work will bring out the best in your life too.
