How do you go on an effective diet?
How do you stop smoking?
How do you stop drinking?
In short, you do it and it’s done.
Then you work . . . for the rest
of your life to stay on the
weight-maintenance, non-smoking,
or booze-free wagon.
A while back, I came across a line
attributed to IBM founder
Thomas Watson.
“If you want to achieve excellence,”
he said, “you can get there today.
As of this second, quit doing
less-than-excellent work.”
The idea is profound.
Suppose you’re a waiter and,
for your own future’s sake
(not because of pressure from
the clowns who run the restaurant),
you decide to set a matchless
standard for service.
How?
You do it.
Now.
Sure, you’ll be clumsy at first.
You’ll get a lot of it wrong.
You’ll need to read up,
listen to audiotapes,
take classes,
tune in to on-line electronic chat rooms,
visit other restaurants to collect clues.
And you’ll need to keep doing such things
to maintain your edge
(as an opera singer or professional athlete does)
until the day you hang up your corkscrew.
Nonetheless, you can become excellent
in a nanosecond, starting with your
first guest tonight.
Simply picture yourself,
even if it’s a very fuzzy picture,
as the greatest waiter ever –
and start acting accordingly.
Put yourself in lights on Broadway,
as a galaxy-class waiter;
then perform your script with derring-do.
Does it sound wild?
Silly?
Naive?
Maybe, but it isn’t.
The first 99.9 percent of getting
from here to there is the determination
to do it and not to compromise,
no matter what sort of roadblocks
those around you (including peers) erect.
The last 99.9 percent
(I know it adds up to more
than 100 percent -- that’s life)
is working like the devil to
#1. keep your spirits up
through the inevitable storms,
#2. learn something new every day,
and
#3. practice that something,
awkward or not and no matter what,
until it’s become part of your nature.
What holds for the waiter also holds
for the manager of the six-person department
or the chief executive of the 16,000-person firm.
How long does it take you, as boss,
to achieve world-class quality?
Less than a nanosecond to attain it,
a lifetime of passionate pursuit to maintain it.
Once the fire is lit, assume you’ve arrived –
and never, ever look back or do anything,
no matter how trivial, that’s inconsistent
with your newfound quality persona.
SOURCE:
Author: Tom Peters
Book: “The Pursuit of Wow!”
Publisher: Random House
