Mediocrity

Have you met people that seem content with giving less to their work or their life? They give only what needs to be given and no more. Remember, there is very little traffic on the extra-mile highway. Yet there are a thousand opportunities for people to travel down this road, but instead they just barely go the mile. When we accept excuses instead of accepting responsibility, we promote mediocrity. When we allow mediocrity to enter our lives, we miss opportunities.

We must be alert and willing to respond and to take action. I provide leadership training and work with a variety of companies. Recently I have been working with companies in the service - hospitality industry. One of the items the leaders recognize is the need to help teach customer service and selling skills to the employees. Employees who work on commission often get focused on meeting the goal for the month or the week and so they put their energy into meeting this pre-set goal and for not moving beyond it. In other words, they get locked into settling for less instead of more. For example, a server in a restaurant comes to work and sees each customer as a $ 3.00 tip. The result is the server misses the opportunity to go the extra-mile and to provide more service. The server misses the customers glance at the cheesecake on another persons table and asks about dessert as a fleeting thought instead of way to encourage the customer. If the customer says no, then the ticket goes on the table and yet another opportunity is missed, because maybe the customer wanted dessert, but was too full, if the server had offered then ask if they would like the dessert to-go perhaps for a late night snack, or a surprise for the kids who are home with the babysitter. So many options not explored. This happens when mediocrity attitudes direct the person to the outcome instead of the person directing the outcome.

How you ever come home from work been too tired to worry about taking care of bills or other items that needed to be done, but you did not want to do? We have all done this and perhaps even paid the consequences in terms of late fees if bills were late. Why? We settled for less and so our body gave us less, by not seeking the extra energy that we needed. We can grow old and not have lived or experienced life, because we take the easy road and don’t push ourselves to be ready to receive more.

Where is mediocrity in your life? Is it in relationships at home or at work? What are you willing to do to decrease mediocrity? Then this requires that we take action and eliminate our own mediocrity. This can mean that we need to manage time better, or better understand. What are they conserving the energy for? When we leave mediocrity behind we embrace possibilities and take responsibility for reaching higher. Suddenly we tap all our senses, our eyes see new opportunities that would once have been overlooked. Our ears tune into conversations that we would have once ignored and our intuition starts leading us toward opportunities we never dreamed were options. So eliminate excuses and to let go of mediocrity, begin today because to wait would be to do what the other people are doing. The extra-mile highway to success is yours if you are ready to travel!

No Excuses Approach

Have you ever known people who seem to full of excuses? Reasons why they can’t do something! This particular kind of helplessness can be exhausting. Working with individuals that make excuses is draining. The negativity and energy that they project into making their case, depletes positive energy as their excuses resonate as complaints. Beware of these people for they can infect a home or place of work and it can take a great deal of energy to reverse their affects.

People become like those who they are surrounded by! So leaders have to be the ones to project an atmosphere of positive attitudes. We must be aware that making excuses or complaining is easier that facing the task at hand. When we give in to these individuals, we empower them and weaken our ability to regain control so that their negative power is diminished. We must be confident in creating an No Excuses approach to facing challenges or obstacles at home and at work. When we understand the importance of this approach, we are able to examine each obstacle in a way that allows us to see solutions and to avoid running from the problem. Leaders that make excuses are only postponing the inevitable and the problems they are attempting to avoid will only get bigger and more difficult to resolve. As leaders, we should never become comfortable with half-truths or information that permits excuses. Instead, we have to work for taking action even with that action is uncomfortable.

Allowing people to make excuses only feeds their feelings of helplessness, dependence, and sense of inadequacy. Facing the choices and making a choice is actually easier and less draining than running from situations. Remember we have a right to choose our attitude and our response. People who choose excuses are running away from opportunities while people who choose to face the situation are about to learn and grow. There are times we all would like to run from having to make decisions, but when we make an excuse, we forfeit our ability to get through it on our own terms.

Consider having a discussion with yourself or with the people that we work with or live with.

Ask these questions: Do I make excuses? If so why? Am I willing to face the choices and to take charge of my life? If not what are you afraid of? Think back to your teen years! Teens spend the majority of their life wanting to be in charge of their own decisions. Tired of hearing parents or guardians tell them why they can’t do things. Then when we are old enough to make our own decisions, we have to be ware of copying people in our lives who made excuses that limited us.

What are people in your life or business making excuses about today? Is that they don’t have enough time? There aren’t enough resources? Etc. Gordon MacDonald says, “People who are out of shape mentally, fall victim to ideas that are destructive.” People who make excuses need to be taught how to shape their thoughts so that they take responsibility for their decisions and are willing to make decisions instead of excuses.

I recently completed a strategic planning retreat with a company that had a motto of No Excuses.

When ideas were presented they were allowed to share obstacles and challenges that they would face to meet the goals, but anything that sounded like an excuse was questioned. The group created a strategic plan filled with possibilities in with methods to make their goals a reality. There business is challenging and very unpredictable as are many and the future of their jobs depends on their success with very little control over government regulations, yet they have fully accepted that excuses will only prevent them from reaching their potential.

Businesses today will fold very quickly, if employees are allowed to be apathetic and to make excuses. Leaders and human resource personnel have to be clear about the expectations they have of the staff. We are renting behaviors when people come to work for us so make sure you are getting your money’s worth and rent the positive behaviors. Be prepared to teach people about the impact of negativity and help them understand the advantages of taking responsibility of their decisions instead of trying to excuse them away.