EXCELLENCE: HOW TO CAPTURE IT IN YOUR LIFE – Pt. 2

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY’S BLOG:

Sometime back, I stumbled across a brilliant presentation on the corporate culture at Netflix, via Jason Kottke’s website. I need to review it often, and I hope you see the same thing I did in this presentation.  To me, he’s done a brilliant job of outlining how Netflix has used an atypical corporate culture to build a very successful business. Most importantly, their corporate model is also a GREAT MODEL OF SUCCESS FOR LIFE!

Here’s that presentation:

Context, Not Control

 Big, long term goals!  A KEY to EXCELLENCE!

     Where do you want to be in five years?

     What would you like to be different in your life?

     Imagine what you’d like things to be like at that future point.

     Sketch out the details. Make it as real as possible – and think about it often.

Take those big long-term goals and make smaller goals out of them. Break down those big points into smaller bites. What can you do this week to take yourself closer to that goal? What kind of exercise and diet can you enjoy today to start building better health? Can I cut back on my spending this month to reach my financial goals? What do I need to do this week to get me into that MBA program?

Don’t let the little things get in the way. We all have tons of little things that need to get done in our lives and it’s easy to lose sight of the big goals and the steps you need to take to get there. Those things often don’t return immediate results. What’s important is to ask yourself whether the things you’re doing today will actually matter in five years. Will it build the kind of future you want?

 Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled

 Choose activities that are helpful in multiple ways. Making better dietary choices is often both a money-saver and helps in the long term with your health. Getting more exercise makes you more productive and energetic in the short term and also helps with your health. Turning off the television exposes you to less advertising (direct and indirect) and frees up time for other activities. Working on transferable skills helps you professionally and personally, now and later. Doing things that are really synergistic in your life are always helpful.

Find friends that also engage in these activities. Find someone to walk with in the evenings. Find someone who’s interested in the same hobby you’re interested in. You can have very different lives, but you’re aligned in one aspect of your life. You can use that to push each other in unexpected ways towards greater success.

Associate with people slightly better than you. If you decide to find a workout buddy, find someone who is in a bit better shape than you (not Michael Phelps, but someone just a bit better). This pushes you to succeed but doesn’t overwhelm you by being completely outclassed.

Pay Top of Market

If a service is truly vital to you, don’t be afraid to support it. If a service is really invaluable to you – you use it every day and you want to keep using it every day – support that service. Sign up for their premium options. Tell your friends about the service. Fill out surveys if they send them your way (and be dead honest with any criticisms you have). Without support, valuable services go away, and if you rely on those services, you’re stuck out in the rain.

If you rely on equipment, make sure that equipment is reliable and efficient. Again, if you find yourself doing certain tasks every day, make sure that equipment is as reliable and efficient as you can make it. If you cook every day using the same pans, make sure those pans are the best you can get. If you work on a computer every day, make sure you’ve got a stable computer with plenty of memory and a big monitor and other peripherals and software that maximize your use. Don’t worry about the equipment in your home that you rarely use – you can go bargain-basement there, since you don’t rely on it. The things that should be quality are the things you really use, because you rely on them.

If someone is valuable to you, let them know. If you have a friend or family member that’s really important to you, don’t hesitate to let them know. Whenever those important people need help, stand up and help as much as you possibly can, without hesitation. Again, if those people are key in your life, you need to show them how valuable they are to you. It’ll do nothing but cement your relationship and make it much more sustainable.

 Promotions and Development

 Don’t be afraid to move on when you change. Over time, you grow and change as a person. Your passions change. Your interests change. Your skills and abilities change. Your personality changes. If your job doesn’t change, it won’t always be a great match for you. Don’t be afraid of that – be willing to look around for other options when you find yourself changing.

Don’t be afraid to move on when the situation changes. Obviously, many jobs do change. Sometimes, they change with you in a positive direction. At other times, they change away from you. The work you do changes, moving from tasks you enjoy to tasks you loathe. The culture changes, with the people you valued moving on. Again, don’t be afraid of this – it’s a sign that you need to make a change, too.

Never shy back from taking on big challenges. We are often thrown big challenges, things that will push us far outside of our comfort zone into areas that we might not be comfortable at all with. They push our skills and abilities beyond the limit. Those aren’t things to be avoided – those are things to dive into, throwing everything you’ve got at them.

Simply put, NETFLIX’S CORPORATE MODE IS A GREAT MODEL OF SUCCESS FOR LIFE! These points practiced will lead naturally to EXCELLENCE in more and more parts of our lives.  It’s well worth trying them out, don’t you think?!