Develop world-class competency. In other words, make a commitment to yourself to be the best in the world at what you do and in so many ways that starts by knowing your gifts. So many people don’t know their gifts. So many people have not taken the
time to get to know themselves. Let me ask you right now, here in this moment, what are the three gifts that make you special? You might want to turn off the recording and just journal about that for a few minutes. Maybe it’s your ability to ask good
questions. Maybe you’re a great listener. Maybe you’re a great strategic thinker. Maybe you’re one of those people who just have this ability to get people to like you in the most authentic of ways. Maybe you have extraordinary discipline or high levels of ene
rgy. Maybe it’s your passion. Maybe it’s your analytical mind. Maybe it’s the size of your heart. I don’t know what it is for you, but it’s really important to know your three greatest gifts and then to spend the remaining days of your life sculpting those
gifts. If you were to focus on your three highest gifts over the next three years, I promise you, after three years, you will reach a level of operation where people look at you and say, that person is a genius. You’ll have the level of insights, a level of focus
where you’re truly world-class. If you look at the best of the best, they’re not any different from you. They just figured out what their gifts were and then spent their days refining those talents. I was reading one newspaper report a little while ago that said, “Elite performers on the playing field of athletics have spent over 10,000 hours in that specific sport.” And that gets back to the swan effect. It might look easy because they’re at a level of mastery and that level of mastery has been arrived at through all that work on their key gifts. A number of years ago in ancient India, a Maharaja saw this sword-crafter who was truly amazing at what he did. And he sat this person down and he said, “What is the secret of your mastery?” And the sword-crafter said, “When I was a young child, for some reason my heart told me that my destiny was to be a sword crafter. And so sir, as I grew up, if something did not relate to my craft, I did not focus on it and I did not do it. That is the secret of my mastery.” Now, no one’s suggesting that you don’t live a life of balance. The point of the story is simply this. You want to focus on what you do best and you want to make a commitment to yourself to be the best in the world
at what you do. Here’s an exercise I want you to do. Write down the 10 things that the person who is the best in the world at what you do for a living would be doing on a regular basis. Write those things down. Pause the recording right now. Write those things down. Then we’ll come back. Okay, fantastic. I know you’ve written down those 10 things that the person who’s the best in the world at what you do would be doing on a consistent basis. Now, go down that list. Ask yourself, are you doing each of these? You’re probably not. Even as successful as you may be, you’re probably not doing each of those 10 things. Now create a plan to start doing those things. Remember, with better awareness, you’ll make better choices. With better choices, you’ll see better results. If you have a clear sense of the 10 things that the person who’s the best does on a consistent basis, you’ve got better awareness now. You can make better choices. Of course, you’re going to see better results. A few more practical points to help you be world-class in what you’re doing in terms of competency. Number one, get a mentor and develop a board of advisors to help you get to your best in your career. Often we think we can do it alone, and yet with a mentor, we will shorten the learning curve and we’ll make much better choices in terms of how we live and how we work. Use your commute time. If you’re commuting half an hour each way every day after one year, that amounts to six weeks of eight-hour days spent in your car. You want to use your car as a mobile learning center. You want to be listening to CDs, of books on tapes, inspirational books, and specifically information that’s going to make you world-class in your career and what you’re doing. Develop that lust for learning. I remember when I met Shimon Peres, he looked at me and he said, “Robin, if you eat three times a day, you’ll be fed. If you read and learn three times a day, you’ll be wise.” And finally, go to seminars, go to workshops, go to training sessions that will help you be a better human being. That will help you be a better leader. Get on the internet. Seek out people who are authorities in their field. Learn from other people who are doing what you’re doing. It’s amazing
that one idea can transform your life.
