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Excelling In Life by Pastor Afolabi Oketunji

People often busy themselves with some activity that they believe would give them an edge for excellence in various areas of their lives. For some, it is enrolling for that extra on-the-job course to sharpen their business acumen; for others, it’s hiring the services of a pro trainer or coach to improve their skills in some sport. For some others still, it is sitting for weeks, months or even years under the tutorship of world class professors and ultimately obtaining a first class degree from some renowned institution in well acclaimed areas of the world. And maybe for some, recruiting the best skilled hands to execute the goals of their companies or organizations would definitely do the "excelling" trick.Taking Initiative

Initiative is the motivation to direct effort toward achieving challenging goals and remain determined even when things get difficult. Here are some ways any employee can take greater initiative in his or her job. It's one thing to tell your employees to take greater initiative, but another to provide them with easy and clear ways to do it.

Ways To Take More Initiative In Your Job

Innovation--thinking outside the box--is the spark that keeps organizations moving ever onward and upward. To think outside the box, you must think differently.

Tips On Thinking Differently

* Look for new combinations. * Ask "what if?" or develop "what-if" scenarios. * Consider approaches you've never thought about before. * Brainstorm with others. * Be a champion of new ideas — the old ways aren't always the best ways. Without innovation, new products, new services, new ways of doing business would never emerge, and most organizations would be forever stuck doing the same old things the same old way.

Taking Action--Capitalizing on Opportunities

Taking action can often be a scary proposition. It would be much easier to wait for your boss to make the decision and take the responsibility to tell you what to do and when to do it. However, progressive companies realize that they need employees at all levels that are willing and encouraged to take chances and to make decisions--and be willing to take responsibility for their actions.

Doing Your Homework

Preparation is often the key to success in any endeavour. You will be more successful in convincing others that what you believe is the right thing, if you are armed and ready with the facts. Taking the initiative to do your homework means doing the basic research necessary to back up your claims, such as obtaining necessary information, determining costs and benefits, making calculations, and/or gaining buy-in from others who will be affected.

Making Improvements

One of the easiest--and most effective--ways for employees to take initiative is to be on the lookout for ways to improve the work processes, products, services, and systems that are a vital part of how the organization does its business. In fact, the closer you are to an organization's actual product, the greater the chance is that you have more daily contact with its real business--its customers, clients, products, and services--than do those who are higher up the ladder.

Perseverance and Persistence

Employees who excel at taking initiative usually must also persist in the support of the ideas and actions in which they believe. This type of initiative can, at times, include overcoming the resistance of higher-ups or of entrenched policies and systems that work to ensure the maintenance of the status quo.

Unleashing Creativity In Others

Anyone can unleash the untapped innovation and creativity in others by applying the following principles:

* Take the mystery out of creativity by teaching them what you know. * Discover how creative they are and encourage them. * Define specific challenges for them. * Minimize in them, the fear of failure. * Take personal responsibility for their actions. * Encourage active communications between you and them. * Enhance your own creative skills and behaviour to set an example.

This is how a leader or an employer ought to provoke or encourage initiative in others.

These are undeniably laudable efforts, worthy of emulation. However, that individual who will become truly excellent in his or her life must primarily learn and apply God's principles and skills of living. Man is a created being; and must necessarily seek to know his Creator, who having made the product, understands his full functions and specified his operations; and thus knows what man can achieve, and how and when best he can achieve it. The Bible is the product manual and must therefore be the pivot and reference for whoever will maximize his potentials, and ultimately excel at his endeavours as God's divine product.

Excelling is not an act or performance, which is here for a moment only to disappear into oblivion. Rather, it ought to be a way of life. Excelling in life requires 100% usage of one's mind; and one's capability and its utilization can be reviewed and improved by choice and at will. A poet once said, "Few are born with talent that excel, but all are capable of living well." Rarely will an infant have an angel descend at his birth and whisper in his ear "You are among the few born with talent." Often times, the infant himself grows up to recognize his talents, and sets the ball rolling to achieve his goals, with a touch of excellence. Not many are born into the world with the tag "WINNER". Thus, winning and doing so excellently is indeed a matter of choice.

So what you need to do is to always acknowledge yourself as the best product of a painstaking manufacturer, laden with innate abilities, great talents and limitless potentials. And these, when put to the right and timely use, according to the principles provided in the manufacturer's manual - the Bible - will definitely produce excellent results. Constantly apply yourself to training and imbibe fresh and updated information in your field of expertise, or whatever area of endeavour you seek to pursue. Become consistent, diligent and continually improve on your skills and personality, always staying abreast of the facts in your field of play. Soon enough, excelling in life will be your sweet story to tell.