Article 4: Attention to details

Excellence is the cumulative effect of each task being performed with the same amount of dedication and commitment, repetitively and without any drop in quality. We often tend to mistake excellence for brilliance - which can shine briefly and then fizzle away.

Excellence is "permanent brilliance".

An excellent performer does not need to be the most jazzy or the most exhuberant person. He/she just needs to have a knack to sustain their good work at the same level throughout.

To quote an example of this, we should evaluate the evolution of an avid swimmer to an olympic swimming champion. To begin with, we have the avid swimmer who loves swimming and is aware of its benefits. Somewhere in his interest for the sport, he discovers his aptitude to excel in the same and starts gearing up for competitive life. Now the fun begins in right earnest when a hobby suddenly becomes a profession. All of a sudden, our swimmer starts following the game in earnest and starts focussing on improving his swimming skills.

What follows is simply amazing - the art of swimming is honed to perfection over the course of a few years and a completely scientific program for improving fitness, flexibility, focus and finesse is put into action. Every movement is analysed, each muscle is toned. The diet is completely regulated and thus vital seconds are shaved off from the performance of our swimmer. He has a planned routine which ensures complete dedication towards achieving his goal and slowly the timings start improving.

What is noteworthy is the fact that while the original endeavour was to reduce seconds, gradually the improvements start getting smaller in dimension, however much more significant i.e. milliseconds start figuring in the equation and aerodynamics and body weight, positioning, breathing techniques all matter a lot towards this goal. All this is nothing but attention to detail and a sense of direction being amalgamated to a perfectly balanced mix.

Swimming was just one example. There are countless such examples that we could review and yet arrive at the same conclusion - champions are created out of a sense of pure dedication combined with detailed planning and a focus on doing everything right - day in and day out.

A study of the rigorous fitness schedules and strict discipline followed by Michael Schumaker, Sachin Tendulkar, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong or Sergey Bubka would provide ample proof of the tremendous ambition and attention to detail exhibited by each one of these living legends. These qualities are paramount in their development plans and finally culminate into the making of these champions.

Hence each professional can achieve success and better productivity by following this simple mantra in their chosen field of excellence:

“A man's accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.” - John Foster Dulles