“Excellent businesses don’t believe in excellence, only in constant improvement and constant change.” – Tom Peters, in his book Thriving on Chaos

Being excellent is a daunting goal, especially when you aren’t excellent at the beginning.

Peters breaks this down into change and improvement—every day.

First, change. Change is the decision point. It’s a realization that the status quo won’t survive. It’s an adjustment in each person’s mind that there is something better ahead and worth moving toward.

Change is drawing a line and stepping over it. The person or organization behind the line will be replaced by the new person or organization that has moved ahead. Change like that can happen in a snap or an instant. It’s rarely subtle. It happens every day.

That’s where constant improvement kicks in. A person focused on continuous improvement opens every day with a commitment to get a little better. Just a little better.

Constant, daily improvement compounds like savings in a bank account. Keep improving daily, and before long, your improvements are being made to improvements.

After committing to change and backing it up with a daily commitment to improvement, you are shocked at how far the process has carried you. You are set apart from others. Maybe the term “excellent” begins to be associated with you.

Once you harness the power of change and improvement, it’s a habit that sustains you. It can be used over and over again.

The concept isn’t hard. It’s common sense. But just because it’s common sense doesn’t make it standard practice.

What change is necessary to improve your future?

What are you going to do tomorrow to improve?

-Howe Q. Wallace Jr