One of my favorite authors is Tom Peters who wrote “The Excellence Dividend.”

Peters is a famous management guru who touts “excellence” as the only way to conduct life.  I’ve found his thoughts on this subject to be practical and profound.  He has written several classic books through the years.  He’s an author who is worth a read.

In my reading, he said “‘Excellence is not a tomorrow’ thing.  It’s an ‘in the next five minutes’ thing. Excellence doesn’t happen later.  It happens right now.”

That statement caused a pause.

What is the most “un-excellent” thing I do?

What could I do to lessen the impact of that un-excellent thing?

What would I do to make the minutes saved from un-excellence be more excellent?

If I divide my time into excellent and un-excellent, which wins?

Am I being excellent right now, these five minutes?

His statement makes sense.  Each of us can stop at any moment, take control of the next five minutes, and make choices about whether excellence will occur.

It’s simple to understand.  Harder to do.  But choosing excellence builds.  You can start now.