I meet regularly with a group of young people.  A recent topic was “Going about your business.”

I asked them to identify someone they admired because of the way they “go about their business.”  These are teenage kids who don’t think of life as “going about business.”  With some prodding, they identified a teammate who was distinctive in his hard work, had shown improvement as a player since they had known him, and had increased his value as a teammate.

They asked me to make a list, so I jotted down some helpful tips:

• Show up on time.  The people you admire are already there when you get there.
• Hard work.  All the time.  The people you admire distinguish themselves through their effort.
• Consistency.  You know what to expect from the people you admire.  They are distinctive in their reliability.

Successful teammates who are going about their business:

• Have better habits than most people.  They eat right.  Have better workout routines.  Go places that impact them positively.  Habits form and improve consistency.
• Don’t let setbacks keep them from their business.  If an obstacle comes up, they go over, around or through.  They are distinctive in their problem solving.
• Their performance sticks out.  They are always near the top.  They have high standards and their standards have a way of becoming the team’s standards.
• They do things others don’t do:  One more rep.  They get up earlier.
• They make their teammates’ performance their business.  They encourage and inspire.  They hold others accountable.
• They build on top of their platform.  They search for new skills.  They target skills to improve.  They’re never standing still.  They are getting better.

Being known as somebody who “goes about their business” is a distinction to strive to achieve.