The Secret To Being Exceptional

You might remember when you were a student (as I was) trying to work out a revision system that helped you to maximise your chances of academic success. I never had much luck. In my journey, the experience of being exceptional in my success pursuit was very challenging in a third world country like Nigeria. At different occasions i failed but never gave up, and what kept me going was the positive drive i had and realizing the need to exert more effort.


It took me a good seven years to realise that exceptional performance is not a result of expending the most effort—trying to reach the summit in a single, spectacular leap. The secret to being exceptional is in the small choices we make moment-to-moment. The student who organises his notes from the very first lecture of the first semester. The doctor who greets her patients warmly by shaking them by the hand. Ordinary people making small choices that incrementally make them exceptional.

Small, deliberate choices, made moment-to-moment, have a huge impact over time—not just on the work we do and the people we serve, but on our belief about what’s possible. It’s easy to fall into the trap of complaining about things outwith our control that we can’t change. If we want to be exceptional, we need to get into the habit of finding reasons why we must, instead of making excuses why we can’t.