One of the books on my recommended reading list is Jim Collins’ Good to Great. While rereading Collin’s Good to Great and the Social Sectors a particular paragraph struck me as something all trainers need to remember. Collin’s states:
No matter how much you have achieved, you will always be merely good relative to what you can become. Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide toward mediocrity will have already begun.
Take the time to read this over a couple of times and let the message sink in. As soon as you begin to think of yourself as a great trainer. As soon as you begin to think your presentations and programs are great. Your slide to mediocrity has already begun.
I see too many trainers who think they are great and stop critiquing, stop learning and stop challenging themselves to be better. As a result they stop improving. Sure you can ride on your reputation for a while, but in doing so you are doing a disservice to those you have the privilege and responsibility to train.
As soon as you start thinking you are the industry best practices (see last week’s post), you are no longer seeking better practices and next practices and you have begun the slide to mediocrity.
I challenge you to seek excellence and engage in the process towards being great rather than embracing mediocrity. Excellence is hard. Mediocrity is easy. Excellence requires ongoing effort and sacrifice. Mediocrity requires little effort and no sacrifice.
The choice is yours.
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Take care.
Brian Willis
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