Making excellence your daily standard

Making excellence your daily standard

28th April 2025

[Source: The Probe, February 2025]

When we talk about ‘excellence,’ it often feels like one of two things: an unreachable goal that we chase endlessly, or a word that’s tossed around so carelessly it loses all meaning. But what if excellence wasn’t just something reserved for rare, special moments? What if we could make it part of our everyday lives?

I think about excellence (admittedly, probably a bit too often): from striving for it to achieving it, and, most importantly, making it a daily standard. For me, the goal centres around – how can I make excellence a consistent part of my day? It’s not about being perfect but about setting a higher bar for all kinds of things and making sure we’re always aiming for better, even if we don’t always hit it. 

So, what does excellence look like for you? Is it about focused, top-quality endodontics? Learning and growing? Showing up with intention, or being kind and patient with your family, team and clinical patients? I show up for the gym most days and, whilst I’m not yet gladiator ready, I am getting better! Improvement feels good – for me it’s the gateway drug that feeds my ambitions.

Good intentions

One of the easiest ways to start making excellence part of your everyday life is by setting the day with the best intentions. What’s your mindset for the day ahead? Are you going through the motions or are you actively aiming to bring your best self to whatever you do? Even small intentions, like deciding to be present, organised or focused can make a huge difference. For me, I find that just taking a few minutes in the morning to set a positive tone sets the stage for a more intentional day. Of course it doesn’t always go to plan and that’s OK.

Peppering the day with outcomes you’re proud of

It’s the little things that build up to excellence. Maybe it’s knocking out a task you’ve been putting off, taking some extra time to reassure a patient, or investing in learning something new and valuable. These seemingly small actions, when repeated, form a pattern of excellence. You don’t have to make huge leaps every day, but when your day includes moments that make you proud, you start to create habitual high standards. 

It always comes back to Kaizen!

Excellence inevitably comes from the mindset of continuous improvement. I am a Kaizen advocate – cheerleading the process of making incremental changes that add up to wholesale improvements. Adopting a curiosity and observations of your own practice can help steer you towards incremental, Kaizen-style excellence.

Evaluating achievements 

Another key part of excellence is taking the time to recognise your achievements. It’s easy to focus on what went wrong or what didn’t get done, but acknowledging the things you did well is equally important. Celebrate those small victories, no matter how trivial they might seem. This acknowledgement helps you stay motivated and reminds you that excellence doesn’t have to be a grand, elusive thing.

Raising the bar with ‘good, better, best’

One strategy I’ve found helpful is thinking about my decisions in terms of good, better, best. This applies to pretty much everything. Whether it’s a task at work, how I communicate with others, or even how I take care of myself, there’s always room to consider: Could this be better? Can I make a choice that pushes my standards just a little higher today? By asking yourself these questions, you naturally raise your own bar. 

Sometimes good is enough. Better and best might not be viable, affordable or practical. Having screened your choice you will have made an excellent decision, where ‘good’ is the right result, based on the information available.

In summary 

Excellence is about showing up with a mindset of high expectations, working towards being better, and understanding that even small progress is still progress. Excellence, when woven into the fabric of your daily life, becomes less about an unattainable goal and more about a steady, continuous pursuit of becoming the best version of yourself. And that is a powerful thing.

I must conclude that this must also apply to relaxing, switching off and quietly reflecting – they are very worthwhile endeavours. Chasing excellence shouldn’t be as exhausting as it might sound!