Tohea – Striving for Personal Excellence and what this means in simple terms.

At Rutherford, we understand that striving for personal excellence is not an act but a series of habits and positive behaviours we develop over time. Striving for personal excellence is about taking many little positive steps in the right direction repeated often. It’s about being better today than you were yesterday each and every day.

At Rutherford we know that “We are what we repeatedly do; Excellence is not an act but a habit”.

So what do these little things include? It starts with a positive attitude that in my 5 years and the 5000 hours I will spend at high school, that I can improve and I am in control of more than I think I am. The most valued quality that employers highlight repeatedly that they want from current and future employees is a positive can-do and will-do attitude.

What can I control?
Accept and take responsibility that you are the number one catalyst for any change you want to see.
Prioritise attendance and punctuality. 100% attendance and being on time, all the time makes a massive difference to outcomes.
Hit deadlines and not requesting extensions due to a lack of planning and organisation.
Develop routine planning for the week ahead, each week.
Care for yourself and others. Drink water, minimise the intake of refined sugar. Get quality of sleep, develop regular sleep routines and patterns.
Good friends – if you want these you need to be a good friend yourself.
Little acts of human kindness
Having a sense of humour and a sense of fun.

Those little things can be summarised down to taking personal responsibility being in the right place, at the right time, and doing the right thing.

We are all individuals.  I invite you all, “to never compare yourself to the best that others can be only to the best that you can be.”

We can all turn up to a new year, it is mission-critical that habits are embedded and become routine, something you can rely on. If you want changed outcomes, then you need to be the change that you expect. Outcomes and people will not change for you unless you change what you do.

Thomas Edison said it best “The difference between a piece of coal and a diamond is that the diamond stayed on the job longer.”

They both require pressure to become what they are but the diamond had to persevere and endure for longer knowing that the reward for the extra mahi tahi was worth the effort. Do the mahi get the rewards you earned? The person on top of the mountain did not fall up there.