“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
During the month of March each year all across the United States, people celebrate Women’s History Month. This blog was created to encourage, inspire, and motivate people to be their best at work and home. During the month of March each year, we share quotes from Maya Angelou. Each quote is analyzed to show why Angelou’s words, written so long ago are appropriate for today’s entrepreneurs.
So, sit back read the beautiful words then check out the analysis. Stay with us for the entire month and feel free to share your own video interpretation in the comments. Today’s quote is:
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
This quote is important because it has 3 lessons for entrepreneurs. These lessons are:
1. Excellence is recognizable.
2. Excellence takes hard work.
3. Excellence is worth the work it takes.
Excellence is recognizable.
Excellence is subjective in many cases, but it is recognizable. When people look at entrepreneurs, they can determine which is good, better, and best. This means that if you are excellent at what you do, people will see recognize it. Excellence cannot be hidden under a bushel. Instead, excellence has a quiet and dignified way of calling attention to itself. Think about it. If you have ever looked at the work done by a master tailor, you will notice that the work is excellent. All the stitches are straight and evenly placed. It is a pleasure to look at the garment.
Likewise, when a business is excellent it is a pleasure to see it in action. When you run an excellent operation, your employees recognize that they work someplace special. They show up to work with their heads a little higher and with a little more pride in themselves and the team of which they are a part. Your competitors can recognize the excellence in your organization and even though they may be jealous, they cannot help but admire excellence. Customers can see excellence from afar and from close up.
Excellence takes hard work.
Excellence is not easy to combine, in fact, it takes work to be excellent. No matter how smart you are, no matter how naturally talented you are, you will not be excellent without hard work. Excellence means that you show up to work each day as scheduled and work all day as scheduled. Excellence means that when it comes to the work you do, you under-promise and over-deliver. Excellence means that do what is required and look for ways to do that job better. Excellence means that you exceed expectations. All of these things take work. They do not come easily and they do not come without sacrifice. If you want to be excellent, you must be prepared to work and to work hard. While you are working hard to achieve excellence, do not forget to work smart.
Excellence is worth the work it takes.
Excellence is worth what it will cost you to achieve. Excellence is a highly valued and highly sought after commodity. Excellence gives you rewards. The rewards are monetary. Customers will pay more for excellence than they will for adequate or very good products and services. The rewards are mental. When you are excellent and you know it you have confidence that allows you to think of ways to do and be even better. The rewards are emotional. Excellence feels good. Excellence makes your heart feel better. Excellence gives your confidence a boost.