Every now and then I meet people who are simply brilliant at their job...

It could be the headteacher I met last week whose intelligence and understanding has re-engineered the culture in her school to achieve outstanding outcomes for her students. It could be the primary teacher I met recently whose focused and uncompromising work has unlocked the desire to learn and read in each young person whose life she touches. It could be the classroom assistant I met recently whose passion and commitment for the environment and developing school grounds has completely transformed the learning landscape at her school. It might be the exceptional colleagues I work with at Merrion House who anticipate my every need or it might be the colleague who delivers both high performance and is a great team player.

Brilliance, true brilliance, is something we all value. It's a joy to encounter someone who is truly exceptional at what they do. So the question is how can you become known as someone who consistently demonstrates real brilliance? Dirk and I have been talking about this recently. Colleagues who demonstrate brilliance work hard at it. Clearly the key is that persistence, motivation and commitment are all required to deliver your brilliant best but importantly everyone can do it! Colleagues who demonstrate brilliance have identified the things that turn them on, that inspire them and that give them that buzz and then worked hard to develop and master their performance. They have added knowledge, skill, experience and practice to consistently produce at the highest levels. By the way the best any of us can be with low motivation is adequate. No matter how hard we work and how much we desire it, in the long run we will never be brilliant at something we are not intesrested in or inspired by; without high levels of motivation you can forget it. In other words, however hard we work in areas where we are not motivated and where our heart isn't really in it, we resign ourselves to mediocrity.

Who wants to be mediocre? Who wants to be known as "satisfactory?" Wouldn't you rather try to be brilliant? The first step to unlocking your brilliant best is to know these things; what do you love doing... what really turns you on at work?... what would you do even if you weren't being paid?

And then the trick is to get someone to pay you to do it!
Chris