QuoteProject
Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
John W. Gardner
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Excellence involves achieving outstanding results in everyday tasks.

This quote emphasizes that achieving excellence is not about performing extraordinary tasks, but rather about taking ordinary tasks and executing them with exceptional skill and dedication. It underscores the importance of diligence and attention to detail in everyday actions as the path towards true excellence.

Themes

ExcellenceOrdinaryExtraordinarySuccessDedication

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about achieving success in everyday life.

More from John W. Gardner

Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests.
John W. GardnerRead
More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-made ugliness. If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
John W. GardnerRead
Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.
John W. GardnerRead
Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage.
John W. GardnerRead
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
John W. GardnerRead
I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared about. The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past. But we've got to move on.
John W. GardnerRead

Similar quotes

It is the 'follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop.
Charles KetteringRead
You have to go broke three times to learn how to make a living.
Casey StengelRead
The best time to expand is when no one else dares to take risks
Andrew CarnegieRead
Those who try to achieve success without hard work ultimately deceive themselves-or worse-deceive others.
Tim CookRead
If you want to protect yourself as an actor, always work with good people
George ClooneyRead
Your brand name is only as good as your reputation
Richard BransonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.