Lessons learned at Sunbelt Builders Show: Living a life of excellence

GuildQuality exhibited at the Sunbelt Builders Show in Grapevine, Texas last year (we’re exhibiting again this year, see where we’ll be) and Chad Hennings was the opening speaker. With 3 Super Bowl victories and 45 successful combat missions with the United States Air Force under his belt, he shared with us how those experiences have helped shape his “life of excellence” and what each of us could do to begin living this lifestyle.

“Excellence isn’t a destination; it’s an identity.” – Chad Hennings

Chad shared his 5 principles for living a life of excellence that can be applied to all aspects of your life – yourself, your business, and your relationships. And the good news – you don’t have to be a former NFL player or a pilot in the US Air Force to apply these principles to your life.

Have a Vision

The first and most important step in the process is having a vision. What does excellence look like for you? For your business? If you don’t take the time to clearly define your vision, you won’t be able to get where you want to be. This is also the time to define your core values. What are the most important things to you in both your life and your business? Chad shared that your character and core values are the “energy all steps in life are based on,” so establishing those values will guide you in living out your vision.

Evaluate

Once you’ve taken time to define your vision, your next step is to evaluate where you are in relation to that vision. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Reflect and be honest with yourself, but it’s also a good idea to get outside opinions from those you trust. Ask your friends, family, and even your customers to help you get a clear picture of what you’re good at and what may need improvement. Hearing from others will uncover insights you may not have realized on your own and this process will help you become a better person and run a better business.

We can help you get opinions from your customers with a free trial of our customer satisfaction surveying.

Train

You’ve set your vision, you’ve evaluated your strengths and weaknesses, so now it’s time to prepare yourself to get there. Chad’s advice – “choose to associate with those you wish to emulate.” If you have less experience in an area where you want to improve, seek out a mentor who’s had success in that area. If you’ve got 20 years of experience and success in another area, consider being a mentor to someone less experienced. Holding yourself accountable to your peers, mentors, and those you’re mentoring will help you stay on the track of excellence.

Goal setting is also an important aspect in the training process. We’ve talked about setting SMART goals, so start by coming up with a list of goals that align with your vision.

Execute

The vision and plan are in place, now it’s time to get up and get at it! Many people get stuck at this part – you establish this grand vision and come up with all kinds of plans to stick to the vision, but it takes effort and determination to actually live it each and every day. Chad shared that a life of excellence is more like a journey than a destination. You can’t hope to be excellent one day; you must wake up every morning committed to a life of excellence.

What do you think about these principles? Do you follow any of these personally or at your company? Tweet at us and let us know!

If you’re planning to attend the show this year, be sure to meet up with our team!