Excellence - No Room For Complecency

Many of us tend to become complacent. We think that we have done our best and nothing more can be done. As a result, the greed to achieve more is missing. Even the urgency to do more is lacking. Instead, one must move as if tomorrow is not there. We must think that each day is the last day of our life and achieve as much as possible in a day. We can not sit on our past performances and get contented. We must continue to put up our best until the last. You never know we may miss the great reward.

This reminds me of the story of a contractor who built his last house.

There was a contractor who worked for a construction company for 25 years and he built some of the best houses for the company and its customers. He was then to retire.

The company’s president asked him to build the last house and told him to use the best of the material and gave him a complete freedom to design and build his dream house which he wanted to build but could not built. The president told him not to worry about the materials he needed and their cost since they wanted the best house to be gifted away to someone.

The contractor took the job but he did not put in his best. He felt that I have done my best over the past 25 years. Now, I am retiring and what difference does it make. And he somehow completed the house.

The president then invited all his staff and people from the town to gift the house. The contractor was also invited. The president then made the announcement that the house is being gifted away to the contractor in recognition of 25 years of excellent service put in by the contractor. The president gifted the house to the contractor his dream house to stay after the retirement. The contractor regretted and said to himself that if I knew in advance that the house was to be gifted to me I could have done much better job than what I did.

The moral of the story is never become complacent. You never know who is watching you and what you shall miss by not giving your best.