Monthly Archives: March 2013

Changing the World 140 Characters at a Time

By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Today marksTwitter Logo two years for me on Twitter – my Twitter-versary, if you will. As I contemplate the relationships I’ve formed, the good ideas I’ve gleaned, and the huge amount of personal and professional development material I’ve written for my Twitter followers, I find myself sincerely grateful to the Twitterverse.

I have 5,000 followers. That’s astounding. And these are real, living, breathing people from all over the world. I see my messages favorited and retweeted all the time. People interact with me daily. And since I began my Twitter career, I’ve received loads of positive feedback from followers who tell me that I am making a difference. For instance, take a look at what just a few have had to say:

Your message is always powerful and convincing. Thank you so much!!  I wish I could have audio Twitter to listen to your voice. Your wealth of information and ideas are inspiring too! Our company needs someone like you to empower women.” – Mana, Japan

Love your tweets. Thanks for the inspiration. They always seem to come at the right time for me, too.” – Michelle, Ohio

Powerful tips, I must tell you. You’re nurturing the seed of leadership in me. When you write, I’m fed.” – Samuel, Nigeria

You have helped me a great deal without even knowing it. I am a new supervisor and your words are like little daily gems.” – Flo, New York City

You have no idea how much your tweets have helped me.” — Roger, Mexico

This is just the tip of the iceberg. In all, more than 100 of my followers have reached out to me in this way – unsolicited – just to tell me how much they appreciate what I’m doing. I’ve treasured each of these comments, so much so that I’ve created a Pinterest board to showcase them: http://pinterest.com/drlaurahills/high-praise-for-my-tweets/

When I began tweeting two years ago, I had selfish reasons. I wanted to promote Blue Pencil Institute. But Twitter has turned into something much more than that for me. Little did I know then that I would find a virtual, global classroom in which I could teach and make a difference in the world every day.

Being Excellent in the Age of Mediocrity

By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Excellence – it’sshutterstock_122845336 (2) what we admire in others and what we strive for every day. But what does it mean to be excellent? Are we excellent because we achieve excellent results? Does how we achieve those results matter? Do excellent efforts and intentions make us excellent, regardless of the outcome? Must we strive for excellence in everything we do? Can we justify being excellent in some areas of our work and our lives and not in others?

If you’ve already achieved a high level of excellence, you may be further concerned about whether and how you can sustain your excellence day after day, year after year, or even, decade after decade. You may wonder how you can prevent that all too common “whatever” or “good enough” attitude that creeps into place when we fall prey to inertia, boredom, arrogance, and complacency. How do we remain excellent when it seems that no one notices or cares what we do, when we are surrounded by others who don’t share our value of excellence, when we are operating in a time that others have dubbed the “age of mediocrity”?

Excellence is a hungry mouth. It clamors for constant feeding. And it can vanish in an instant. That means that we must be vigilant about our excellence. It’s not enough to have been excellent at one time. We can’t rest on those laurels. We’re only as excellent as we are right now, in this moment, in these circumstances. Consider Colin Powell, who says, “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception; it’s a prevailing attitude.”  That sounds a lot to me like Aristotle, who is attributed as having said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

What I’ve learned working with career professionals for more than 30 years is that the best way to become and remain excellent is to develop excellence as a habit. Excellence, therefore, must become not only what we think or what we want to be, but who we are. That means three things: that excellence in small things does indeed matter, that we must surround ourselves with individuals who can support our excellence, and most of all, that we must repeat excellence again and again and again — until excellence becomes engrained in us.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

It’s snowing todaySnow Day in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and practically everything is closed. As I write this sitting at my desk, I am looking out my window through a curtain of heavy wet snowflakes. I see the young family that lives across the street wearing puffy ski jackets and boots, out shoveling their driveway and sidewalk together. I see my daughter’s white car parked on the street with snow accumulating on its roof, hood, and windows, making it look like a white hump. And I see the tire marks left by vehicles that have sloshed their way up and down our unplowed, untreated street today.

This morning, I received a call from my doctor’s office to reschedule our appointment today for my annual exam. And though I wasn’t particularly dreading this appointment, how elated I was about this postponement. Why? You see, I wanted a snow day. How delicious it is to wear my slippers and to know that I do not have to leave to go anywhere today, that I am safe and secure and warm here in my home. Now mind you, I don’t have any desire to repeat the infamous blizzard of 1996 when I was snowed in with young children for days and days, when cabin fever started to set in. But for this one lovely day in early March, I am content just to be here, to see the children outside my window forming snowballs and chucking them at their father while he shovels the snow.