To become an outstanding performer and to succeed in any career you choose you need to:
- set and reach certain goals;
- be organized;
- execute well.

Setting and reaching goals. Setting goals right is a talent. To successfully attain your goals, you need to make sure they are S.M.A.R.T.:

• Specific – definite and explicit goal are easier to reach.
• Measurable – you should know for sure when you have realized what you planned and when you have failed.
• Achievable – only goals that are possible to attain create motivation, setting a too difficult goal is demotivating.
• Results oriented – be sure to focus your goals on the result not the actions taken to achieve those results.
• Time specified – set a time limit for each and every goal.

It is helpful to write your goals down, tell them to the close people and keep them always with you (so that you can see them, e.g. on a desktop, clipboard, in the wallet, etc.) Those who have their goals written and see them regularly stay more frequently focused on them and achieve them more often than those who don’t. Sharing goals means converting them from mere aspirations into realistic aims.

Being organized. Perfect performers organize their time, work place and work process constantly. Methods to stay organized are numerous and may differ from person to person; however, there are some general tips that can be used by everybody:

• create a list of “prioritized things to do” for the next day;
• write all the tasks in one place;
• break larger tasks into smaller ones;
• prioritize the tasks on your list (most urgent and important ones, those that can be done in several days, those that need longer periods of time to be completed);
• separate important tasks from non-relevant and not important ones;
• stay focused on you tasks during the whole working day;
• determine your “most productive” time of the day and divide tasks into “much effort and concentration demanding” and “less effort demanding”.

Execution. On of the most important secrets of excellent performance of your duties is always to stay informed about the novelties and news in the sphere you work. There are different ways to do that: attend career development courses and seminars, read literature, watch television, find news on internet, communicate with professionals and just be interested in the progress and current life.

Another tip to remember is that good execution is both qualitative and quantitative. Producing a lot of products or performing your service very rapidly is only half of the task, the second half is to do it correctly and do your best all the time.