At Your Service by Maggie Inge

 

Snowdrops have sprung up in the lawn.  Robins have begun their ritual dancing in the grass.  The air is once again filling with the music of songbirds.  The temperatures are rising, the gloves are off and the wave is back.

These are tough economic times and all indications are that it is going to get worse before it gets better. Five dollars for a gallon of gas by summer – that’s what some are predicting. On a practical level, this means that the time has never been better to shop locally.

Excellence is easy – it sure looks easy when we see people performing various tasks with excellence. Those March Madness NCAA basketball players make shooting hoops look like the easiest thing in the world to do. But, what we are really seeing is the combination of the factors that contribute to excellent performance: planning, preparation, practice, commitment, know-how and innate talent. When they come together, it looks very easy.

Sometimes, bad things happen to good people. And sometimes, people must suffer the consequences of their own bad actions. Two very different tragedies are impacting our world, one very close and personal, the other very personal but not so close.

Anyone whose work includes dealings with the public also deals with constant reminders that excellence is a journey rather than a destination. No matter how hard we try, we sometimes fall short of our own expectations or those of our customers. This striving to be and do better is actually the stuff that keeps us on the path to excellence.