All of us want to be good at our jobs, but how good do we really want to be?

Quite good.

Good.

Very Good.

The best in our field.

Or the best in the world?

Talent helps, but it won’t take you as far as ambition. Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great.

To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more important. There’s equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked.

Most people are looking for a solution, a way to become good. There is no instant solution, the only way to learn is through experience and mistakes.

You will become whoever you want to be.

Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you.

You will remember from school other students preventing you from seeing their answers by placing their arm around their exercise book or exam paper. It is the same at work, people are secretive with ideas. ‘Don’t tell them that, they’ll take the credit for it.’

The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish.