Mediocrity or Excellence

“The person who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; the person who aims at mediocrity will be far short of it,” is a Burmese proverb I read in the book Accept No Mediocre Life.

What is our normal, everyday target in life and in work? I think that we may aim at excellence on special occasions, but could it be that we’re satisfied with something less than excellence most of the time.

One of my favorite singers, Emmy Lou Harris, says that “mediocrity is going to kill the world before Armageddon ever gets a chance.” The Demotivators collection from www.despair.com celebrates mediocrity with a poster that says, “It takes a lot less time and most people won’t notice the difference until it’s too late.” What do you think? Take a normal day and observe yourself and others. What’s our aim? Are we aiming high and getting closer to excellence? Are we aiming low and not even reaching mediocrity?

Excellence has some rigorous requirements. I believe excellence has much to do with our attitude, vision, purpose, effort, planning, moment to moment effort, tenacity, discipline, and practice. What else does a person require to achieve excellence and rise above mediocrity?

Posted September 11th, 2006 in Operational Excellence

Fatigued Air Traffic Controllers

If you have ever worked shift work, you can sympathize with air traffic controllers who say they will be forced to work even when they’re tired, under a new contract. An Associated Press article by Leslie Miller in the September 2 issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out that controller fatigue may be an issue in the investigation of the recent crash in Kentucky.

Fatigue is often a contributing factor in accidents. Fatigue is one of the “Dirty Dozen” causes of accidents in aviation maintenance. I worked shiftwork in the pipeline industry for many years and did workload studies with pipeline controllers. I know that fatigue while at work, combined with poor sleep while off work, causes cumulative sleep debt.

A fatigued worker is more prone to slips, lapses, mistakes, and violations. In addition, there is a demand for multitasking in most jobs, which also contributes to mental fatigue. Businesses are constantly looking for ways to cut costs. One of the ways is to get fewer workers to do more tasks. A comprehensive risk analysis should be performed before making changes that can affect safety of the public, the employees, and the environment.

Posted September 5th, 2006 in In the News, Managing Fatigue