Ryan Hawks 10 Commandment of Excellence

1. WHO 1st - Your life will be measurably better or worse based on WHO you’re with. Life can be a series of transactions or you can build relationships. Transactions can give you short-term success, but great relationships make for a great life.

2. Have a bias for action - We are who we are in practice, not in theory. The world is full of talkers. Be a doer.

3. Wake up early - It's hard. Some days it sucks and you don't feel like it. Do it anyway. The people who put a dent in the world usually choose to do hard things.

4. Push your edges - Excellence happens as you expand your current zone of comfort and competency. Take the improv class, do the triathlon, push beyond your current capabilities. That's where you grow.

5. Interested > Interesting - Ask more questions than you answer. The opposite of judgment is curiosity. Lead with curiosity.

6. Leaders can't be energy neutral. You're either adding energy to the room or taking it. Be additive. Lift a room with your attitude, optimism, and presence.

7. Move your body - Push yourself physically. You get one body. If it fails you, nothing else will matter. Do whatever you can to take care of it.

8. Read books - For $20, you can peer inside the heart and soul of someone who dedicated their life to a topic. It's the greatest bargain in history. I've yet to meet an excellent leader who doesn't read a lot.

9. Lead with trust - You don't have to earn it. You have it. I've found giving trust before it's earned attracts the type of people I want to be with.

10. Never waste an opportunity to be generous - Praise others, write thank you notes, speak kindly behind someone's back. Tell their loved ones how awesome they are. Be a good gift giver. You'll grow to love the feeling of giving more than receiving.

11. Be grateful - Leave people, places and things better than you found them.

12. Be the hero, not the victim - Take ownership of your success and failure. Don't blame others.

Nobody wants to hang out with excuse makers or complainers.

13. Be a self-regulatory learner - Reflect. Pause to think. The Wright Brothers would walk out on the

sand dunes and watch birds. They mimicked their wings with their arms and thought deeply

about how to keep their flying machine afloat.

14. Value excellence - Set high standards for yourself... And work to consistently exceed them. Try

to surround yourself with others who do the same.

15. Choose extra work - The minimum requirements are table stakes. Choose to do more. I've rarely

met someone who leaves a dent in the world that doesn't choose extra work. Extra work =

Passion

16. Be easy to work with - Be responsive. Be proactive. Be kind. Think of what's needed before it's

asked. Do it. Be the type of person that others want to work with. Make it easy on them.