Everything we do is a reflection of who we are and what we worship.

If God gave us his best in Jesus, shouldn’t we desire to give our best back to him, even through our work?

Excellence is defined as: “the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.” Whether you flip burgers, mop floors, work as an executive at a Fortune 500 company, or serve on the hospitality team at your local church, do it with excellence.

Like a talented tattoo artist, imprint your ”divine design” with such high quality at your workplace that God will be glorified.

I want to share five characteristics of excellence that helped me become an NFL player and that now infuse me with strength as a pastor and leader. People who are excellent at their jobs frequently share these qualities:

1. They are passionate about what they do.

It’s impossible to be remarkable at your job if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing. Passion is a dynamic quality that adds flavor and life to a task.

Passion doesn’t allow you to do anything subpar. It compels you to put your best foot forward, even when no one is looking.

Are you passionate about what you’re doing? If not, how can you increase your passion?

2. They are learners.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s next to impossible for you to be excellent at your job. I was a better NFL player in my fifth year than in my first year because I studied the details and nuances of the game. This knowledge translated into better performance.

Are you learning the details of your job? Are you putting in the extra effort to be exceptional at what you do?

3. They have a ferocious work ethic.

Lots of people talk about being excellent, but few have a work ethic that produces excellence. Sadly, I’ve found that many are okay with being mediocre at their jobs.

I think mediocrity occurs because people miss the integration of faith into their work life.We’re not working for ”the Man;“ we’re serving the Lord of the universe using the talents with which he has blessed us (Col. 3:22–25).

Do you have a work ethic that produces excellence? How can viewing God as your employer change your attitude toward work?

4. They have the ability to focus.

We live in age of many choices and distractions. As a result, we get sidetracked doing so much that we do little to nothing with excellence.

Excellence requires focus on that “one thing.” Having a bulldog mentality allows us to fight off distractions and pour into the task at hand.

Men’s Health wrote: “According to a recent study from researchers at the University of Utah, people who multitask are actually less productive than people who focus on one thing at a time. Even more depressing: people who believe themselves to be master multitaskers are seriously overestimating their capabilities.”

Are you easily distracted? Are you doing so much that you’re not doing anything well?

5. They make sacrifices.

I learned in high school that if I wanted to earn a college football scholarship, I had to sacrifice. That meant not doing some of the things that my peers were doing. At times, it was painful. But those sacrifices gave me a full-ride scholarship and empowered me to play six years in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts (1993–1997) and the Carolina Panthers (1998).

Moving from mediocrity to excellence is going to cost you something, maybe something quite valuable. Are you willing to sacrifice for excellence?

Be a great artist! Tattoo everything you do with excellence for the glory of God.

Marinate on that.