3 Secrets to Becoming 'Awesomely, Amazingly, World-Class Excellent'

Work can sometimes feel like a life of Max Fischer, the main character in the 1998 Wes Anderson film, Rushmore: We serve multiple clients at a time; we're heavily involved in a variety of projects; we're held accountable for timelines and results while leading a multitude of interdisciplinary teams. Yet even for the best achievers, being truly great at something can still be very elusive, stressful, and disillusioning.

Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that average Americans between the ages of 25 and 55 spend 30% of their lifetimes working weekends on top of already heavily loaded work weeks. In total, Americans spend almost three times the amount of waking hours at work than at home.

But what do we get as a result of all this overachievement?

For the majority of people, writes author Geoff Colvin, the answer is: not much.

Go to www.nspe.org to read more and learn the three secrets. Then, come back to Design News and tell us: are you Awesomely, Amazingly, World-Class Excellent?

February 22-28 is Engineers Week.