My executive career was driven by relentless self-improvement.

If you want to be great at leadership, you must want to spend the 12th hour of your day reading, thinking, or listening to get better.

You can make yourself exceptional - here's how:

1. Work on skills you love.

I could not have sustained 30 years of self-improvement focused on skills that I did not like.

I migrated from software development to technical leadership because the leadership challenges excited me.

2. Come at it from wanting to be better, not a place of inadequacy.

Most of us suffer from "imposter syndrome" or are driven to improve because we fear failure. This is real and it drove me at times too. But a lifetime of trying to live up to the expectations of others is not the goal!

Also, avoid being obsessed about outperforming others. This is a "battle" best fought against (or with) ourselves! I absolutely have gotten into comparison with others. This is not the best motivation, just like fear and imposter syndrome are not the best.

Much better to be focused on simply how to hone your art.

3. This process works over time.

I was a terrible first-line manager. I was untrained (no education) and unskilled (not naturally gifted at some parts). The ugly truth is that managers learn on the job through mistakes that impact their team members. Wanting to be better drove me.

Because I remained focused on leadership, I slowly became an expert in theory and practice.

4. Be patient.

Learning and building expertise takes time.

Long-term consistency compounds. Recall the Bruce Lee quote: "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

You must find your internal fire to want to invest in yourself.