“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself – and be lenient to everybody else.” – Henry Ward Beecher
The key to excellence in life is to consistently exceed expectations. According to John Maxwell, most people (80%) live below expectations. 15-18% meet expectations, while only 2% of this world consistently lives above expectations. These people receive the greatest fulfillment in life. How do we begin to live a life that begins to exceed expectations? We can resolve to be among the 2% who live above expectations by being intentional, focused, and consistent on a daily basis.
It begins with demanding a higher expectation from ourselves. We expect more from ourselves than others expect from us. We set our own expectations higher than anyone will set us. We make commitments to ourselves that we must intentionally work on fulfilling.
In business, the key to exceeding expectations is to over deliver value to your customers. As a result, customers are very satisfied and can refer additional business to you, leading to increased profits. A question to always ask – How can I add more value to my customers when delivering the service? Another key is to understand your customer’s best expectations. When you get the answer to that, look for one other value you can add and you will have exceeded your customer’s expectations. You can exceed expectations in price, quality or service and possibly all three — but you must understand what it really means to exceed expectations before you can actually do it.
As an employee, you can exceed expectations by working harder and smarter than the rest of the people. Again, the key is in asking what the normal expectation is and intentionally looking for several ways to increase that expectation. It could mean coming in to work thirty minutes before work officially starts. Average people go to work on time. Another way to exceed expectation is to daily do something for somebody that is not part of your job description.
The benefits of intentionally living above expectations include being perceived as a leader in your sphere, increased revenue for business owners, recognition and promotion for employees.
Through understanding what is expected of you, determination to put in the effort to do more than is required will lead to expectations being exceeded.
Question: How do you consistently exceed expectations?