Exceeding Expectations

When I first began my career within the corporate world I was introduced to performance appraisals.  During the year I was empowered to set goals and milestones and was appraised on how well I achieved those goals and if you played nice with others in the sandbox.   The appraisal was then matched up into 1 of 4 categories – (N) Needs Improvement,  (P) Proficient,  (O) Outstanding, or (E) Exceeding Expectations. These categories formed the acronym NOPE, which was the common phrase one would hear in the break areas describing that they didn’t get the raise they wanted.
I did attain that “E” mark several times. Not only were my goals met, milestones accomplished, but I also consistently volunteered to help my team. I took on extra work and stayed late from time to time. I went above and beyond of what was required of me. I went that extra mile. It wasn’t out of ambition, attention getting, brown nosing, etc. It was because I loved my job. I had passion for what I did and a strong interest in helping those who needed help.  I didn’t think to myself “wow this is going to get me an E this year.”  I put in the extra effort for no other reward than my own.
But here’s the thing about exceeding expectations on a consistent basis – you get noticed, you get a promotion, you’re on the lead detail, you get the phone calls, and a constant pay check. Colleagues and peers will remember your name and number and put it on their “go-to” list.
Those that are not exceeding expectations are sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, out drinking the night before a detail, complaining about their last gig on Facebook, posting on Twitter that their “dogs are tired”, and they “can’t wait to sleep.”
There is no real “secret sauce” to being successful in this business. Graduating from a 5 or 7 EP school does not mean a guarantee of success. There are no clients waiting at the exit door of the school. You have to hustle. You have to make sacrifices, set goals, create and maintain a business plan, continuously train – both mentally and physically; and go that extra mile.
I recently started reading Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich and he writes about going the extra mile and breaks it down into this simple QQMA formula:
The Quantity of the service you render + the Quality of the service you render + the Mental Attitude in which you render service determines the space you occupy within your chosen calling and the compensation you get for your services.
If you haven’t read his book I highly recommend it.
Are you Proficient, Outstanding or Exceeding Expectations in your personal and professional life? What do you do to exceed your client’s expectations?